By Brittney McLaws
The BYU Singer of the Year has not always been a singer.
Marilyn Reid, who was crowned Singer of the Year at the BYU Young Artists of Voice Competition Feb. 21, entered BYU as a biochemistry major.
She took piano and violin lessons as a kid and enjoyed music, but never planned to center a life around it.
It all began her freshman year when she decided she needed a music class to balance out her science-bombarded schedule. Her initial instinct was to take violin lessons but after family prodding she changed her mind.
'I was thinking about my father''s mother, she was very musical and my kindred spirit in the arts, and she had always said, ''Marilyn, I know you love all of this other stuff that you do, but you need to take voice lessons, you need to sing,''' Reid said. 'She contracted pancreatic cancer right before I came to BYU and so as a final gift to her I decided I would take voice lessons instead of violin lessons, and what a difference it has made in my life.'
Reid enrolled in voice lessons but was busily pursuing her biochemistry degree. It took a second round of urging, this time from her teacher, before Reid recognized her talent.
'My voice teacher said, ''I know you are really busy with all of the organic chemistry stuff but I just can''t shake the feeling that you need to audition for the vocal program.''' Reid said. 'I said to her, ''Me, a singer? You''ve got to be kidding me.'' I was scared out of my mind of performing.'
Reid finally got up the courage to enter her audition tape and to her surprise, she was accepted into the vocal performance program.
For the first year and a half, Reid was a double major. She said she was unsure music was the right path for her education and her life. She was hesitant because the life of a musician did not carry any financial guarantees.
'You''re never going to make any money doing music, you only do it for the love of the art form,' Reid said. 'But when it came right down to it, it was really easy.'
Reid said she felt divine intervention when it came to making this difficult decision.
'I''ve always loved music, but I never thought I would do it until the Lord turned me around and said, ''You really need to do this, for yourself and for other people,''' Reid said.
It has been that divine intervention that has brought Reid great joy in her talent.
'When I sing, I feel God''s pleasure,' Reid said. 'I feel that he is pleased with my offering of my whole self.'
In addition to winning Singer of the Year, Reid sung with the Utah Valley Symphony, won the best in voice at the Utah State Fair, was a district winner for The Met auditions, and performed in several BYU performances including the principle role in the production of 'Abinadi.'
Tonight, Reid will showcase her undergraduate work and her talent in her senior recital 'World Of Song.'
The performance is free and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.