EUGENE, Ore.— Lane Community College vocal student Nicolette D’Erazo will transfer this fall to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., to pursue a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance.
“This is truly the greatest feeling!” she says.“Lane is the reason I am where I am today.”
Music faculty at LCC are very proud of D’Erazo’s commitment and accomplishments. Instructor Hisao Watanabe says Berklee is a highly reputable college for both commercial music and the field of jazz. Hundreds of its graduates have won Grammy, Tony, Oscar, and Emmy awards. Watanabe believes that Berklee’s musically challenging and rich environment will contribute to D’Erazo’s further growth as a musician and propel her to the next level of her professional career.
D’Erazo wanted to become a touring musician and recording artist ever since she took choir at Lake Havasu High School in Arizona. She graduated there in 2015 and enrolled at Lane that fall. Over the next few years she studied with music faculty Hisao Watanabe, Matt Svoboda, Hung-Yun Chu, Siri Vik, Olem Alves, Larry Clabby, and others. She says they are some of the best musicians she has ever seen. “What they teach is more than just academic; they instill passion, which you need to accomplish anything. They really changed my life in the best possible way.”
D’Erazo also credits her friends and peers at Lane with helping her succeed and become “someone that I hope my mom is proud of,” her best friend. “It’s hard when you are young and starting college, and trying to find your personality in music.You have to just give up all your anxiety about what your abilities are and just do everything with love. Anything can happen!”
She wants other students to succeed as well. “Give your whole self to the thing that makes you feel like a superhero, whether it be music or marine biology, or architecture... that superhero feeling is your fuel and you can do anything.”
In the meantime, she encourages everyone to stay safe and well during the pandemic. She is with family filling each day with laughs and good food, and looking forward to starting at Berklee this fall.
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Lane Community College educates over 25,000 students annually at six locations across Lane County and online. Students and alumni from all 50 states and 79 countries create more than an $850 million dollar impact on the local economy, helping to support more than 13,000 local jobs. Lane provides affordable, quality, professional technical and college transfer programs; business development and employee training; academic, language and life skills development; and lifelong personal development and enrichment courses.