In this seventh iteration of the annual Choral Director feature, the 2012 Choral Directors of Note report shines the spotlight on 11 outstanding choral directors from California to Maine and Florida to Wisconsin. Selected from nominations and recommendations sent in by fellow teachers, students, administrators, and colleagues, these following educators represent just a slice of some of the wonderful people and programs in vocal music education today.

This edition of the report seeks out the philosophy, methodology, and impact of these outstanding individuals through three questions: their underlying teaching philosophy; the most important lesson they have learned as music educators; and how they hope to be making a difference in students lives.

ARIZONA

Jeffrey A. Medlock

Skyline High School

Mesa

Years at Current School: 8

Total Years Teaching: 17

Students in Vocal Music Program: 150

What is your teaching philosophy?

The content is often the least important topic discussed. Helping students develop a life-long drive to be a better person today than they were yesterday is a far better measure of success.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

Take care of yourself first. If you aren't well taken care of you can't take care of anyone else.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

I want each student to know that he or she can make a difference. Students should understand that competition is a good thing because it pushes them to improve, but the only person they should ever truly compete against is themselves. Make the world a better place by being a better person. Provide beauty and respect through music. Honor the past, develop the future, and live in the present.

CALIFORNIA

Michael Short

Orange High School

Orange

Years in Current School: 30

Total Years Teaching: 32.5

Students in Vocal Music

Program: 225

What is your teaching philosophy?

My goal as an educator and choral director is to motivate people to succeed. I aim to create life long learners, by peaking their interest in the world around them through the vehicle of music, by creating memories and urges to dig deeper into why things are the way they are in music and in life! We don't just sing the music; we also strive to understand the text and the reason behind the music. What was going on in history? Why was it written? Who was the composer? What does the song mean to the student today? When we understand these things, we understand how to sing the music.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

We are not just teaching music/singing; we are teaching culture and how to be a complete human being! Everyone can sing and learn to love great music of all cultures!

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

Students who walks into my room and will learn the names of 3 1 -100 other singers. They will learn to breathe, count, give back rubs, and be flexible; like when we were asked to have the choir sing for the visiting Congressman the day before he arrived. In the advanced choirs, students spend hours in and out of class performing for nonprofit organizations as well as paid company parties. This develops friendships that will endure and some just might eat enough meals with the choir to know who eats pizza with mushrooms but no pepperoni. The students who accept these tasks will succeed, achieve and tour places such as Europe (every 4 years), Northern California, San Diego, Washington D.C. or New York. As we say at Orange High School, "Try it! You'll like it" because "It's all good at Orange High!"

Students in choir find that if they are willing to work hard, persevere, and have integrity, they will be successful in achieving their goals. A great example of this is with the tours that the choir will go on: Every four year we sing our way through Europe. The other years we travel to Northern California, San Diego, New York, and Washington D.C.

AH students who have worked hard, persevered, and had integrity have attended these trips. It is guaranteed! Through these tours students find that they want to know more about where they are going and where they have been. They want to learn the history, economics, languages, cultures and philosophy of these amazing areas. These are traits of a life long learner.

Students in my class are going to be excited about music, learning, and being successful. They learn that through hard work and perseverance, goals can be achieved.

FLORIDA

Scott Leaman

Lincoln High School

Tallahassee

Years in Current School: 1 1

Total Years Teaching: 20

Students in Vocal Music Program: 175

What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that all students should have the opportunity to be part of a thriving music program that allows them to grow into strong musicians. So often I see music teachers with the "Ivory Tower" mentality that only want the top musicians in their classes. Our responsibility is to help all of our students blossom into musicians, not just those that have natural talent or have purchased their music education through private lessons. We would never expect a student going into Algebra to be able to solve an equation on day one, so why should we expect every new chorus student to match pitch on the first day of school? If you have a love of music and want to sing, I want you in my classroom.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

Academically, I am always aware of how important our literature selection is to the growth of our ensembles. I see so many young directors that want to impress the world by programming tough lit, but then they don't perform it well. My motto has always been "Program for the choir you've got, not the choir you wish you had." Sing something that is accessible to your own group of singers and sing it beautifully. Our literature becomes our textbook, so we need to find pieces that not only work best for our singers but also teach and reinforce the concepts we are trying to get across to our singers. Smart literature selection is one of the most critical skills we need to develop as conductors.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

I always want to have wonderful choirs that are full of amazing musicians, but I also want to help mold my students into responsible, caring, and hard working people. Sometimes we think that a performance is the end result of our work, but I like to believe that our influence on the lives of our students goes well beyond the concert stage. I value punctuality, kindness, and dependability just as much as I value the ability to sing in tune to make a beautiful musical phrase. Yes, I have very high expectations of my singers and I want every concert to be full of wonderful moments, but I also recognize that we are raising the next generation of concert goers and patrons of the arts. If we can get our students to the point where they value music education for a lifetime, we have been successful.

MAINE

Rob Westerberg

York High School

York

Years at Current School: 11

Total Years Teaching: 24

Students in Vocal Music Program: 200

What is your teaching philosophy?

My favorite philosophy of education came from my undergraduate Education Methods teacher, the late Stephen Smith: "to get people to unlearn the irrelevant." And that resonates with me to this day, particularly in our discipline where inaccurate preconceived notions exist of what we do and what our value is. So I have adopted the premise that, "Singing is fun, but music is work. The reason we commit to it is because it's a labor of love... both in equal measure." Consequently, there's nothing wrong with talent, but no one is so talented that their vocal (or teaching) qualities are more important than who they are as people. In other words, I believe that we're in the business of developing people through rigorous musical development. And if we succeed at the first, we'll soar at the second.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

If the kids know you love them and love working with them, but never at the sacrifice of your professional agenda, they will develop a trust and love for what you're asking of them... and the culture of an entire music program can be transformed. In each choir I've ever worked with, it has been an overt goal of mine to push them well beyond their comfort level and perceived limitations. Wth that push simultaneously accompanied by unconditional support, understanding and rigorous musical development (reading skills, vocal skills, Shaw rehearsal techniques to develop the individual choral disciplines), my choirs have always blossomed in extraordinary ways.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

Help establish in them a sense of self esteem for all the right reasons; earned accolades as a result of tangible care and commitment to each composer, as well as to their peers. We implemented a graduation requirement specifically for music at York High School because this goal is relevant to every teenager in York, not just those who are already interested in or excel at music. Again, developing people through a vibrant and demanding music program. They need to discover the transforming power of working with a heterogeneous group of peers in accomplishing a common goal over a long period of time (isn't it true that we're the last remaining process oriented discipline in a product oriented society?). That mission accomplished, everything else flows from there.

MICHIGAN

Dr. James Borst

East Grand Rapids High School

Grand Rapids

Years at Current School: 3

Total Years Teaching: 27

Students in Vocal Music Program: 115

What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy involves developing a connection with each and every student in every class. I strive to engage students by knowing what they are thinking about and how comfortable they feel while interacting with others as they learn vocal music. Each student is vital to the whole. They need to feel that they contribute in positive ways, and that they are noticed for their contributions

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

The most important lesson I've learned is that excellence in vocal music teaching involves a sense of forgiveness. Allowing students to be themselves and accepting them for who there are as persons is paramount. Students make mistakes in their personal lives, in their relationship with others, and in their music-making. Teachers must allow for these mistakes, utilizing healthy strategies that provide structured consequences.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

I hope to make a difference in students' lives by showing them how music transcends human thinking into an aesthetic form. I hope to teach that hard work and a drive for excellence in performance helps us to be critical thinkers, and gives us the ability to gain insight towards building community. Teaching kids to sing perpetuates healthy human interactions that help sharpen the mind and feed the heart.

MINNESOTA

Philip Brown

Hopkins Senior High School

Minnetonka

Years at Current School: 6

Total Years Teaching: 1 1

Students in Vocal Music Program: 340

What is your teaching philosophy?

Music is more than just singing or playing the correct notes and rhythms. Similarly, teaching is more than just introducing a song and going over it time and time again until it gets performed. The more active and thoughtful the learning environment, the better the chance that students will enjoy the music process and continue to value music in their lives.

Every student deserves the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of music education. They should get to sing a wide variety of literature, spanning different time periods, cultures, styles and musical challenges. While I have never met a musician who loves every song they have learned, demonstrating to each musician that every song has something to learn from is the important educational lesson for us all.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

During my second year of teaching, I was enjoying a conversation with several music teachers at the state music educators conference. Each person was sharing with one another what music their choirs were singing and what teaching strategies they were using to teach certain ideas or concepts. Then one teacher in the group made the comment that she was most interested in what the students were learning and able to demonstrate successfully.

As I reflected on her comment, I realized that I had spent the first year and a half of my teaching focused on me rather than on the students. If a choir I taught had gone all the way through a sight-singing curriculum for the year, would I know they were proficient at the skills learned in that curriculum or was I more focused on simply finishing the curriculum regardless of how they were doing with it? Shifting my educational thinking to the process of student-focused instruction has been the most important lesson I have learned as an instructor to date.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

I try to make a difference by being a model for life skills such as hard work, discipline, and focus.

For many music teachers, it begins with sharing our joy for music and hoping that others can find a similar joy or appreciation for music. By demonstrating that I am still learning as a musician and teacher, hopefully my students will understand that being a lifelong learner is important. Establishing excellence as an expectation in the classroom and always striving to improve musically can help students in all areas of their life.

Promoting a classroom environment that is comfortable and inviting can be a great comfort for high school students. Letting each student know that they can be themselves in your class and that they will be accepted just as they are can really be powerful. The support of each other then inside and outside of the class has such a positive influence on so many students.

NEVADA

Karen Rogers

Elko High School

Elko

Years at Current School: 19

Total Years Teaching: 24

Students in Vocal Music Program: 180

What is your teaching philosophy?

Teaching fundamentals and helping students develop a strong work ethic will help students excel in the choral ensemble, as well as in life.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

The most important lesson I have learned is there is no substitution for hard work. It is amazing how students will raise the bar when given high standards and goals.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

It is my hope that through the music we learn and perform students will feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. I would like them to take the lessons learned as part of a choral ensemble and apply them not only to music, but to their Hf e outside choir, and that hopefully, these lessons will help them be positive and productive citizens within their community.

OKLAHOMA

Tony Gonzalez

Norman North High School

Norman

Years at Current School: 15

Total Years Teaching: 33

Students in Vocal Music Program: 200

What is your teaching philosophy?

Teachers choose to surround their lives with the lives of young people. Loving and caring for them as individuals and respecting them as young artists is a combination that can reap wonderful benefits. Never underestimate the power of young peoples' hearts and minds.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

The greatest obstacle for actors to overcome is to abandon their vulnerability and to completely open themselves up as human beings. This is a great lesson that I have learned to accept and that has enabled me to more closely communicate the power that music and text can have over someone.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

The power to influence and shape lives goes beyond the immediate impact that the printed note has on the students. Sometimes the influence that teachers have over students goes way beyond the time they were in your classroom. I'd like to share a letter I recently received from a former student as an example of this enormous gift teachers have to give to their students: the sharing of musical experiences.

"For so many reasons, I am writing you to say thank you. I have recently begun a new career as a teacher and it has made me think back to my own teachers often. So many times, the first memories are of you and of choir. You shaped my life in so many profound ways. For starters, you introduced me to things I had never experienced. I can still remember the feeling of seeing the curtain lift for the start of Phantom of the Opera. I had butterflies in my stomach from the seer awe of it all. That was a 9th grade trip to Dallas that changed me forever. I remember the pride I felt in myself, and from you, for making All State Choir my first year! Through these experiences and so many more, you instilled in me a love of culture and the arts that goes far beyond singing. As a teacher you were fun and goofy, yet serious and stern. That turned out to be the perfect combination. You demanded perfection and pushed me far beyond what I thought were my limits. You have a true gift in which you motivate and inspire your students. I will forever be grateful for my years as your student."

One hopes, as a teacher, that our students receive the love and passion we feel for the music through their exposure to the arts and musical experiences.

TENNESSEE

Vincent Oakes

The Baylor School

Chattanooga

Years at Current School: 6

Total Years Teaching: 12

Students in Vocal Music Program: 120

What is your teaching philosophy?

Every student has a voice. It is my job to find students where they are and use the choir as a vehicle to build up technical skills, musicianship, confidence, and - eventually - mastery. While we can spend a lot of time refining the smallest details of a finely-tuned product, one should never overlook nor fail to celebrate the genuine growth and achievement of even the most basic of musical concepts.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

The best singing comes from even better listening. The greater good of the ensemble is served when each individual insists on hearing others more than he hears himself.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

In music education circles, we talk a lot about the lifelong skills and benefits of choral music, both musical and extra-musical. While this is certainly true, the benefits of having a safe place to explore a student's interest and passion in music pay immediate and enriching dividends. I hope that my students will have found participation in choir - both during school and far beyond - to have been a place where students of all levels, abilities, interests, and places in society can come together for a common good, the sum efforts of which are much greater than of any one individual.

UTAH

Adrianne J. Tawa

Canyon View High School

Cedar City

Years at Current School: 1 1

Total Years Teaching: 1 1

Students in Vocal Music Program: 240

What is your teaching philosophy?

Music is an integral part of education. Music awakens imagination, opens the mind and activates the body. I believe vocal music training has merit for all learners. I strongly believe in the power of music to build bridges between logic and emotion. I am committed to helping all students gain organizational and study skills to help them be independent learners, to learn to ask well thought out questions, express themselves creatively and use music and a vehicle for introspection and personal growth.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

I have learned that it is important to find or create something beautiful every single day. If I forget to make something beautiful, I go home feeling frustrated and dissatisfied. When I keep my focus on beauty, I feel like I float out the door.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

I hope that my students will leave their experience in my classroom feeling like they have a deeper understanding of themselves and a deeper understanding of how they connect to each other and the world around them. Music stirs us up inside and helps us make sense of everything else we think we know or are trying to understand. It is our mode of transportation to greater personal growth and artistic expression. It would be wonderful if my students would leave their high school experience with a desire to keep singing!

WISCONSIN

Raymond Roberts

Milwaukee High School of the Arts

Milwaukee

Years at Current School: 20

Total Years Teaching: 21

Students in Vocal Music Program: 190

What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is based on a maxim attributed to Goethe. It states, "If you treat a person as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be." Many of my students have been inundated with others' low expectations of them as scholars, musicians, and citizens over a long period of time. It takes time, patience, and nurturing to mitigate those negative messages, but it is well worth the effort. Music, particularly singing, is the perfect vehicle to impact my students with the highest expectations imaginable.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as an educator?

I have learned that my life is enhanced and enriched by virtue of the fact that I know and experience my world through the lens of music on a daily basis. Music is inextricably woven into the fabric of humanity in all cultures and societies.

How do you hope to be making a difference in students' lives?

I hope to leave my students with the understanding that someone expected great things from them, was willing to help equip them with the skills and tools to meet those high expectations, and that they should, for the rest of their lives, hold themselves and their children to those same lofty expectations in all of their endeavors.