Maria Peña Associate in Arts Florida Community College, Class of 2009

Making Music from the Heart

Maria Peña
Associate in Arts
Florida Community College, Class of 2009

We have Maria Peña’s grandmother to thank for the voice that Choral Director Wayne Bailey calls “magnificent.” Without the American roots of her grandmother, a native of Indiana, Maria would still be singing in her native Colombia. Born in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, Maria was 15 when her engineer father, looking for brighter career opportunities, brought the family to his mother’s home country and settled in Florida.

Maria misses Bogota sorely. She speaks fondly of her friends and how warm the Colombian people are; how diverse and exciting Bogota is. After graduating from Jacksonville’s Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in 2004, Maria actually set off on her own to attend a music academy in Colombia. But after a year and a half, her unhappy parents insisted she return to the States. She did so, reluctantly.

Returning to Jacksonville in the spring, she wasn’t willing to wait for a fall entry to college. Florida Community College provided the solution. “I chose FCCJ because a friend told me the choir was great,” Maria says, “And because I wanted to start in the spring semester, this was the only place I could continue my music studies immediately.”

It comes as no surprise that Maria counts the Women’s Chamber Choir and Chorale as her favorite things about attending FCCJ. “I don't know if I would feel about FCCJ the way I do if it wasn’t for the chorale and Professor Bailey. I admire him, as a teacher and as a person,” Maria says.

Professor Bailey is equally impressed with Maria. “Her ever-present smile and wonderfully positive attitude, coupled with her beautiful soprano voice make her an indispensable addition to our choir,” he says. “It’s been an honor to be Maria’s professor.”

Maria plans to graduate with her associate in arts degree in 2009, but she’s not sure where she’ll transfer for her bachelor’s degree. “Maybe (the University of) Miami,” she says. While she plans to start a career in her home country, Maria knows that an American college degree will give her an edge when looking for a job in Bogota. She wants to eventually form and lead her own group, blending classical and pop styles. “I want to create a group in which I can make music!” she says.

She finds her musical inspiration in listening to vocal jazz. “Mainly Colombian and Latin musicians,” Maria says. “My favorite singer and composer is Marta Gomez, a Colombian girl who studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Her style is a fusion between Andean music and jazz. I want to be like her, singing from her heart, making everybody feel what she is singing.”