Teaching the “Wire Choir”

. . . or so they say. Assuming it is true, I guess it’s time I come clean. I have taught band & strings during my teaching career. But, as of this year, I have ventured into the world of vocal music, teaching middle school chorus.

Fellow instrumentalists may be screaming, “Why would you do such a thing?” Well, recently I have been teaching high school and middle school orchestra. However, due to schedule changes in our district’s high schools, I had to leave my high school orchestra in the band director’s hands. My middle school asked if I would be interested in adding chorus to my teaching duties. Hmmm. I gave it some thought and said yes. What has followed has been a frenetic (and sometimes frantic) search for information to build my almost non-existent choral skills. Let see, voice class and choral pedagogy classes were how many years ago??

Added to this was my lack of piano skills. Oh yes, I took piano minor in college. I even took piano lessons my senior year in high school to help prepare me for piano minor. However, let’s just say that the I, IV, V7 block chords are my great friends.

One of the things I appreciate about music teachers is that they are willing to help each other. Two choral teachers in my district came to my rescue with recommendations for choral seminars, video tapes, reading materials, etc. Other choral teachers heard of my plight (thinking, no doubt, “Oh, this foolish instrumentalist!”), offered their help and were willing to answer my 1001 questions. Also, the band director at my school is an absolute gem. He has been my listening ear when frustration has reached a peak. Bless you all!!

So how did I prepare for and get through this year? I attended a summer choral workshop, read everything I could get my hands on, listened to choral recordings, watched choral pedagogy videos, asked innumerable questions, observed others, and sweat - a lot. When I didn’t have accompaniment CD’s, I used Finale and my limited keyboard skills to input the piano parts for the songs the choirs were singing. I then created Smart Music accompaniments from Finale and I was set for accompaniments. Purists may scoff at this arrangement, but for me it was absolutely wonderful.

Now, the end of the school year is around the corner. How has this new adventure gone? Overall, pretty well. I have learned a great deal (with a lot more to learn). We put on a Winter Concert and did more than just survive. A couple of months ago, I combined my 7th & 8th grade choirs and went to MPA (Music Performance Assessment, a.k.a. Contest, Festival). We fared better than I expected, receiving a Superior rating (did the vocal adjudicators have pity on this poor, miserable instrumentalist?). And, my numbers look pretty good for next year which means that I didn’t scare away the students.

Why make this confession to the music teaching world? In our district, anyway, more music teachers are having to venture into new areas. We certainly would rather stay in our area(s) of specialty, but sometimes that just isn’t possible. My hope is that others who may be facing a situation similar to mine will be encouraged by my experience. With determination and hard work you can keep a program going and even see it grow. I’ll never be Robert Shaw or a notable choral educator, but I do have a bunch of kids that like to come to chorus everyday - - and they are learning!