University of the Ozarks senior music major Rosie Wade of Clarksville has been around music as long as she can remember.
“It seems like I have been around music my entire life,” she said. “I was a member of my church youth choir and the hand bell choir as soon as I could and even before that I enjoyed singing hymns in the congregation. I took piano lessons as an early age and I participated in choirs through all of my years in grade school as well as college. I find it fun and I love hearing new songs, whether it’s a simple duet or hymn or a complex choral arrangement.”
Wade will present her senior voice recital at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18, in the Rowntree Recital Hall, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Her recital repertoire will include about a dozen songs in a variety of languages and genres.
“I will be singing in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and English with a couple musical theater pieces as well,” she said.
Wade, a standout swimmer who owns numerous school records on the University’s swim team, said she gets much more nervous before a singing event than she does a swim meet.
“I believe that that as far as performance nerves, it just comes to practice and experience in the individual activity,” she said. “The thing about on stage is that I am really all alone. When I am competing in athletics, there’s another person to share the attention.”
Wade said her endeavors in swimming and singing have benefited one another.
“Swimming has definitely helped me physically; I have excellent lungs that allow me to hold a loud or high pitch for a multiple measures and long-phrasing is significantly easier to do,” she said. “When I need to memorize my pieces, I often do so during long swim sets because it forces me to remember the lyrics. Singing has allowed me to strengthen my voice so that I can cheer for my teammates all weekend and not lose my voice.”
Along with a major in music, Wade will graduate in May with minors in athletic coaching and sustainable agriculture, a unique trio of academic disciplines.
“If you try to find similarities between my major and minors, they don’t tie together at all,” she said. “None of the classes for each of my LENS can double up, that’s the great thing about it. I’m getting a well-rounded education and it opens doors to three different jobs that all appeal to my tastes.”
During her time at Ozarks, Wade has been a true Renaissance woman. In addition to the swim team and choir, she has participated on the women’s wrestling and track teams and has been a member of the Art Club, Students Without Borders, and student government. She has been active in intramural sports and even ran the lighting for the theater production “Shake My Tree.”
”I didn’t really have a lot of people in my classes my freshman year and then everything was online my sophomore year because of Covid,” she said. “So being in all of the campus activities and sports has given me the opportunity to meet so many people that I would never have met.”
Following graduation, Wade plans to join the Marine Corps as a commissioned officer this summer. Fittingly, music will play a major role in her future plans.
“Once I am done with my Marine officer career, I plan on either joining the Marine Corps choir and traveling around the world with them for a while before becoming a choral director somewhere,” she said. “I’d also like to create a gardening club that teaches my students and hopefully the community the benefits of growing sustainable food sources as well as coaching a swim team in the area or the school I’m at.”
Reflecting on her time at Ozarks, Wade said she has learned many lessons, both good and bad.
“From my soul-searching and personal growth in psychology of personality, to patience and practice in my sports, piano, and ceramics, to learning not to be so hard on myself and how to say ‘no’ to others, I have grown exponentially,” Wade said. “Sometimes I look back on myself from freshman year and compare it to how I am now and I am shocked at how much I have grown, both personally and professionally, in such a short time. It makes me feel very accomplished.”