Who benefits from music in our schools?

Your first answer might be the students who learn songs about the wonders of the world, sing in choirs or play instruments in bands and orchestras. It’s enjoyable, creative, self-affirming, team-building, neuron-pathway building–it’s simply outrageously good for physical, intellectual and emotional wellbeing for all ages.

Who else benefits from music in our schools? 

• Adults who sing or play in choirs, orchestras, bands and attend concerts and arts organizations–who understand that the future of the art form they cherish begins in our schools;
• School Administrators who recognize that the musical arts are not extra-curricular but intra-curricular and play an important role in student attendance and academic success;
• Businesses and city planners who understand that schools with music and arts programs help build and sustain communities – who appreciate that supporting the musical arts is outrageously beneficial to urban development. 

Yes, music in our schools is beneficial beyond the rehearsal room and performance hall. And the good news is that lots of school administrators, arts organizations and businesses get it. No, not just get it – they play an active role in keeping school music alive. That’s something to celebrate. How about right now!

It’s “Music In Our Schools” month! In fact, it’s the 40^th Anniversary of the creation of this celebration of school music. Read about the beginnings of this month-long celebration here. The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) held their virtual celebration on March 12 and a recording of that program is going to be available for viewing on the NAfME website. The MIOS theme for 2025 is “United Through Music.” 

Children singing

March is a busy time for soloists and ensembles – and their teachers – in Oregon. Contest season has begun. John Eisemann, Director of Choirs at Grant High School, is keenly aware of the demands of preparing for district and statewide choral contests. It is one of the reasons that his semi-professional choir, In Medio, initiated their “Sing My Child” Choir Invitational four years ago. It offers some schools the opportunity to hone their repertoire in a special way–by singing with and for other student musicians and alongside the In Medio singers, some of whom are their own school choir directors. 

In Medio’s 2025 “Sing My Child” event is on Wednesday, March 19. Choirs from five high schools – Tualatin, Roosevelt, Woodburn, Grant and Hillsboro – will gather for an evening of choral community outside of their own school zones. It’s an excellent festival model. Come to Grant High School and enjoy the evening concert with the students. You’ll hear some excellent music.

And you’ll see how In Medio takes its commitment to promote music education even further. The ensemble is offering scholarships to students who want to continue their pursuit of musical excellence. One sophomore or junior student chosen from applicants participating in this year’s invitational will receive ten voice lessons so they can grow into a mentor within their school choral program. And, from each participating school, one senior who is planning on continuing in music in college will receive a $500 scholarship. Scholarship recipients will be announced at the March 19 concert. 

Students have had some great things to say about this In Medio Invitational. Listen here to testimonials from students who participated in the 2024 “Sing My Child” event.

In Medio’s “Sing My Child” Choir Invitational will be presented on Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00 at Grant High School. Ticket reservations (for a donation or for free) can be made here. 

One powerful piece – many voices in community

In Vancouver, Washington on March 19, 22 and 23, one special choral work is bringing adult and school musicians together. Vancouver School of Arts and Academics is partnering with Reprise Choir for a NW premiere performance of Circlesong by Bob Chilcott.

“Circlesong is an ambitious musical representation of the human life cycle, inspired by indigenous poetry across North America. The composition, encompassing 13 movements in seven parts, traces life’s stages from birth through childhood, adulthood, middle age, and finally, death. Circlesong uniquely articulates aspects of love and loss experienced by Native Americans during the westward expansion of the nation.”

(Reprise media release)

Listen here to one movement, “Walking the Red Road” (The seven sacred virtues of the Lakota):

Has Circlesong, for adult and youth choirs and percussion ensemble, been a challenge for the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics students? It has according to Joel Thoreson, choral music educator at VSAA. This kind of challenge is what VSAA is all about. “It has been a joy,” said Thoreson in recent email to OAW, “to see students grow from an overwhelmed state to a focused and capable state in rehearsals.”

Thoreson continued: “I feel that the text and subject matter have been another source of growth,” Thoreson said. “Students with native family background have seen their heritage in the work and shared with the class about it, something that simply doesn’t happen in day-to-day interaction. This has helped build community as students share more of themselves and are accepted and valued for who they are.”

Thoreson is pleased that sixty-seven VSAA students will have this collaborative opportunity on the March 19 concert. Upper-level singers from VSAA’s SATB and SSA choirs, grades 8-12, are joining the Reprise singers along with 4 percussion students from the band program. And one soloist is a sixth grader from Thoreson’s Foundations classes. The March 22 and 23 concerts will be performed only by Reprise Choir.

“Choir class has always been about connection, trust, sharing, and working together,” Thoreson said. “Providing students with the chance to sing a large work with 100 other people on our stage is a big deal. Such experiences were life-altering for me at that age and now I am lucky to provide that invaluable experience to others.” 

Bravo to Reprise and its co-directors April B. Duvic and Janet Galbraith for connecting with this school music program and making more people aware of these young people who are enriching their community through the music in their schools. 

Bob Chilcott’s “Circlesong” is presented in Vancouver on three dates. VSAA and Reprise sing on Wednesday, March 19, 7 pm, at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. The concerts on Saturday, March 22, 7 pm and Sunday, March 23, 3 pm are Reprise choir alone at Vancouver United Methodist Church. Ticket (suggested donation)and program information is here.

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The two programs above demonstrate the possibilities and the value of community and school music programs coming together. Here are several more ways in which adult community choirs have partnered with schools already in this choral season.

Portland Symphonic Choir invited two high schools to share the stage at their holiday concert; Willamette Master Chorus performed Misa Criolla and Abya Yala with students from Salem and Woodburn schools; and Eugene Concert Choir’s education program reaches thousands of elementary students every year. 

Arts Organizations Reach Out

Are you aware of the wonderful Chamber Music Concerts organization in Ashland, Oregon? Lots of elementary, middle school, high school and college students in the Ashland area are. Because of Chamber Music Concerts’s outreach program, world class musicians come to their schools to give concerts and share about themselves and the music. 

This outreach program is “a critically important counterpart of our concerts” wrote CMC’s Executive Director Jody Schmidt in recent email to OAW.

“When touring schedules allow it,” Schmidt said, “every ensemble we present on our series also performs at least one outreach program during their visit. We include area school children (elementary through high school), university students, retirement communities, and many other organizations in these programs. It can be a life-changing experience.”

Portland’s Chamber Music Northwest is also committed to providing community and educational opportunities. Check out their Community Education offerings and note the many opportunities for student performances and workshops including the Music Education Access Program. In the fall CMNW brought Sir Roderick Williams to Portland and sponsored a free public Vocal Masterclass with Portland State students the day before the British baritone’s recital.

This very week CMNW is offering the creative genius of WindSync wind quintet in three free presentations of “Peter and the Wolf”: March 13 (Beaverton City Library), 14 (Tualatin Public Library) and 15 (Powell’s Books PDX). Times and more information are here.

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Oregon Symphony offers education outreach programs. Portland Youth Philharmonic presents four free school performances each year at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. There’s one coming up in April. For some purposeful advocacy for school music take a look at this pull-down on the Metropolitan Youth Symphony’s website – “Music Education Advocacy.” MYS understands that their young artists are also performing in their own school orchestras and advocates for those programs to continue. 

One of the resources cited on MYS’s Music Education Advocacy page is the OMEA. That’s our Oregon Music Education Association. It’s there for the 800-ish music educators in the state and it’s there for folks in the community who want to learn and to share their thoughts about music education in their schools.

Take a seat at the table

OAW spoke recently with Laura Arthur, Public Policy Chair on the OMEA Executive Board. Arthur knows about school music in Oregon. She is proud of the outstanding work of our music educators and is passionate about educating the public and school administrators about the value of music in our schools. Educating school administrators? Yes, says Arthur.

District administrators and principals can be reminded that learning to read music is learning a second language and those skills interface with reading literacy; they can be made aware how the central nervous system responds to music and how ensembles encourage teamwork and connect students to each other. And high school administrators seeking solutions for low attendance in these post-pandemic years will appreciate research that shows that participation in music, the arts – and sports – gives many children a reason to come to school. 

Arthur pointed out that on Oregon Music Education Association’s website the second menu choice is ADVOCACY. Contained within are an advocacy toolkit, information on SEL (Social Emotional Learning) – powerful stuff there – and many more resources on how to advocate for music in our schools. A great place to begin: “5 Steps To Keep Music Strong For The Students In Your Community”.

Advocacy from within

Portland’s Lincoln High School choral music educator Lisa Riffel takes Step 2 – Publicize Your Program – to heart. In recent phone conversation with OAW Riffel spoke of how she submits choral music happenings to Lincoln’s school newspaper and Facebook page and uses the choir’s Instagram and YouTube pages to cheer on student performances. And, she emphasized, receives incredible support from her Lincoln High School Principal Peyton Chapman. Go Cardinals.

Lincoln choral students have participated in several workshops and festivals offered this season. “Flyers come across my desk and I put the opportunities before my students,” said Riffel. Lincoln singers attended Lewis and Clark College’s inaugural Echo Chamber workshop in the Fall, a deep dive into Renaissance music for chamber choirs with Lewis and Clark Professor John Cox. Some students attended Pacific Youth Choir/Choro in Schola’s ChoralFX and others participated in Oregon Repertory Singers ChoirFest NW at Portland State. 

“The Chanticleer Festival,” said Riffel, “was especially great in that my students got to work directly with the Chanticleer singers.” Whoa. World renowned Chanticleer? Yeah, we’ll get to that in a minute. 

Supplement not supplant

Aubrey Patterson, Artistic Director of Oregon Repertory Singers Youth Choirs Program, has taught public school music and has served as a University Supervisor for choral teacher candidates at Portland State University. From her multifaceted perspective she is privy to the successes and the needs in our school music programs and spoke to OAW recently about how community and school programs can work together. 

Patterson described school and community collaborations as an incredible plus. She praised the In Medio model of adult singers going to the schools to directly engage with students and applauds intergenerational collaborations, like the Reprise Choir concert. She also said she understands the importance of interconnectivity between community youth choirs and school choirs and is proud of ORS Youth Choir’s commitment to that connection.

“ORS Youth Choir is a wrap-around experience,” said Patterson. “We expect that our singers participate in their school choirs.” When she and other ORSYC teachers go to schools to work with young singers their goal is to get kids excited about their school programs. 

Chris Maunu, Artistic Director of Pacific Youth Choir, is in agreement with Patterson about collaborations between community youth choirs and school choirs. In fact, Maunu believes such partnerships are underused. In his PYC capacity, Maunu–who is NWACDA Chair for Children and Community Youth Choirs and is conducting the High School Mixed Honor Choir at the upcoming National ACDA conference in Dallas–visits schools and offers clinics. He estimates he has worked with nearly 2000 students in the two years since moving to Portland.

In a recent article – “The Valuable Partnership Between Community Youth Choirs and School Choirs” – for the Northwestern American Choral Directors Association (NWACDA), Maunu wrote:

“School choir programs are vital for young musicians. Under the guidance of amazing educators these programs ignite students’ passion for singing and lay strong foundations for musical growth. Collaboration between school and community programs helps students take their passion for singing to new levels while bringing those experiences back to the classroom, cyclically enriching both settings.”

Sponsor

Maunu put his thoughts into action last month. With a lot of help from some friends–Friends of Chamber Music, that is–Pacific Youth Choir gave over two hundred high school singers and their teachers a day to remember and skills to take back to their schools. It was a day with the musicians of Chanticleer.

Friends of Chamber Music and Pacific Youth Choir partnered on a similar festival in 2018 with the intention of repeating it in a couple of years. It finally happened this February 22 and it was outstanding. Kudos to the PYC organization – special woohoo to Maria Collingsworth – and to Trinity Cathedral where the workshop was held and to Friends of Chamber Music and, said FOCM Executive Director Pat Zagelow, a very special donor who made the day-long event possible. 

Chanticleer, fresh from their FOCM concert the night before, sang (so incredibly beautifully), spoke about their lives in music and sat among the students to learn, by rote, a special piece that all participants would perform at the evening concert. 

Chanticleer’s Music Director Tim Keeler, an excellent educator and motivator, led the morning workshop. 

Students from Lakeridge, Lincoln, Tigard and Westside Christian High Schools and from Pacific Youth Choir sang together and attended individualized school breakout workshops led by Chanticleer singers. Friends of Chamber Music’s Director of Marketing and Community Engagement Jessica Gordon shared her thoughts about the day in an email to OAW:

“The choir workshop we co-hosted with Chanticleer and Pacific Youth Choir was a powerful reminder of music’s ability to connect us. The entire day I was in awe witnessing all the creativity, collaboration, and inspiration that Chanticleer brought to these young singers. It brought forth the importance of music especially during these formative years of a teenager’s life. But the impact of this workshop extended beyond students. The choir teachers commented how they gained valuable tools and teaching strategies from Chanticleer’s world-class artists that they can share for years to come.”

Friends of Chamber Music is another example of an arts organization that understands the importance of music in our school. Choral folks appreciate that FOCM values the vocal arts and sponsors choral music in their series. In January the touring choir amarcord performed for choral students in Camas, Washington. Learn more about FOCM’s Education Outreach here.

By the end of the free evening concert – in which each school choir and Chanticleer sang separately before all singing together – there was a sense of belonging.

All of the folks and organizations mentioned above are powerful voices in support of music in our schools. And there are more of you out there. Thank you all. Here’s one more voice – perhaps the most important voice – of one of the students who participated. Pacific Youth Choir soprano Amber, who also sings in her high school choir, shared her thoughts about one particular choral work as she munched on a slice of pizza just before the evening concert. 

“I’m just amazed at the energy that can be in one single song.” She was talking about the combined choir piece, a choral arrangement by Tim Keeler of Tom Petty’s “Wildflower,” in which each refrain ends with “You belong somewhere you feel free.” That’s music in our schools.