“I woke up later than usual, and I had so many missed calls from my teacher,” Tolbert said. “I was worried something bad had happened, so I called her, and she answered the phone screaming that I won.”
Tolbert admits that she did not enter the competition with any real intent to win.
“I wanted it for the experience and to prepare for next year,” she said. “When she told me I won, I was in shock. I almost threw my phone.”
After calling her family, Tolbert quickly reached out to the faculty and staff at UMHB, who have helped her along the way.
For her first two years at UMHB, Tolbert’s voice teacher was Guy Wilson, who retired last April after having served the university for more than 50 years.
“He instilled so many things that I was able to bring to my new teacher,” Tolbert said. “He taught me well, and he knew my voice and my story.”
Tolbert describes her new teacher, Haché, as being a “music theater guru.”
“She helped me to get where I needed to be,” Tolbert said, “and, when there were times that I would say, ‘I’m not going to do this,’ she would tell me not to count myself out.”
Tolbert says that she was attracted to the musical theater because it appeals more to her own personal style.
“I grew up singing Gospel music, which has more soul and expressivity,” she said.
For her submission, Tolbert performed "Too Beautiful for Words" from The Color Purple and "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls. McCloskey sang "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup" from 70, Girls, 70 and "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady. Webb performed "Last One Picked" from Whoop-Dee-Doo and "Lonely Room" from Oklahoma!.
The annual Hal Leonard Vocal Competition was founded in 2011 to encourage young singers from all over United States and Canada. Thousands of singers have participated in the competition, with top placing videos coming from 35 states and provinces, and over 40 colleges and universities. It was one of the first music competitions held entirely on YouTube. The contest features no entry fee to allow singers from all over North America to be able to compete.
Tolbert and McCloskey also recently qualified for the National Semifinals in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) National Student Auditions in its Musical Theatre competition. That competition, which is usually held at a host institution, moved to an online platform due to the cancellation of summer events as the result of the coronavirus. The students submitted their videotaped audition last week for the next round of competition.
