Student Spotlight: Jane Kelly

Jane Kelly is a second-year Masters Student at BGSU’s College of Musical Arts studying trumpet performance. She is from Albuquerque, New Mexico where she grew up and went to high school. She proceeded to move to Las Cruces, where she pursued her undergraduate degree at New Mexico State University, studying with Dr. Pancho Romero. Through an NMSU alumni connection with BGSU’s Professor of Trumpet Charles Saenz, Jane ended up auditioning for her Master’s degree here at BGSU, where she has begun to make a name for herself by winning and advancing in several national-level competitions.

One of the competitions which Jane has entered is the National Trumpet Competition which took place at the University of Delaware on April 2^nd. Jane competed in the graduate division of the competition and is one of approximately 30 semi-finalists in her division. This is Jane’s second time being accepted as a finalist for this competition (the first being in 2020, when the competition was ultimately cancelled due to COVID). For this competition she will be playing the third movement of Alfred Desenclos’ Trumpet Concerto.

Jane has also entered the MTNA competition, where she has advanced to the National round. She has advanced through both the State and Regional divisions of the competition (winning first) and is preparing to submit videos for the National division (which has been moved online). The MTNA competition has Jane competing not just against other trumpet players, but all brass players. For the MTNA competition she will be performing concertos by Oskar Bohme and Johann Friedrich Fasch.

As part of the preparation process, Jane says she has been recording herself a lot. She finds recording to be a valuable tool for reflection, as well as practicing performing for a camera. She finds the camera will encourage her to perform differently than she would by herself in a practice room. Additionally, Jane will find ways to practice developing focus while she performs. These include finding rooms that have distractions in them or having her friends attempt to pull her attention and focus away while she performs. She has found this practice to be quite useful because “No matter what happens in the room during the competition I can just continue playing”.

Jane has really enjoyed these opportunities to compete because they provide a chance for her to work on solo repertoire for the trumpet. Currently Jane is beginning the preparation process for orchestral auditions. She wants to get some field experience before she pursues any additional degree for music. She maintains a small private studio of students in the area as well. Outside of music, Jane enjoys sewing, quilting, knitting, and embroidering and has extended her hobby to even work in fabric stores in the past.

Jane’s collaborator is Pamela Ashmore, who (in addition to the competitions) will be joining Jane on her recital. - Garrett Evans, DMA, Saxophone