Spring 2023

High School Choral
Aleisa Baker, Chair
Technology
Howie Ledford, Chair
We are well on our way to closing out another school
year. If you’re like me, you may be knee deep in musical
preparations, auditions for next year’s choral ensembles
and/or choosing repertoire for your spring concert. It’s a busy, busy
time. Nonetheless, I relish the final months with my seniors.
Granted, this is when seniors are DONE. Keeping them
engaged is a tough task, but many of these singers have given four
years of their high school life to our choral family and they deserve
a special way to remember the end. I have adopted a few traditions
for them once our spring concert is complete.
Years ago, I saw this idea and adopted it for my seniors. Each
year, I purchase white paper gift bags. I give them each a day or
two to decorate their bag that makes it identifiable as theirs. Many
decorate it with the college they have chosen or an activity or sport
from their high school life.
Then, for the last week or two of classes, these bags are on a
table in the chorus room. Students can leave something special if
they wish for each senior in their bag. Many just write short notes
or good luck wishes. It can be a card or sticky note. Some even put
small treats in each bag. I add a note, as well as a copy of a special
poem we share as a class each year, and a picture of our choir
family for them. I bring these bags to our graduation practice. They
have not seen what’s in them, so watching them open them in what
is one of our last times together is something I cherish.
The second tradition isn’t as serious, but is something they look
forward to a lot – especially if they’ve been in choir all four years.
After our spring concert, we spend rehearsal time by allowing
each senior to pick one song we have performed while they were
in high school. I pull it from our music library and we all sing it.
For many, it is sight reading, but for each senior, it is a few minutes
to remember one of their best choir memories. It is often silly and
convoluted, but the outcome is well worth the chaos. (Employing
younger singer’s music literacy skills, is not a bad by-product!)
Our sense of family is something we work hard to cultivate.
We all have our own traditions and they are just small pieces of
that cultivating. Nonetheless, each of these moments not only
give memorable closure for those seniors, but leave an indelible
impression on the younger singers, waiting their turn to make
memories for themselves. Large or small, it’s all priceless. I wish
you well as you and your students close out the school year in your
special way!
The North Carolina Music Educator sincerely apologizes for
inadvertently excluding a High School Choral award winner. We
proudly recognize Trip McGill as an inductee to the NCMEA High
School Choral Section Hall of Fame.
NCMEA HS Choral Section Hall of Fame
Trip McGill
Trip McGill retired from Ashbrook High
School in Gastonia, where he taught for 30 years.
Prior to this, he spent three years as the choral
director at North Gaston High School, and 12 at
Holbrook Jr. High School. He was also with the
Gaston County Choral Ensemble for 36 years;
four years as the accompanist and 32 as the director. He is very
involved with church music, and has been an accompanist and
church choir director since 1975. He’s served as the Bonclarken
co-camp director or assistant director since 1988.
Nominator Philip Biedenbender, said of McGill, “Every day
in his classroom, Trip McGill exemplified his favorite quote from
Helen Kemp: ‘body, mind, spirit, voice’. Mr. McGill understood
that it takes each one of these elements to make a complete singer
and human and he ensured all his students knew it as well.”
McGill earned his Bachelor of Arts from Erskine College with
post graduate work done at Winthrop University and Converse
College. He served on the Gaston County Music Educator’s
Foundation board for 30 years, as a festival clinician, and serves
as an adjudicator for NCMEA MPAs.
While at Ashbrook High School, his choirs participated in
the Mars Hill Choral Clinic and Festival, the ACDA Southern
Division Regional Honors Choirs, N.C. Honors Chorus, Furman
University Choral Extravaganza, Worldstrides Carnegie Hall
Festival Choirs, and have taken 14 European Tours.
His awards list is long and includes accolades like Holbrook
Junior High School Teacher of the Year, Ashbrook High School
Teacher of the Year, Gaston County Teacher of the Year, and
received the order of the Long Leaf Pine.
Nominator Melissa Glover said, “Trip has mentored many
new teachers and shaped them into the choral music educators
they are today. Many of Trip’s former students are teachers today
and he continues to have an impact by visiting classrooms and
offering support to teachers in the classroom.”
Technology is a tool the teacher uses. I invite you to think
about what the scope of technology is. For many, this will be
foreign territory. Technology is so ingrained in our lives that
we don’t think about it. So, let’s take a few minutes to consider this
thing we call music technology.
What falls under the realm of music technology? Take fifteen
minutes and write down everything you can think of.
Here is my list in no particular order. Beside them I have listed
examples of what they are in case you do not know them from
experience in your classroom.
• Notation Software: Sibelius, Finale, MuseScore, and Dorico
• Microphones: SM57 and 58, AT 2020, and Neumann U87
• Mixers: Allen and Heath QU-32, Berhinger X32, Midas Pro,
DigiCo 006
• Digital Audio Workstation (DAW): Soundtrap, Soundation,
Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Logic, and Cubase
• Digital Audio Interfaces (DAI): Scarlett 2i2, UAD Apollo,
MOTU 828, etc…
• Learning Management Systems (LMS): Canvas, Google
Classroom, and Schoology
• Drum Machines: TR-808
• Guitar Amps: Fender, Marshall, Orange, etc.
• Cables: Mogami, Livewire, Whirlwind, etc.
• Networking Protocols: Dante, MADI, AES 50
• Digital Instruments and Controllers: TR-808, Ableton Push,
Launchpads, Nektar 49, etc.
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• Cell Phones
• DJ Turntables and Controllers
• Analog and Digital Synthesizers: Moog Model D, Prophet 6,
Oberheim, Arturia, etc.
• Samplers
• Digital Service Providers: Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc.
This list is nowhere close to being complete. The umbrella of
music technology is very wide. Think about the students you have
in your classroom. Let’s be honest for a minute. Not every child is
going to be the principal player for a symphony orchestra or get a
military band gig. You’re going to have students who are going to
be engineers, computer programmers, DJs, physicists, artisans, and
every other profession known to man in your classroom.
Many of us never stop to think that the student who will
develop the latest and greatest song recognition algorithm is sitting
in our classrooms. Many of us never think that the person who will
mix a Grammy award-winning album will sit in our room. The
umbrella of music is a wide one.
Under network protocols, I mentioned Dante Protocols. Over
a Dante-enabled network, the sound can actually travel faster
than the speed of sound. Here is an example. The set player is
playing and they hit a snare drum. The sound hits the microphone
connected to a Dante system, and sends it through the system and
back to them in their headphones. The time it took for the sound to
reach the headphones can be faster than the actual time it took for
the snare drum sound to reach their ears.
A musician who was a network engineer thought of that. They
sat in a band, choir, orchestra, popular, or general music classroom.
They sat with some teacher who taught them about the joy of
music. This is their contribution to the music world.
So, as we think about the overarching umbrella of technology
in music education, we also need to think about the overarching
umbrella of education. How we use this technology can shape
students’ careers and lives. We can influence the world of music in
ways we do not even realize. The students who are developing the
future music technology of the world are in our classrooms.
New Technology Co-Chair
I am pleased to announce Julian Wilson as the new
Music Technology co-chair. Julian is working on a master’s
in instructional technology from North Carolina Central
University. He graduated from UNC Charlotte in 1991. He
is the band director at Yorkchester Middle School in Gaston
County. Many of you have seen his clinics at the NCMEA
Professional Development Conference. He is certified in a
host of platforms. One of his main focuses is on curriculum
development for the music classroom. I am delighted he has
accepted this role, and I look forward to working with him.