Sophia Lucente
   Staff Writer

Carrie Graham clearly has a passion for classical music.

The senior music performance major’s primary instrument is the flute, and she plans to graduate in the spring with minors in arts administration and entrepreneurship. Since childhood, Graham’s life has been colored by positive musical experiences, beginning in kindergarten when she took up the violin and changing course in the sixth grade when she began learning the flute.

Her favorite classical genre to perform today is chamber music. The style, which is classified by its small groupings of players, stands out to her because of its collaborative and intuitive nature.

“When it’s such a small ensemble, you don’t have a conductor,” she related. “You just have to be in communication with each other – through eye contact, through cuing… it’s much more of an intimate environment.”

Although she loves to play music with others, performance is not necessarily the career avenue she wishes to take upon graduation.

“Honestly, I think I’ve always known I wanted to keep music in my life,” Graham said. “I’m trying to do behind-the-scenes work with arts organizations – specifically, with an orchestra.”

Her dream was bolstered by a recent educational experience: over the summer, she worked as an intern with the National Symphony Orchestra, a prestigious musical entity based in Washington, D.C. out of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The internship was specifically geared towards arts management and operations, and gave Graham hands-on experience with the production and technical work necessary for the Center’s weekly concert series.

“I think the best part about it was that while I was primarily with operations,” she explained, “it also gave me the chance to work with the artistic department, the personnel department, the orchestra library and so many other administrative offices within the orchestra that I had never had experiences with before. Getting to work closely with them allowed me to realize the opportunities I have for a future career.”

There is a certain determination present in Graham’s voice when she expresses her support for a healthy arts community. Having been born and raised in Greensboro, she says her trust in local resources and organizations are strong.

Her own upbringing was unique in that she happened to attend Morehead Elementary, a performing arts magnet school that operated a complete violin program. In middle and high school, she played the flute in band class almost every day.

Through these early experiences as well as her internship, Graham has discovered a desire to bring these sorts of experiences to more people – especially children.

“In general, you only have one kind of audience, like older people, attending these concerts,” she said, “and one the things I realized this summer… is that I’m very passionate about making it more accessible and available to younger audiences.”

In addition to having been an active member of UNCG’s Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and a wind quintet, Graham is a member of the School of Music’s fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota, a group that is largely engaged with music-based community service.

One of her most memorable experiences with the organization is their biannual Girl Scout Day.

During these events, SAI welcomes members of local, elementary-aged troops to UNCG’s campus and helps them earn music-related badges, like those involving lyric-writing and experimentation with instruments.

Graham’s main outlet for relaxing, artistic expression is the school’s recently-founded ukulele ensemble. The group simply meets as a club and rarely performs in public. The School of Music, she mentioned, is home to many ensembles spanning a wide range of genres and instruments, and she encourages all students to consider joining one.

In the future, Graham hopes to pursue work with either a summer music festival or with another orchestra-internship in order to refine her abilities within music administration.

“I love performing and everything that music has given to me up to this point,” she said. “Even though I don’t see myself pursuing a career in performing, I definitely want to stay close to the arts. I want to work with an orchestra. I’ll always keep music with me.”

Are you or anyone you know working on an interesting artistic project? Let us know at ae.carolinian@gmail.com!