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Many members of the Pepperdine community would never guess that behind the doors of the Ahmanson Fine Arts Center lies a side of Pepperdine that enlightens the mind, refreshes the spirit and entices the imagination. Stepping into the F.A.C. is like stepping into an entirely different world, and the students, who have the amazing opportunity to call the Ahmanson Fine Arts Center their second home, are very fortunate.
Within this world, students say, a treasure lies hidden. That treasure is the inspiration behind the musical talent. Her name is Melanie Emelio.
Emelio, a vocal performance professor, was born and raised in Abilene, Texas, and it is safe to say that she has been honing her craft since she was a little girl.
She began playing the piano at the tender age of 4. Since then, her parents, to whom she credits for the majority of her success, have been behind her every step of the way. She praises them for being highly supportive, yet non-judgmental, and attributes that aspect of their parenting to helping her develop a good sensed of self.
They would always tell her, “Win or lose, you have still learned something from this experience,” and that little bit of advice still remains with her today.
Emelio spent all of her childhood and adolescence in Abilene, and upon graduating from high school, had no desire to leave her hometown. Luckily, there was a university right across the street from her family owned a dry cleaners business waiting for her. She received her undergraduate degree from Abilene Christian University, a university affiliated with the Church of Christ, of which Emelio is also a member.
Pepperdine professor Milton Pullen has known Emelio since her college days at ACU. “Melanie Smith (her maiden name) was a young, bright and vocally gifted student who entered ACU in quest of a music education degree.”
To her, ACU was a safe haven filled with the familiarity of her youth. The city, the church, even the faculty have been apart of her life since before she can remember. “Going somewhere else never crossed my mind,” and looking back, she has no regrets with her decision. In fact, she greatly enjoyed attending ACU and met two of her best friends there that she regularly keeps in contact with.
Upon graduating from ACU, she experienced a burnout from school, and realized that she had to start earning a living. Emelio, who has always wanted to use her musical talents to teach, went to teach vocal performance classes at a high school and junior high school in Snyder, Texas.
After nine years in Snyder, Melanie began her graduate work at Rice University, and taught private voice lessons in the Houston area.
Rice University, however, was a completely different atmosphere. Unfortunately, the Christian atmosphere that she found comfort in was nonexistent at Rice.
At the completion of her masters degree at Rice, Emelio moved to Germany to pursue performance in various European opera venues. She was very successful, but describes her experience as extremely lonely. When Emelio re-entered the states, she enrolled in the University of Maryland where she received her doctorate degree.
However, she would have never guessed that at the end of her studies at Maryland University, she would end up in sunny Malibu, Calif.
Emelio was halfway into her doctorate when she received a life-changing offer to become a fulltime professor at Pepperdine University. However, the offer would not wait for her to complete her doctorate degree. Pepperdine wanted her to start as soon as possible. She says that she never had any intention of coming to California, but believes that, “the Lord knows what’s best for us, and his plan is perfect.”
In finishing her doctorate in a two-year record-breaking time, Emelio, at the age of 36, moved home with her parents and in her words, “did nothing but go from the computer to the piano all day.”
Emelio loves California and Pepperdine. She even met Neal Emelio, her husband of five years and former Pepperdine graduate student, at the university. “She is the type of person that a guy like me is blessed to call my wife,” said Neal Emelio. “Students are blessed to call professor, the church is blessed to call a member, friends are blessed to call her a friend, and Pepperdine is blessed to call her a part of the family.”
Neal Emelio added: “She tirelessly devotes huge amounts of time, energy and resources tending to her students’ well being. Beside her regular classes she has private lessons, writes grad school application letters, coordinates competition activities, conducts master classes, performs all over the country, studies world-wide, conducts research, just released a CD, is very active in the University Church, and regularly gets involved in the private life and well being of her students.
“My definition of love is putting others needs above your own. Dr. Emelio truly loves her students and constantly displays this through her actions towards her students.”
In her eighth year as a professor at Pepperdine University, Emelio couldn’t be happier. She loves her job and finds an unspeakable joy in enhancing the talents and musical knowledge of her students. She loves sharing the intellect of music and enjoys helping students with a surface level knowledge of classical music grow continuously in their trade.
Submitted 04-17-2008
