A shared love for music

Bella Donaldson-Michael already had been selected twice to perform at American Choral Directors Association national conferences, but she was concerned about the prospects of being chosen a third time last fall after taking her voice to a new level.

Donaldson-Michael had performed at the national conferences in Dallas in 2013 and Salt Lake City in 2015, but after beginning her freshman year at Saxony Lutheran High School, the 14-year-old had matured into the new vocal range of a high-octave soprano.

"The last two times I sang alto, and a lot more girls audition soprano," Donaldson-Michael said. "I was kind of nervous I wouldn't get it just because of that, but I was so excited when I finally got the results."

Donaldson-Michael was among more than 300 students chosen from approximately 7,000 applicants nationwide to sing in March, when the ACDA holds its biennial conference in Minneapolis.

She was more than thrilled to add to an already heavy workload on her vocal cords that includes her daily choral class at Saxony Lutheran, practices with the Perry County Lutheran Chorale as well as private voice lessons. Oh, and then there are the practices for the high school's musical, "Beauty and the Beast," that will be presented in late March.

Bella Donaldson-Michael poses for a photo after a voice lesson in the Dobbins Building at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on February 20, 2017.

"It's a lot of music, but I like music," Donaldson-Michael said.

After sending an audition tape through her sponsor, ACDA member Mary Mims, in September, Donaldson-Michael received her acceptance notice in November and the seven songs in December that will be performed.

"I've been practicing like crazy," Donaldson-Michael said. "There are technically seven [songs] but there's one where there's three songs within the same piece."

Her personal practice will be coordinated with the group when they assemble Tuesday, the first of four long days of practice before performing twice on March 11.

She said the practices generally run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with just a couple of short breaks.

"It's a lot of practice for about a half an hour," Donaldson-Michael said, noting the length of the actual performance.

She said she began taking vocal lessons at the age of 9 and choral singing at age 10.

It's not a path she originally planned to take.

"When I first started taking lessons, I was really into Katy Perry, and I thought we were going to be singing pop music," Donaldson-Michael said. "Nope. It was a lot of classical, and that was shocking. I got used to it, and now I love it."

She loves all types of singing, but is particularly fond of musicals. She got to experience two Broadway shows -- "Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables" -- last summer in New York, and even got to meet the casts.

"I love musicals," Donaldson-Michael said. "I love seeing them, I love everything about them -- the costumes, the sets, everything."

She will be one of the "silly girls" who has a crush on Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast."

She said it's not a main role, but noted, "I'm only a freshman. It's bigger than I thought I would get."

High school also has provided her with more challenging four-part pieces in choir instead of the two-part approach of larger groups while in grade school.

"It's just a really great experience, especially with the national ones," Donaldson-Michael said about singing at the choral conferences. "You meet a lot of really cool people who come from all different backgrounds, states, just everywhere, but they all share the same love for music, and I think that's absolutely wonderful."

jbreer@semissourian.com

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