This week’s artist spotlight focuses on freshman vocal performance major, Malik Shabazz.

From an early age, Malik has always possessed a passion for vocal music. In his past school experiences, Malik has sung for multiple choirs, and, occurring his sophomore year and continuing through his senior year of high school, Malik participated in the Texas Boys Choir, where he and other young men practiced extremely difficult repertoire. They even professionally recorded a few songs and gave tours around the country and world. Malik has brought his love of vocal performance to Millikin.

Malik participates in a variety of vocal related activities around campus, including Tudor Voices, Millikin’s vocal early music ensemble and Millikin Men, Millikin’s all male choir. In addition to his participation in these two respectable choirs, Malik has also sung the Star-Spangled Banner for two volleyball games at Millikin, and he is also a singer in a choir for First Christian Church in Bloomington, Ill. In the future, Malik hopes to become a member of University Choir and maybe participate in a few vocal jazz groups. Malik has joined multiple vocal outputs in order to increase his skills as a singer, and to practice singing various types of music.

However, Malik is no stranger to practice. According to the artist himself, Malik said, “I spend a lot of time working on one particular session or one particular week, because we [his choir] have four weeks of different things. So I try to encompass all of it and I try to break it up into parts. I focus my time on this specific week, or this specific week’s material.”

Malik’s time spent practicing is devoted to various components of vocal music, including dynamics, specifically sight-reading, scales, rhythm and more.

When asked about his drive to both practice and perform vocal music, Malik responded that there is one single motivator for him: passion. “I get a sense of accomplishment,” Malik said, “I feel like I’m stepping into my purpose of what I’m supposed to do with my life. It’s just like an overjoying feeling I get! I can’t describe it. It’s honestly like there’s nothing else in this world that I could see myself doing. I just love what I do! I’m so passionate; I can do it all day, everyday, twenty-four seven. I have a drive to do what I love. Sometimes it gets discouraging. Sometimes you don’t want to do what you have to do, but you always come back to it. Once it’s in you, it’s in you. There’s no way to get around it, there’s no way of hiding from it. If it lives and breathes in you, then you’re supposed to do it. If you wake up and you do it, then you’re supposed to do it.”

When asked about his overall incentive to get out and perform, Malik said, “As long as you’re working towards you’re purpose, and what ever it is that you’re supposed to do, then you’ll never go wrong.”