Performing as a Passion: How Julie Nitowski Came to Participate in the Concerto Competition at Elizabethtown College

By Kirsten Dorsey

Julie Nitowski is a Senior music therapy major at Elizabethtown College. On top of keeping up with her busy major, she is also one of the winners of the 2021 Concerto Competition, and will perform a solo piece on her soprano saxophone, accompanied by the Elizabethtown College Community Orchestra.

Her piece, “Fantasia for Saxophone, Three Horns, and Strings,” by Heitor Villa-Lobos, will be performed at the orchestra’s spring concert on April 10, 2022.

To prepare for her performance, she has spent countless hours in private lessons and practice sessions working on her piece, as well as attending the orchestra’s weekly rehearsals to practice with the ensemble.

Last week, I sat down with Julie to talk about music, academics, life, and how to balance everything when you are in an insanely busy major like music therapy.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

K.D.: So my first question is, where did you first hear about the concerto competition?

J.N.: So I’ve kind of known about it since I was a sophomore. In freshman year, it was more in the background, there’s a concert every year and I saw students participate in it, and I thought, “That would be really cool to try out one day, just see what happens.”

It wasn’t until junior year that I started actually working on a piece to be in it. At that point my professor and I got together and she said, “I have this piece for you, do you want to do it?” and I was like, “Sure,” so we gave it a go. So that’s kind of how I figured it out, just through other students and hearing about the concert in general.

K.D.: And is there anything specifically that made you say “I want to do that?”

J.N.: I think just seeing how you could play with the orchestra or band ensembles was really cool. I was just like, “Woah, they must be really good musicians. I wish I could be that good.” And so I had that mindset in my head, and I never really thought that I could do it. So it was really exciting.

K.D.: Is this something that you are doing in your private lessons? And how much time a week do you dedicate to practicing for it?

J.N.: So this is something that me and my private instructor have discussed and worked on. I’d say I give a good amount of time to this. I also have a senior recital that I am preparing for too, so there’s a lot of preparation all over the place, making sure I have my part down so everyone else would have it.

I’d say I practice 5-6 days a week, putting a lot of effort in. Breaking it down part by part is my main strategy with it, and not keeping it in the back of my head. The senior recital is a big deal, but this is also a really big deal.

K.D.: What is your senior recital like?

J.N.: So the senior recital is music I’ve been talking about since freshman and sophomore year. It’s about a half hour of music that you share with another student here. I’m doing it with my roommate, she’s percussion. So it’ll be the two of us going back and forth, and it’s just me and her on piano solo playing.

Family and friends can also attend, and its meant to showcase what you’ve learned on, for me saxophone, over the past four years. So it’s a really great opportunity to show it off, but also kind of nerve-wracking, because it’s all your friends and family there so you want to show them that you’ve worked so hard and this is what you’ve done. So yeah, it’s a lot of preparation just like this, so I’d say they’re both pretty equal up there.

K.D.: So are you a music major, or are you doing music education or therapy?

J.N.: I’m a senior music therapy major, so I’m getting ready to graduate (yay!) Over the last four years here I’ve learned a lot.

K.D.: And how much work goes into the music therapy major?

J.N.: Music therapy takes up, if you want to be in the program, a lot of time and effort and a lot of assignments, but I wouldn’t change it. I mean, it’s really great and we have a great experience here. We have an on-campus clinic where people can come onto campus to have sessions, and I think that’s really rare and one of the reasons I chose music therapy here especially.

The faculty is also great and really understanding. So if I do feel overwhelmed with the 14 classes you have to take as a music major, I can talk to them and they’re like, “You can breathe, it’s okay.” They really walk you through things and make you feel good, that they’ve got your back and everything will work out. So as much as music therapy is intimidating, it is so worth it in the end, so I tell people not to be scared.

K.D.: Do you do any other extracurricular or jobs or does music therapy keep you busy enough?

J.N.: It does keep my busy. I will say that one job I do have is that I’m a tour guide on campus. So I do Accepted Students Days, open houses, and I work two days a week at Admissions for two hours because that’s all my schedule really allows. It’s really fun getting to meet new families, showing them why I chose Etown and how Etown might be a good fit for them.

That’s just something else I do outside of music, but that’s pretty much it. I like to go home sometimes and visit family, and that’s really the extent outside of music.

K.D.: So you have your major, your senior recital, the concerto competition, and that keeps you very busy. How do you manage to balance everything?

J.N.: That’s a good question, sometimes I wonder if I have managed to balance everything. I really think using professors and faculty as a support system has helped. For me it was a really great stress reliever, so I could just ask them, “Am I going crazy?” or “Can you hear me out?” and they’re like, “Yeah you are a little bit crazy,” or not, so I think just talking to them has helped a lot.

Something else that’s important is just taking some self-care time. This year we’ve really talked about that my classes, how self care is important. I think we all tend to just go, “I’m fine, I’m still breathing and walking,” but I think taking some time to sit down, listen to some music or watch tv is actually more therapeutic than I would’ve ever known.

I have my Bachelorette nights on Mondays, and it’s something that I just go “Ok, I’m going to put my homework down, watch tv, and call it a night.” So I think that’s been really important too, as silly as it sounds. It’s little things like that that can make a difference in a crazy major, like music therapy can be.

K.D.: Yeah, sometimes you just have to make yourself stop, which can be hard sometimes.

J.N.: Yeah, and just being organized too has helped me. somedays I’m like, “This is what I’ll do this day,” and other days it’s like, “Take a break today, you’ve earned it.” So I’d say that’s a big part of it.

K.D.: What are your plans after graduation?

J.N.: So plans after graduation: For a music therapy degree, you have to get an internship afterwards. I’ve been accepted into an internship in Ohio, in the Columbus District, at a school called Bridgewater Academy. It’s a school that supports multiple diagnoses, things like intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and I’ll really just be working with a bunch of kids K-12 and providing therapy for them. They also have occupational therapy, art therapy, thigs like that. I’m really excited for the opportunity there, and I’ll be there for 7 months. So I’m really excited to explore, and travel a little bit as well. I’m from New Jersey, so it’s not near my home, so that’ll be kind of nice. After that, I’m hoping to come home, maybe find a local job, and get my board certification. So those are my after graduation plans, and I’m excited for Ohio and Bridgeway Academy for sure.

K.D.: And do you still plan on doing any sort of ensemble work or any sort of performances?

J.N.: Oh, for sure. That’s honestly a concern of mine, and something that makes me nervous, because in music therapy you don’t really bring a saxophone to work with clients a lot, but I don’t want to lose my love for playing. So I think we’ve talked about doing things like pit orchestra music, maybe if a high school ensemble is looking for someone in their pit, that would be a cool opportunity. Or I’m really into jazz music, so a jazz combo would be really cool outside of work. But yeah, I really don’t want to lose my love for music, and if an ensemble happens to appear, I would love to join one to try and keep playing, and not lose that love of saxophone that I have.