School Spotlight highlights outstanding Minnesota school- and student-music ensembles during the academic year. Through this feature, Classical MPR hopes to expose listeners to the great music being made by young musicians across the state, and to generate more support for music education.
The audio featured today is from Litchfield High School Dragonaires, directed by Joel Green, performing at the 2014 Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) mid-winter clinic.
The broadcast audio selections are:
7:15 a.m. — Stephen C. Foster, arr. Dennis Eliot: Gentle Annie
7:15 p.m. — Traditional Québecois arr. Donald Patriquin: J'entends le moulin
Web-only audio:
Walter Pelz: Peace I Leave With You
Randall Thompson: The Last Words of David
These past few months have been especially busy for Director Joel Green and his Dragonaires, a select chamber choir from Litchfield High School.(Litchfield, Minn., is about 50 minutes southwest of Saint Cloud.)
The Dragonaires are no strangers to performing at prestigious choral events, having previously performed at MMEA and American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) conventions, as well as at the Minnesota State Mankato Choral Festival. They also take bi-yearly tours: their 2012 trip found them in New York City. On that particular trip, the Dragonaires stopped in South Bend, Ind., at Notre Dame University, to sing with its concert choir in the famed Leighton Concert Hall on that campus. Just two months ago, they visited Disney World, in Orlando, FL. to perform and take part in a Performance Disney workshop. See video link below to watch their performance.
The Dragonaires are an auditioned ensemble made up of 45 ninth to twelfth graders who meet for 47 minutes every day. This ensemble began five years ago as a way to give students who desire to take their musical and performance experiences to new levels of excellence and challenge. As exhibited by the audio with this feature, the repertoire the Dragonaires study is diverse in style, language, time period and cultural background, which gives the students chances to be exposed to (and hopefully learn to love!) many different aspects of choral music.
The six Litchfield High School Choirs spend a significant amount of time and energy giving back to their community. The Dragonaires in particular sing at community events, such as Relay for Life, fundraisers for groups such as the Heartland Community Action Agency, and for service organizations like the Kiwanis and Rotary. Every spring, the choirs produce Litchfield Live, a pops concert that provides a chance for students to perform solos and duets, to sing in small ensembles, and to perform themed medleys complete with live orchestra and choreography. The entire production is student-run — a responsibility that requires students to discover the creative processes and problem-solving needed to put on a great show.
Excellence, pride in achievements and a lifelong love of music and learning sum up the philosophy and goals of the choral program at Litchfield. The students consistently take high marks at regional contests, and many continue in music after graduation. Students are provided with exposure to so many different kinds of music, and in this supportive environment, they are encouraged to explore and grow as music students.
However, even with a school that supports music and with student success that reflects that support, the process isn't necessarily smooth. Joel Green, Director of Choral Arts at Litchfield for 17 years, reflected on the nature of being an educator, and the challenges and rewards it presents:
Being an educator is nothing short of difficult. We toil, sometimes for years, without seeing the fruit of our efforts. Dare I say, some wait a career to be rewarded with a former student's "what you said/did in class changed my life" words.
Today, as I rehearsed my ensemble for contest, I was taken aback by the thought that what I've been imparting to my students not only changes their lives, but their children's lives and their grandchildren's lives. I invited Mike Ellingsen, my high school choir teacher, to judge our contest. Seeing him in front of my choir, inspiring them as he inspired me, revealed to me the depth of how important music educators are and how we change lives. Mike's passion and gifts he passed on to me changed my life, and here I am 22 years into a teaching career doing the same thing … at least I hope!
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