A senior or graduate recital is no small task for music students at Sacramento State.

Piano major Surina Yoon took the stage for her senior recital on April 27.

“I had a bunch of butterflies in my stomach before I went on,” Yoon said. “I just told myself whatever happens happens. It’s all for entertainment.”

She performed classic pieces from Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, among others.

Graduate piano major Candice Haitani-Thomas has known Yoon for about four years and said Yoon’s playing was magnificent.

“I’ve known her long enough to see how she has improved,” Haitani-Thomas said. “Her playing has become much more mature. It was just awesome. She played so well.”

Another student performing a recital, graduate percussion major Bryan Jeffs, stepped into the spotlight on Friday with sticks in hand.

“I was feeling a nervous excitement beforehand,” Jeffs said. “You work all year for this one-and-a-half-hour moment. I was excited for it to go well, but the usual nerves always kick in.”

Jeffs performed a variety of selections such as avant-garde pieces on bongos to Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues on a bass drum, hit-hat symbol and a Marimba, a xylophone-like instrument with keys arranged like a piano. The audience was on its feet by the end of the performance.

Deborah Cardoza, percussion teacher at the Success Academy in Sacramento, raved about Jeffs’ performance.

“He was fantastic,” Cardoza said. “The performance was very polished and inspiring. It was the kind of performance that makes you want to go home and practice.”

Students graduating with a bachelor’s or graduate degree in music are required to perform recitals, the pinnacle of what music department chair Ernie Hills calls the most arduous major.

“I tell entering students, as young musicians, they should make a vow of poverty,” Hills said. “If you live in poverty, you have more time to practice, and they need all the time they can get.”

Classical piano professor Lorna Peters agrees with Hills’ assessment. Including music classes and general education, she said majors are required to attend weekly one-hour private lessons, weekly repertoire sessions, take two semesters of vocal accompanying and two semesters of chamber music. Majors must also prepare either a single junior or senior recital, or two graduate recitals.

On top of that, students perform each semester in front of a jury of faculty to gauge and evaluate their skills. Peters said the amount of work challenges students and makes them grow into amazing musicians.

“I feel that every student who graduates has been disciplined and passionate about discovering the secrets of music,” Peters said. “They are able to unravel the complexity of classic music.”

To be able to unravel such complexities, these young musicians spend a large majority of their time consumed in their craft.

The fourth floor of Capistrano Hall houses the practice rooms. Walking through the narrow halls, surrounded by the sounds of horns and strings, outsiders to the floor step into a world of complete concentration.

Looking into the small windows of each practice room, there is a common scene of students intently studying their music, as if their life depended on it.

“It takes a special personality to lock yourself away and practice for hours on end for the rest of their life,” Hills said.

Yoon admitted that on average, she spent two to four hours a day on the fourth floor practicing. When her senior recital neared, she spent seven to eight hours a day practicing.

“We basically live on the fourth floor,” Yoon said.

Jeffs said during the weeks prior to his recital, he would come to school at 6 a.m. to start rehearsing.

“Recently, it’s been due to my cats waking me up,” Jeffs said. “I just figured, ‘I’m up, might as well go practice.’ It is basically my job.”

However, all this work doesn’t detract these student musicians from having a social life.

Yoon said a few years ago, a number of her musician friends planned on having a Halloween party on the fourth floor. She said it never came to fruition, though the thought brings a smile to her face.

“We all knew we weren’t going anywhere,” Yoon said.

Having fun in Capistrano Hall isn’t new to Jeffs, either. He said from time to time he plays his own versions of Led Zeppelin and Johnny Cash songs on the marimba.

“That is actually how I got the idea for my encore,” Jeffs said. “I was messing around with Folsom Prison Blues and my instructor (Daniel Kennedy) came in and said, ‘That’s your encore right?’ It’s like I succumbed to peer pressure to finish my recital with Johnny Cash.”

Considering how the audience clapped and sang along to Cash’s ode to Folsom, he doesn’t need to second-guess his decision.

Most students at Sac State are not required to have private lessons. Throughout a music student’s time at the university, he or she meets with the same professor every week for a one-on-one tutorial.

Hills describes it as a mentorship. As a trombone instructor who has been a mentor, Hills said the instructor really gets to know the student as a musician.

“There where so many times when students would really struggle with something,” Hills said. “You would work hard with them until they have that break through moment. That ‘ah-ha’ moment was always so fun for me.”

Yoon’s private instructor is classic pianist Richard Cionco.

“He’s almost like a mentor in my musical world,” Yoon said. “His interpretation of music really means a lot to me.”

Before she went on stage to perform her senior recital, Yoon said Cionco told her, “don’t just be a musician, be a magician.”

“He told me I had the complete authority of my recital and to take advantage of it,” Yoon said.

The standing ovation and whistles from the crowd said it all, as she took her final bow.

Both nights marked a crucial step in these musicians’ careers. It was the end of Jeffs’ first year as a graduate student and Yoon’s time at Sac State, but it is only the beginning of what will blossom into two fruitful lives as musicians.

“Our students are wonderful,” Hills said. “Their hearts and souls are truly dedicated to their art.”

Michael Mette can be reached at [email protected].