To sing and to lead: St. Paul choral program gives students the chance to conduct

"Once you're singing, you can't stop," says Esther Vang, a senior at Como Park Senior High School. A member of the Chamber Singers, the top choir at her school, she's going to be conducting at the choir's final concert of the school year as a special honor for her hard work. Singing, for Vang, just makes her happy. "It gives my day a brighter start," she says.

That's good, since the Chamber Singers meet during zero hour — before school starts.

Vang started choir in preschool, but later had to take a hiatus because her Wisconsin grade school didn't have a choir. After a bit of hiatus, when she took private lessons, Vang was excited to participate in choir at Como.

Vang came to Como in her sophomore year, when she joined the women's choir. According to her teacher, Carole Whitney, at first Vang wanted to quit because she wasn't being challenged enough. "I didn't understand she had significant skill," Whitney says. Now Vang sings with the Chamber Singers — an activity that, like an A.P. class, has a weighted grade and requires extra work. The Chamber Singers perform a lot of jazz and a cappella music, with other types of music thrown into the mix.

Last year, Vang was given a half scholarship for a summer program at McNally Smith College of Music. In that program, she sang an a cappella song solo. In other words, she was simply given a pitch and sang the song by herself, without accompaniment. "That was both brave and requires quite a bit of skill," Whitney says.

Music has helped Vang with her academic work, which throughout her career has been quite rigorous. "Choir actually helps me discipline-wise," Vang says. "In order for you to know the song, you have to practice it, you have to study it, which is the main thing you learn in school. It helps."

On Tuesday's concert, Vang will be conducting a song called "Farewell My Friend." "It's my first time conducting," she says. The song is actually sung every year, with a different student conductor.

Whitney, who runs the choral program at Como, says that each year she chooses a student who is planning on majoring or minoring in music to conduct a song for the final concert. This year, Vang was chosen, and another was student to accompany the song on piano.

Whitney says that Vang, in addition to being musically gifted, has got great ears and is a good sight reader. "She's also just a hard worker," Whitney says. "If she has nothing to do, she'll ask me, 'Got any papers you need to correct?'"

Whitney has been like a second mom to Vang. "She knows how to talk to students," Vang says of her teacher. "She pushes you in a positive way and helps motivate you."

Whitney, who also sings with the Minnesota Chorale, has taught at Como for 21 years. She has a philosophy to "put kids first and the music will follow."

Sometimes, students will tell her that they only came to school on time because of choir. That power that music has is something that she wishes more people in the education system understood. When the choir tours to elementary schools, she hopes to remind principals how important it is to have music programs in their schools. For the elementary schools that currently don't have music programs, she'll say, "So do you have a music teacher yet?"

"I really think that without music accessible to all, particularly in a diverse district like St. Paul — we have institutional racism," Whitney says. "We are not giving access to all of our students."

Vang's favorite song is called "And So It Goes," by the King's Singers, a group of male singers. "I like the lyrics and the harmonization is very soothing," Vang says.

Next year, she'll be attending the University of Minnesota—Duluth, where she plans to participate in choir. She plans to become a veterinarian, but she plans on being a music minor. "Music holds a place in my heart," she says.

Como Park Senior High School's spring choir concert, featuring the Chamber Singers, the Concert Choir, Donna di Cantare, and the Women's and Men's Choirs, will be held on Tuesday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m. The concert is open to the public; tickets are $1 for students, $2 for adults.

Sheila Regan is a Minneapolis-based writer. She writes frequently for the Twin Cities Daily Planet and City Pages, among other publications.

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