By Grace Sanpietro
He sits on his bed and strums his guitar. Meaningless melodies and harmonies start filling his mind as easily as any task he has done millions of times. Lyrics begin swimming around and a song takes form in his head. He feels the most in his element. He feels the most at home.
Oliver Ames High School senior Michael Kjelgaard, a vocal captain for Oliver Ames’ show choir Panache, president of Oliver Ames’ acapella group OA Capella, and the lead in the musical and drama club productions, has always been surrounded by music. From a very young age, Michael knew he wanted to be performing and making music.
“Since 3rd grade, I’ve known. I started doing musicals at Easton Children’s Theater and then was cast as the lead which was crazy because I had never done anything like that before. That sort of propelled me into the arts,” he recalled.
Michael’s involvement in music seems to take place mostly in the music hall at Oliver Ames, but it extends to his life outside of school. He takes voice lessons, joins bands with other aspiring musicians, and gets gigs at local restaurants.
Show Choir and OA Cappella take up most of Michael’s time. He is usually running from rehearsal to rehearsal. But he would not have it any other as he assures, “Show Choir and acapella is where I get that basic foundation of music even though it takes up so much of my time and energy. With this foundation, I have become a better singer and performer.”
According to Michael, being a leader of both ensembles helped him discover his love of teaching music. In a capella, he has to teach the group all of the songs they will be performing and although it is challenging, he has found a love in it.
“I have always known I wanted to perform. After discovering artists like Lady Gaga and David Bowie and discovering that very unorthodox style of music I knew I wanted to perform. But, after being a captain of show choir and a president of acapella where I’m teaching a lot, I’ve wanted to possibly pursue that further,” he explains.
Being a leader of two time consuming ensembles, Michael has to do lots of balancing and time management with schoolwork. Michael recalls he has always struggled with this, “It sometimes very hard. You will get home at the end of the night after a 6 hour school day and 3 hour rehearsal and all you want to do is climb into bed and sleep. But you can’t. You know have another 3 hours of homework to do. It can really get to you.”
Michael does think these challenges have benefitted him though. Even though it is hard, balancing all his extracurriculars has helped him built the time management skills and the ability to handle a crazy schedule that he will need in college.
With making the choices of where to go to college and what to do with his adult life right around the corner, music was the first thing that came to mind. Michael could himself not see doing anything else other than the thing that brings him the most joy.
Hoping he can attend his dream school, Berklee College of Music, Michael intends on becoming a performer, song writer, or music educator. But, pursuing this dream hasn’t always been easy for him. His family has not always supported this possible career path.
“They’ve come around. A career in music is not guaranteed. You go from audition to audition hoping for your big break and then after that break happens, you look for the next one. It’s a vicious cycle. They just want me to have as secure of a future as possible. I get that but I want to sing, write, and have music stay a part of me for the rest of my life. I’m willing to take the risk.”
Although music seems to have brought him lots of stress and anxiety with family, friends and with schoolwork, Michael would be lost without it. Music is what has brought him through plenty of hardships in his life and what, according to him, gets him through the school day.
“Music is an escape that I can always come back to,” he says. “It never yells at me or tells me I’m wrong. It’s a very nurturing thing.”