By KATERINA ISTOMIN

When one considers the many talents of the students, faculty, and administration of The Juilliard School, spelling is probably not very high on the list. But it was the very thing on everyone's mind on Friday, February 10, at the first annual Juilliard Spelling Bee. News of this event created quite a buzz among the Juilliard community. Weeks before the event, I heard people asking their friends and teachers whether they'd be entering the spelling bee. Most of the time the response was a hearty laugh, a roll of the eyes, and a remark that was something like, "I go to Juilliard; I don't think I could spell even if my instrument depended on it." My personal argument is that spell check was invented for a reason!

Wilson Southerland (center), the gold-medal winner of Juilliard's first-ever spelling bee, is flanked by Joel Ayau (who won the silver medal) and Mimi Do (who took the bronze). (Photo by Samuel Zyman)

The spelling bee drew a spectacular and probably unexpected number of both participants and audience members to the second-floor lounge area. I applaud each of the 29 members who eagerly volunteered their time and spelling reputations in order for this event to be a success. Despite the fact that "there wasn't a lot at stake," as Liberal Arts faculty member Anita Mercier humorously pointed out after she had registered all the participants, the bee was adjudicated by a team of seasoned experts, all much younger than the actual participants. The team was headed by Erik Zyman, son of L&M faculty member Samuel Zyman and a three-time National Spelling Bee co-champion.

Phil Kuehn, a jazz bass major, was the first contestant of the competition and was asked to spell the word "canopy." Of course, Phil spelled the word correctly and we were off to a great start! The words in the first round proved to be easy for the expert spellers of the Juilliard bee. In the second round, things began to get harder and there were moments of levity. Contestants could ask for definitions, examples of usage, and alternate pronunciations—but when one asked the judges if they could spell his assigned word, "artiste," his hopes for help were squashed when Erik Zyman joined in the general laughter and then responded with, "I can … but I won't!"

Throughout the next several rounds, the words ranged dramatically in difficulty—and there were some dramatic moments hinging on pronunciation. In the fourth round, for example, the word "hermoglyphist" was given, and the contestant who spelled it incorrectly accused the judges of providing a misleading pronunciation. This notion was quickly dismissed and the bee continued. There was, however, one very unmistakable mispronunciation: of the French word "fête," meaning party or celebration. (Having taken French in high school and later practicing the language on a trip to Paris where I did plenty of "fête-ing" myself, I immediately recognized the mispronunciation.) The judges made the first "e" sound like a long English "a"—and consequently, bassist Eric Shetzen misspelled the word. When the mispronunciation was pointed out, Eric was reinstated for another word.

By round six, only three people remained: Wilson Southerland (an accompanist for Vocal Arts), Joel Ayau (a master's student in collaborative piano), and Mimi Do (budget and financial analyst in the Business Office). After Wilson spelled "proscenium" and Joel spelled "phylogenetic" correctly, they both moved on to the seventh round, eagerly applauded by the audience. It was now down to the last stretch, and although he'd put up a great fight, Joel misspelled "thymocentric" and Wilson alone moved on into the eighth and final round. (As Erik Zyman explained, spelling bee rules dictated that if Wilson spelled the next word correctly, he would be the winner; if not, there would be yet another round between Wilson and Joel.) The audience waited on tenterhooks as the word "psychomachy" was read. (I, for one, didn't even know that was an actual word—but I suppose that's why I was part of the audience and not a contestant.) After asking for the meaning of the word, its origin, and use in a sentence, Wilson spelled it correctly and came out the winner of the first annual Juilliard Spelling Bee. A grand Olympics-style awards ceremony followed, as the three finalists were presented with gold, silver, and bronze medals. Proving that it was all in good fun, all contestants received a pocket dictionary to help them on their road to future spelling bee glory.

Erik Zyman commented afterward that he was honored to be invited to help run the spelling bee, and deemed it "outstanding." "The atmosphere was laid back and humorous yet the contestants took it very seriously. I'm already looking forward tremendously to the second annual Juilliard Spelling Bee."

Katerina Istomin is a second-year student in viola.