As a visiting choral group sang, a row of five-year-old girls from the Donoghue campus of the University of Chicago Charter School danced, swayed, and moved their mouths in unison. One tiny student was lulled into a peaceful nap, while a parent closed his eyes in appreciation of the gift of young voices raised in song.
Charter school students from Donoghue Elementary and Woodlawn High School gathered at International House to hear the young, talented voices of 70 middle schoolers from the Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn.
Three groups performed under the direction of Marcos Carreras, the coordinator of vocal music at Kingswood-Oxford, which has received national recognition.
The April 3 event included the all-male a cappella ensemble F2B, who opened the concert with a rendition of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’”; the all-female a cappella group Octopipers, named the 2006 Outstanding Junior High Vocal Jazz Performance Award from Down Beat magazine; and Cantabile, which has appeared at numerous festivals and workshops in its home state, as well as in Boston, Chicago, and New York City.
Exposure to the Arts
The concert was an example of how University charter school leadership is ensuring that arts enrichment is an important part of student learning.
“When the opportunity to listen to the Kingswood-Oxford choirs presented itself we jumped at the chance,” says Todd Barnett, Director of Family and Community Engagement at the Donoghue Campus. “At the core of our work is the idea that exposing our students to the highest quality of instruction across all content areas leads to student learning. This also includes exposure and access to the arts.
“Also, we have an interest in forming a concert choir at Donoghue, so it was a nice way to begin the conversation with our kids and parents.”
Inspiring Final Number
When Carreras asked the crowd if they knew the final song, a touching gospel called “I Need You to Survive,” a wave of voices answered in the affirmative. When invited to join Cantabile on stage, a handful of courageous Woodlawn students were inspired.
As the strangers harmonize to sing the lyrics (“I pray for you. You pray for me. I love you. I need you to survive…”), one couldn’t help but feel witness to a special kind of lesson.
“The concert expanded our students’ beliefs about what is possible through the arts,” Barnett says. “Many of our students in attendance can now visualize themselves singing in a choir.”
Charles A. Lewis, University Trustee and Charter School Governing Board member, and Penny Bender Sebring, founding co-director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research (and Carreras’ in-laws) collaborated with Barnett to make the interchange possible.
By Katelyn Edge
