Upon the re-entry into the orbit of teaching (my trajectory was tad-bit too steep - burning some of my tail feathers) I landed nose first into the halls of South Spencer High School as the fourth choir director in as many years. The first few days were predictable. While the chorus had been somewhat of a dumping ground for years some students were surprised I actually expected them to sing in chorus!!! Go figger??? I lost two kids the first day. We 'warmed up' and actually heard sounds coming from their throats. I believe there were about 22 kids the first day. We lost two and grew 4. I'd grown up (musically) in a classical choral tradition of standing and singing where all the focus was the sound and education. SSHS had a history of showchoir in it's far distant past. "When David Girten was here..." the filler was "we packed out the auditorium." Almost implied was 'we had senior citizen bus tours stopping here everyday to watch the greatest showchoir on earth!!!' 'Everybody sang in Rebel Singers.' Better yet (and this was from a colleague of the Great Girten), the school stopped what it was doing to put on the spring musical.'
Well in my opinion, showchoir was cotton candy. It was pretty (pink) it was sweet but it didn't have staying power (all fluff). I'd performed in a Broadway type revue that traveled three of Kentucky's State Parks during the summers of '75 and '76 and had enjoyed it immensely. But my steak and potato choir tradition was "stand and sing" or "park and bark."
Somehow thru' the years of change at SSHS, the 'great Girten' legend lived on. Kids thought that real choirs danced and sang. So we stumbled on going on into the blazingly challenging works of SAB music of "you get a line and I'll get a pole, honey" type of music. Trying to get 3 parts singing in tune was a pipe dream that wouldn't be realized that fall.
Into the once hallowed halls of 'choirdom' came Keith Irwin. Keith had a look of Elvis with a twinkle in his eye and another look of don't get in my space at the same time. For some strange reason, he seemed to plug into the singing thing. He had a decent tone and even began learning solfeggio. He was a senior. I had no history of him. He acted like he had a disdain for school but an interest in singing. For the second semester, I introduced my fledgling chorus a piece in Latin and we began to learn it. After a day or two of teaching notes and rhythms, we began the pronunciation to which the now unforgettable Keith Irwin said "Why do we have to sing songs in Latin?!?!?!" (accompanied with the unverbalized - 'this sucks!) I laughed and told him that I was going to put up a plaque to honor him with that great question [which I've not yet lived up to.]
I got to 'splain' it to him that Latin vowels are pure and without any diphthong which helps singers listen to their own blend and tone more easily than singing in English. Most of the choir eyes were in 'full-tilt eyes glazed over' mode accept for one serious music student who seemed to nod and agree and yet their was Irwin... listening, giving an unvoiced (well if that isn't the biggest crock of ____) but yet their was a twinkle in his eye that maybe, even possibly he was really listening!!! One day he came up behind me and gave me a quick grab on the back on the neck squeeze for about 1 quick second that unspokenly said "I like you. I like choir - a lot"
Some time in the early dark days of early December of 2004, I received a letter about an Honor's Choir Festival with the University of Louisville. I was to pick some kids, learn 'em some fancy Latin stuff and bring them to Louisville and 'sang' with an orchestra. There was little doubt who my tenor would be. We ordered the music and practiced although not enough and off we bussed to U of L.... spent Sunday night. I gave a devotion (he elected not to come). The next day those 4 kids were immersed into a classical choral rehearsal. They rehearsed with 120 high school kids from Kentucky and about 40 college students from the U of L Chorale, a select ensemble. That afternoon they rehearsed with the U of L orchestra and yes... they sang in Latin, a mass no less. What a great experience for them. At the end of the year I asked for classroom evaluations where they could anonymously tell what their frustrations and enjoyments were. One of the most telling comments came from a senior. The unnamed students said "I wish I'd been in choir all my high school years." I think this was the comment of the originator of the never to be forgotten statement "Why do we have to sing in Latin?"
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- w david malone
- Father, Teacher, Choral Director, Follower of Christ, recent widower.
2 comments:
Mr. Malone,
I tripped over your blog while trying to locate a former South Spencer classmate. Typically, I do not read blogs, however, because of the reference to South Spencer High School and Rebel Singers I was interested enough to continue reading.
While some of your information is correct regarding the degradation of the South Spencer choir program over the previous 12-15, your depiction of the choir program during the David Girton era is incomplete.
I participated in the program from 1975 through 1978 and throughout those years concert choir was the foundation of vocal music. At that time, the formal concert choir was the foundation of everything else that was accomplished whether that was Rebel Singers, musicals, et al. We sang largely from the classical choir canon as well as traditional gospel. Popular music was worked in on occasion. However, it was only a fraction of the total repertoire.
Choir at South Spencer at that time was considered “cool” primarily because of the high quality of the resulting performances. Because there was no stigma associated with participating in choir, the majority of male choir members were athletes. Practices, both for concert choir and Rebel Singers, were grueling with an emphasis on technique and accuracy. I played baseball, basketball, and football at South Spencer and the commitment required of a choir member was no less then any of those sports.
The focus of the year was state contest and all-state choir. It was our goal every year to receive a “first” at state and to place as many members as possible in all-state choir. We annually averaged 4-6 all-state choir participants.
I cannot speak to the state of vocal music when you arrived at South Spencer in 2004. I can, however, address its health when I graduated in 1978 and I can assure you there was very little “cotton candy.”
Stan Boultinghouse
South Spencer High School, 1978
Stan, thanks so much for writing and completing what I missed. That is really encouraging what you've posted. Somewhere and at some point in time there was a paradigm shift and singing in choir fell out of being cool for the majority of kids. The students in the program have worked hard and have reaped a good amount reward. We've been able to perform 3 huge high school shows. In 2011 we staged Phantom of the Opera and were on of the 1st high schools in the state to do so. Then in 2012, West Side Story took a lot of our energy with high level dance. Then in 2013 South Spencer was blessed to perform Les Miserables. This has been a great experience for us.
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