2019 FALL NEWSLETTER - A PARENT PERSPECTIVE

WHAT BEING IN THE CHOIR MEANS TO A SINGER

When I was a child, my family pressured me to spend many hours playing the piano. Although I loved music and am now grateful for the top-notch music education, I resented it back then. I want my children to learn music but in a less stressful and more fun environment. I enrolled my children in PEBCC with these intentions. Over the years, they learned how to sing and have met many wonderful friends. What I didn’t expect were the other benefits.  My oldest daughter plays the clarinet with her school band and is leisurely learning the piano at home. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t like to practice, and I don’t push her that much because I don’t want her to get angry and quit. However, what gets her voluntarily on the piano is playing her parts from the choir songs. She’ll also use the piano to check if she’s singing in tune. Her younger sister is also in choir and casually learning the piano. She enjoys playing those boring, repetitive finger exercises like Hanon or sequences of notes in different keys. I suspect those exercises remind her of vocal warm-up exercises. Choir may keep my kids interested in the piano, and I’m good with whatever gets them to play it.

I also appreciate the theory and solfége lessons PEBCC offers during rehearsals. Until entering a pre-college music conservatory program at age 13, I had no idea what musical intervals were. I knew the notes but never heard of terms like major 3rd and perfect 5th. I also never practiced dictation until the pre-college program. You can take a decade of private music lessons and never learn that stuff. Despite being forced to play piano for several hours every week through raging fights and commuting 2 hours each way twice a week by myself on cabs/trains/subways, I'm ultimately thankful for the opportunities I had.

Finally, the tours are such a wonderful experience for the young singers. One year, my oldest got to go to Disneyworld, and I asked her what her favorite part was. For her, it wasn’t being at a Disney amusement park. What she loved most was being independent and autonomous, like picking where and what to eat, where to go, what to buy, etc. She would’ve had a blast anywhere with her fellow singers.

PEBCC teaches more than “just singing” within a safe, caring, fun atmosphere. Most importantly, my kids enjoy being in choir, and I’m grateful for the organization.

-Kaz Kym