Dr. Jessica McCormack, the Music Department Coordinator, is a lifelong singer with roots in Eastern Canada. Outside of her passion for singing, McCormack is an avid cat lover and enjoys making coffee concoctions in her free time.
What has your voice journey been like throughout the years?
I grew up singing in church. I’m from a small fishing community in Eastern Canada, and I think all of our lives and our journeys could be described like a country song of sorts. I attended the University of Toronto for my undergrad and then I moved to Texas for grad school. Then, I hung out in the Midwest for a little while when I was a professor, and now here I am as an Arts Administrator in Andover. Through all that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to sing in different venues, sometimes with larger ensembles, like orchestras as a soloist… and more intimate chamber music, whether it be piano, violin, soprano, harp, or voice. Probably a week doesn’t go by where I don’t perform in some capacity…. And my colleagues at [Andover] can tell you sometimes I just break into [a] song for a response instead of talking. It’s not always intentional. I think that [singing is] something that’s in [my] DNA, so to speak.
What made you shift your focus to education as a career as opposed to performance?
I came home one summer and someone said to me, “Could you please give my daughter voice lessons?” I thought, “I’m not qualified to do that.” But they said, “Sure you are, you’ve been in college a few years now.” That was really a defining moment because I realized, as I was working with her, my first student, I became just as excited when she understood and was able to execute something technically or artistically that we had worked on. Up until that moment, I hadn’t really felt that rush before… I was excited about my own musical development, as the sort of intrinsically rewarding thing that it is, but I hadn’t had that feeling for working with someone else. That was kind of a pivoting moment, but it wasn’t ever a true departure. It was adding something else.
What are your feelings on the new music building?
It is bittersweet… I live in an old farmhouse built in 1821, so I love historic things, and part of me will miss [Graves Hall]… but there are certainly a lot of new possibilities with the new music building, especially when it comes to the care of the new music instruments, having things that are more regulated like climate control, not having [any leaks] in the building, and also the idea of having more music technology and more accessibility for more students. I’m hopeful that the new facility will be more encouraging given the fact that it is new… My hope for it is that we will be able to reach out to more students in the future in the new building [than] we currently are.
What part of the new music building are you the most excited about?
I am probably most excited about the amount of natural light that will be in the building. There will be more windows, and quite a bit of glass internally, so I am hoping that it will be brighter [than Graves Hall]. Sometimes it can get really dark in Graves [Hall]. Sometimes students have filmed short clips of horror movies or things like that there. I don’t know if it’s based on the name or the dark, so I’m just looking forward to having more light in the building.
What is a hobby that you have that not many people know about?
I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession to finalize the journey to find the perfect cup of coffee, to the point where my husband and I will purchase three to five bags of coffee beans from a roaster. We have created our own survey to see if we can cultivate the “house blend” for us, because I prefer a lighter roast, which contains more caffeine, and I think he prefers a darker roast, which has less caffeine in it. We’ve been having a fun time with “medium roast blends,” if you will… So anytime I travel somewhere, the first thing I do is drop off my bags and head to the local coffee shop.
What do you think is the coolest fact about you?
When people meet my family… [they say] “your family looks like a [United Colors of] Benetton ad. My step dad was from Turkey and was a Muslim. My husband is from Sri Lanka and he is a Buddhist. I am obviously White and a Christian. My niece and nephew are being brought up Catholic, and their father’s Polish. So you never really know which holiday [I’m] celebrating. People may not guess how much diversity there is within my most immediate family… and I think that’s cool, given the fact that I was brought up in a pretty small, isolated community.
What advice would you give to someone pursuing a career in music?
I probably would give a lot of advice, but at the end of the day, and I am paraphrasing from “Hamlet,” “to thine own self be true,” because there will always be opinions. I think one of the beautiful things about cultivating a career in the arts is that there is definitely not a one-size-fits-all, and there isn’t a right and a wrong. You’re your own brand, own ambassador, and it is what you are trying to communicate to others that is important… Great artists of our time often bypass a lot of these things because they really trust their own ability and what they are trying to communicate. At the end of the day, [putting] it more in the 21st century jargon, you do you. You have to be true to yourself.
What do you do to relax?
I sing! If it has been a great day, I quickly come home and sit at the piano and burst into song. If it has been less than a great day, I come home and I still burst into song. The repertoire will vary significantly depending on my mood, but I have to say that the action of singing [is] joyful. If you look at large groups of people that come together, like All-School Meeting or a sporting event, and you look at people participating in a song, whether it be the national anthem or a school fight song, there is a certain level of engagement when you use your voice when you sing.
What’s your favorite spot to hang out in on campus and why?
Besides Graves [Hall], of course, I love visiting the [Cochran] Chapel. I love it when the Chapel is full of life, and everyone’s dashing in last-minute to get in for an All-School Meeting. I also love passing through to drop off programs when it is very quiet with just a few people who are there reading or having their own time. I think it is a really beautiful building on campus, there are really high ceilings, and it has a really good energy about it.
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Not to waste as much time worrying about things that you can’t control. I looked back at some things that seemed very significant at the time, and now I just sort of giggle about them. I think when you’re younger, the length of time you’ve been around this planet is just a bit shorter, so things seem a little heightened. So I would like to go back to younger Jess and just say “just go sing a bit more, and don’t worry about that.
