Graduation Address

"Speaking Remarks for Wendy Nielsen, Ceremony A." (19 May 1999). (UA Case 67, Box 3)

Your Honour, Your Royal Highnesses, Mr. Chancellor, Madame President, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen and graduates.

I am deeply honoured to receive this honorary doctorate today and to deliver this address. My public speaking usually consists of introductions to songs during a concert – so humour me and let me delude my nervous self into believing that this address is a slightly elongated intro for the song that will follow. There I feel better already.

When I began my undergraduate degree in 1980, I knew that I wanted to study music and become a singer. If someone had told me then what it would mean in terms of commitment and sacrifice, I’m not sure that I would have persevered. But life is like that, isn’t it? One day at a time, one semester at a time and if your schedule works – one exam at a time makes it all seem possible and you just keep moving along.

I had a professor who constantly reminded us that it is "the process and not the goal" that is important. I think I’m beginning to understand that. Life is not a dress rehearsal, its one début after another.

You focus on your dreams and goals and the arrival; and sometimes you don’t live in the moments of getting there. I hope that as you sit there in your moment of arrival that you have many home movies in your mind of your years at UNB, yours to enjoy for the rest of your days.

So…you spent your years in public school, studied diligently, and competed to get into university. Once enrolled you worked hard to absorb, retain and deliver. Got all the answers right, well…most of them.

Now with paper in hand you go out into a world where you are expected to emerge from the herd and be an individual and make your mark. I have attended countless workshops and classes where the latest expert tries to preach the gospel of what to wear to an audition, which arias to sing and how to interact with the audition panel, etc. And after all of that I’ve discovered that what the people want, quite simply, is you. People doing job interviews are desperate for someone to walk in who is not a cookie cutter image of the guy just before him whether they be singers, engineers, accountants or plumbers.

My Dad is a perfect example of this, in his early twenties he applied for a position as a forestry technician with the Federal Government. My father had little experience and was up against some stiff competition. He went to the interview and presented himself in a straight forward, honest manner. The gentlemen interviewing my father was fascinated by the fact that my father played the piano and surmised from this that he was disciplined and accustomed to the repetitive work that scientific research requires. He got the job; in fact it was his life’s work.

I want to read you a quote from the great choreographer Martha Graham:

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable it is nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open."

May I add my congratulations to the host assembled here today and may God bless each and everyone of you.

And now to the song – I had several thoughts as to what might be appropriate, the most obvious of which was

"Thank you India, Thank you UNB, Thank you.."

But that’s Alanis and not exactly my style, so instead a song of dedication and thanks by Richard Strauss called "Zuiegnung." My partner in this performance is pianist Valentina Kotko.