Sherri-Lynn Gagnon is a senior Music Education major, whose primary instrument is the French horn. She is passionate about both the musical and teaching aspects of her major, and continually strives to be the best she can be in each of those areas. This can be seen through Gagnon’s high level of involvement in activities here at Plymouth State College.
The Clock: When did you start playing music, and what was your first instrument?
Sherri-Lynn Gagnon: I started in the fifth grade, on the trumpet. That was my first instrument that I played in school, taught by a formal teacher. I have two older sisters, both of whom played the clarinet when they were in school. They’re ten years older than I am so when I was five or six; they tried to teach me to play the clarinet. They had piano lessons, too, so I had music around me from a young age.
Clock: Do you think having music around you at such a young age is what influenced you to become a musician, or do you think you would have become one anyway?
SLG: Well that’s a difficult question. I don’t know if it’s an innate kind of thing. I think everybody can enjoy music; that it’s part of the human experience. So I’m not sure if it was just something that I would have come to enjoy even if I wasn’t surrounded by it, or if it was because of my environment. I think that’s one of the things that I love about music, that it’s such a universal thing.
Clock: How did you decide to major in music education instead of music performance?
SLG: I always knew that music was my passion, and teaching is my passion as well. I love to teach. I just have a teaching personality. If ever somebody asks me a question, I try and teach him or her. I figured I should focus my passions together. It seemed like a logical decision.
Clock: Have you had the opportunity to teach music, then?
SLG: Yes, I have, I have had many students. Right now I’m teaching three students. One in particular, her name is Anastasia. She is a ten-year-old, whom I started with when she was eight or nine. She’s adopted from Russia, and she has abnormalities on her hands; she’s missing many of her fingers. When she went to school, her band director told her she couldn’t play French horn because she didn’t have enough fingers, and suggested that she sing or play the trombone instead. Anastasia went to a few other people, and they all said, “No, she can’t play the French horn because she doesn’t have enough fingers.” That’s quite an upsetting thing for a little girl to be told. And she just loved the French horn; she’d heard it on TV. She really likes the Boston POPS and she always likes the French horns, when they show them. That’s what she really wanted to do. So I said, “Sure.” I gave her some tests, some ear-training tests to see if she could hear well, because on the French horn you have to have pretty good pitch. She had good rhythm, and she could sing, and she was pretty musical. So I said, “Sure, I don’t see why she can’t play the French horn.” We took her to Osmond Brass in Boston, and they made her a special French horn for her to play. Now Anastasia is doing great. She started in the fourth grade band at the beginning of this year, and they moved her up to the advanced band because she’s so good. She’s not having any problems. I teach a euphonium student and I teach another French horn student who’s a freshman in high school. I teach piano lessons, or I should say that I tutor for the piano classes. I have tutored for musicianship classes before, through the PASS office. I taught quite a few people when I was in high school, younger students and beginners, so that was a good experience. I teach quite a bit.
Clock: What oth-er music related activities are you involved in at PSC?
SLG: I’m in the Symphonic Band, I’m in College Chorale and Chamber Singers, I’m in the Digital Keyboard Ensemble, I’m in the Women’s A Cappella group…so that takes up quite a bit of time. I’m involved with MENC, which is the Music Educators National Conference. I’m going with them this week to the National Conference in Nashville. I also have the position of head ASDEL monitor. ASDEL is the Aural Skills Development Lab, which teaches people how to hear pitches. It’s a required aspect of the music-training program here. I’m the one responsible for making sure everyone gets all their hours in and I am in charge of student workers. I’m in change of keeping that going. I also work as a secretary in the Music Theater office.
Clock: How do you find the time for all these activities?
SLG: I’m very busy, but I think time management is the key, especially in this major. I’m up at 5:30 a.m. every day, I have a little bit of breakfast, and I’m off to the gym. I have classes all day, and then I work, and then I have rehearsals in the evening. Some days I go from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Pretty much all of my days are booked straight through, and if I do have a window of time, it’s filled immediately with an extra rehearsal or extra practice time. There just aren’t enough hours in the day; there’s too much to learn. I’m sure there’s nobody who would say, “I just want to be a mediocre teacher, I don’t care if I can touch anybody, or reach my students,” or say “I have enough knowledge to become a teacher, I’m smart enough, I know enough information to become a teacher.” There’s always room to grow, so as soon as a window of time opens, you’re always finding something else to do to fill your head with more knowledge. That’s one of the characteristics of a great teacher.
Clock: Did you go on the recent band trip, and what was that like for you?
SLG: Over Spring Break the Symphonic Band took a trip to Germany, and we did some concerts there. It was amazing—definitely a life experience and something I will never forget. Just meeting people, and being involved with the culture, being inside something different, experiencing a completely new culture. It was kind of strange, being in a place where you could barely communicate anything at all. I like to say hello to people and be friendly, and I found that I couldn’t even say, “Hello, how are you?” We really take for granted understanding each other and our ability to communicate. Performing was one of the high points. One of the greatest things about the whole trip was that we couldn’t communicate with these people with our words, we could barely say hello or other simple niceties, yet when we performed our music, they could understand it. Music transcends boundaries that are put on us by language and culture.
Clock: Do you have any upcoming performances?
SLG: My Junior Recital is on May 4, at 5:00 p.m. The theme is Pretty in Pink. I’ll be collaborating with Abigail Ganden, a saxophone player. Perhaps we’ll do a duet together, I don’t know. I’ll be playing music by Malcolm Arnold, Franz Strauss, and Camille Saint-Saens
Clock: What are your plans for next year here at PSC, and for when you graduate the year after that?
SLG: I’m going to student teach next spring, so I’ll graduate in 2003. I’m a senior right now, but the music education program here tends to be a five-year program, so you end up having two senior years. I’ll go to graduate school, probably, and get my Master’s in Music Education. I’m not sure about my doctorate, but perhaps I’ll do that as well. I’d like to go to a big school. Schools that have been suggested to me are the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of Illinois. I’ll definitely look to bigger schools, probably in the Midwest.