Name: Lauren Melville
Age: 20
Year: 2017
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Major: Psychology & Spanish Area Studies (Latino/a Studies concentration)
Activities: Chamber Singers, Colla Voce, Tour guides, UCC, Brave Potato
Power animal: Petunia, my male betta fish who lives in my dorm
Hey Lauren! You’re really involved in the music scene at Kenyon – you’re a member of Colla Voce and the current Chamber Co-President (along with Chris Wilson ‘16). Were you always this involved in music?
It’s funny, people who aren’t my close friends always assume that I’m a music major, since almost all of my extracurriculars are music-related and I spend all my time in Storer (the actual music majors can attest to my endless presence there…).
This hasn’t changed much from high school, where I also served as president and music librarian of my choir for several years. In lower school I would show up thirty minutes early to school every day just to hang out with my music teacher and see how high I could sing… So yes, I’ve always been pretty involved in music. Although I don’t feel particularly strongly about music in an academic context (I’ve never taken theory and know next to nothing about it), singing has always been an important part of my life, so I hope I get to keep doing it even after I graduate!
What’s your favorite song you’ve done so far in Chamber Singers? Colla Voce?
That’s a very hard question… I’m going to limit myself to music from this year only, because there are so many amazing songs to choose from over the past couple of years.
We’re singing a song in Chamber Singers called “Hard Times” which is one of my favorites this semester – it has a really beautiful solo throughout, and the sopranos are actually singing harmony, which is a nice change! We’re singing several songs in Spanish in Colla Voce this semester, which is always fun for me since I’m fluent in Spanish, so those would have to be my favorites.
You’re also a Psychology Major. Is it hard to balance science and fine arts?
It’s actually been really fun for me to have this mix of both science and music, with the fine arts really serving as my stress reliever. I work remotely in a psych lab back home at the University of Georgia, and right now we’re gearing up to send in submissions for a conference next May, so with that in addition to my other psych classes, having an hour or two just to devote to singing or doing something musical is a really wonderful break.
On to the fun questions! What are you going as for Halloween this weekend?
You know, this would be a fun question if I had decided yet… Unfortunately, I tend to wait until approximately 15 minutes before going to a Halloween party until deciding what to be, so it will be a surprise for all of us!
If Jeni’s made an ice cream just for you, what flavor would it be and why?
I actually did something online the other day that looked at all my social media accounts and created an ice cream flavor based on all my activity (this is what procrastination looks like), and the result was Strawberry Crepe Cabernet Kiwi. So, that must be indicative of my personality (somehow)… I like all those things separately, and I also love ice cream, so what could go wrong with combining all of them?
Describe the perfect Kenyon day.
Let’s make this a Saturday. I would wake up very early and head to Wiggins while the rest of the campus is still sleeping (because they are normal college students who actually sleep late, unlike me) and do homework for a few hours. Then, hoping it’s not freezing out, I would take a walk on the Gap Trail and veer off towards the lake that sits just off the path to sit and relax for a bit. Finally, a rehearsal with Colla Voce would top off my day, because spending time with that group is always the highlight of my week. I love everything we’re singing this semester, and they’re all some of my best friends, so it’s definitely a mix of serious rehearsing and very serious goofing off.
Finally, what is one thing on your Kenyon bucket list?
Definitely to go to the top of Peirce tower! I’ve always wanted to be able to see all the way from Old Kenyon to Bexley – I think it would be an awesome new perspective of the campus. I’ve watched all those videos on YouTube of the views of campus from that flying video camera, but I want to see it in person! (I realize this is kind of a lame item to have on one’s bucket list, but alas, I can be lame sometimes.)
Thank you Lauren! I look forward to being surprised by your Halloween costume this weekend!
Image Sources: Lauren Melville