Aspiring artists major in becoming major
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and at one educational facility in Franklin students not only work on what comes naturally but learn to spread their wings so that they'll never feel like fish out of water.
Columbia State's Commercial Entertainment Program, conducted at its Franklin campus, is unique in its approach; students, no matter what their special interest, learn all aspects of the performance industry: commercial voice, dance, studio recording, songwriting, acting and stagecraft. They may earn either a two-year transfer degree in Commercial Entertainment or a one-year technical certificate in Commercial Performance (or Commercial Music-Multimedia for songwriters).
"Dancers learn to sing and singers learn to move through dancing," says Cathy Hudnall, the department's director. "Everyone learns to perform and showcase their skills. No one else does all this in one program." Students receive a great deal of personal attention from instructors, all of whom have extensive professional performance backgrounds, with the express purpose of preparing them for a career in the performing arts industry.
The department specializes in recording artist development, providing the aspirant with vocal, showcasing, recording and songwriting skills. Its success is being sung all over the world: Graduates range from studio artists enjoying national radio airplay to performers at Disneyland and on cruise lines to touring members of Sesame Street Live, the Paul McCartney World Tour, the Rockettes, and Broadway companies. (See box below.)
Hudnall has directed the department for six years. She directs all aspects of the program and teaches commercial voice, digital audio recording and studio vocal techniques, while overseeing the musical direction, selection, and editing for all shows. In her home studio, she records artist demo and album projects, serving as producer, engineer, co-writer and coach for those who are ready for advanced vocal technique. The native of San Francisco moved to Tennessee for the quality of life, after a career as a singer, performer and writer for films and TV. (She was a singer and composer on NBC's "Santa Barbara.")
Laura Carroll is in her seventh year of teaching Dance and Choreography in the department. The artistic director of the Ann Carroll School of Dance at The Factory in Franklin, she has performed for Norwegian Cruise Lines and the NBA's Toronto Raptors and has toured the country with Sesame Street Live. She has choreographed the Pam Tillis Christmas Dinner Party at Opryland Hotel for the last three years.
Lili Parham specializes in Stagecraft at Columbia State. The native Nashvillian trained at Nashville Academy Theatre and worked as a designer at Opryland for 11 years before establishing a company that builds scenery and decorations for stage, film, video and convention shows.
Thom Yzaguirre (Ballet) has danced professionally for years, for the Nashville Ballet and Tennessee Dance Theatre among many others. He teaches ballet classes for skaters and choreographs their competition programs, on regional, national and international levels. He has worked with such dance luminaries as Loyce Houlton and Janek Schergen.
David Rivers (Commercial Songwriting) is a veteran of both the business and creative sides of the music industry. He served for six years at the Nashville Songwriters Association International, where he was National Workshops Director. He has represented songwriters including Rodney Crowell and Lyle Lovett, and is a writer himself and former bass player for the Americana band, SaddleTramp.
This distinguished faculty imparts its expertise to about 40 students. The results are on public display at two big shows yearly, including the upcoming Christmas show, a one-hour extravaganza for kids and their families to be performed at 7:30 on December 7 and 8 at the Williamson County Center. Kids can come dressed as their favorite fairy-tale characters, and at the second night's Dessert Theater they can enjoy dessert and beverage while watching the show.
Columbia State Community College's Commercial Entertainment Program is offered at the school's Franklin campus, in the Williamson County Center. Call 615-790-4420. Visit www.chudnall.columbiastate.edu.
Rachel Hockett and Amanda Omartian, two of the members of the trio Prelude, are graduates of the CSCC Commercial Entertainment Program. The girls (the third is Kara Tualatai) met at church in 1993. They became friends and found that among other things they had in common they enjoyed singing together. What started as goofing around turned into fully developed sound, and a lot of work as studio session singers. Amanda's father, Grammy award-winning producer Michael Omartian (her mother is Christian author Stormie Omartian), produced their first album, "Learn to Fly." The group wrote several songs on the album, which also includes a fresh arrangement of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out," and a selection of classic hymns. The music, reminiscent of '70s standards, also blends contemporary pop melody and harmony. Rachel Hockett is the daughter of Billy and Sara Gaines.