Collegiate Times

Freshman Theatre Center

For freshman theatre arts major Bethany Parks, partcipating in extracurricular activities in school has come to mean a strong devotion to her guitar. While getting into college is a big moment for anyone, another great accomplishment for Parks will be marked this March when an EP of her own music, titled “Bethany and the Guitar,” will be released.

The EP will contain five original songs that were written, produced and recorded by Parks. Also featured on the EP is her older brother, Kurtis Parks, who helped out with different duties. Kurtis is a graduate of Virginia Tech and an aspiring musician.

Though it’s only her first year of college, Parks has been busy recording and trying to find outlets for her music at local venues such as Attitudes. She is also currently attempting to secure a spot during Relay for Life at Virginia Tech.

Parks sat down with the Collegiate Times to talk about her music and her budding career as a songwriter.

CT: How are you enjoying (the theatre major)?

PARKS: I really like the theatre department and it’s very close knit. The teachers have a lot of experience and I just declared the major so I haven’t taken many classes yet. ... I’m thinking of trying out for “American Idol” over the summer. My older brother tried out the year that Carrie Underwood won, season four. He got to Hollywood and made it to the rooms where they split them into the four rooms and decide which two rooms get to advance. He got to meet Carrie and hang out with her, and he has a picture with her, but this was when neither of them knew that she was going to get that far. I feel like it’ll be really good way to get my name out there even thought I might not get very far.

CT: Have you been preparing yet?

PARKS: I sing all the time and I play guitar a lot. I’m just going to go and do it because I don’t want to be too nervous, but I probably will be.

CT: When did you first start playing music? Or discover your passion for singing?

PARKS: I started playing around with the guitar probably three years ago and I had no idea what I was doing, and I kind of taught myself. I took a class in high school that taught basics with chords, and I’ve always liked to write — mostly short stories or poems. Then once I started playing around with the guitar, I experimented with songwriting. The more I wrote, the better I got with it. My brother helped me a lot with that. I actually was just really nervous to sing in front of anyone. I didn’t know if I was good or not and then I tried out for the youth band for my church and no one really said, “You’re not good.” I sang more and more as the months went by. In the beginning, my voice was shaky, but I improved a lot so they kind of promoted me to the main band on Sunday mornings. Then I had a lot of people come up to me and say how my voice was good ... Singing solos helped me get more confident with my voice. I always got so nervous of my brother’s opinions because he is a musician, but he pretty much encouraged me and helped me write. I started recording to try it out and realized that this could be something that I wanted to do.

CT: Has music always been a part of your family, or did it start with you and your brother?

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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 23 issue of the Collegiate Times.