GHS Choir Teacher Stresses Need for MISA Project

I am in my 13th year as director of the Greenwich High School choir program. Even though I am not fortunate enough to be a Greenwich resident, the relationships I have forged with countless students and their families over the years have nevertheless caused me to feel like a part of the community. And I have always been tremendously proud to work in and for a community that sees itself as something special—as a place that has no tolerance for mediocrity. Toward that end, the people of Greenwich have always demanded the very best from its schools, teachers and students. The motto of the Greenwich Public Schools says it all: Setting the Standard for Excellence in Public Education.

As an out-of-towner, I have neither the right nor the expertise to speak to this community about the MISA project from a cost perspective. But no one in this town knows more about the inadequacies of the current instruction and performance spaces than the GHS music teachers. No one has spent the last 12 years watching our talented and passionate students run into obstacles that impede their musical achievement. So to those of you who still wonder if this project is a “nice to have” rather than a “need to have”, I offer the following:

Greenwich High School has, by far, the most inadequate music facilities of any school in District Reference Group A or B. I have personally been in all of those school’s facilities and can tell you firsthand that they all easily meet their programs’ needs.

There are also many schools in lower DRG’s that have facilities that put ours to shame. I live in Danbury, a DRG H district where the high school auditorium is of such size and quality that it recently hosted a Connecticut All-State Music Festival.

The functional capacity of the current choir room is 36. Any choir larger than that must rehearse in the auditorium. Not on stage, mind you, but in the audience seats. The lack of a proper classroom for these students makes it a virtual impossibility for me to hear or see every student. And only the first few rows of students can easily see or hear me. Sadly, the students in these large choirs are usually the ones with the lowest skills and even more in need of a quality educational setting than some of their peers.

Our current auditorium does not have enough seating or stage flexibility to allow a mix of bands, choruses and orchestras to perform in the same concert, as is typical at other schools.

When all of the school choirs perform on the same night, there is not enough seating for all of the students to watch each other perform. Now I ask you—who would benefit more from watching a choral concert than the chorus students themselves?

Choirs can’t perform on stage because the HVAC sound emanating from above the stage is louder than they would be.  Instead, they perform on the floor in front of the stage.

When there is an assembly in the auditorium, large choir classes are cancelled. This happens at least a half dozen times each school year.

The acoustical space in our band room is so small that it threatens the hearing of our students and teachers.

We can’t even fit percussion instruments in that band room. They must be stored on stage or backstage.

The lack of a dedicated music computer lab results in hundreds of eager electronic music students being turned away each and every year.

We have one individual practice room. One.

And I could go on and on.

There is a need. And it is a desperate need.

This project is not a “nice to have.” It is a “should have had 40 years ago.” Let’s not let that number get to 50 or 60.

Here in the town that boasts Connecticut’s flagship high school I urge you to deliver on that promise to Set the Standard for Excellence in Public Education.

(*Editor's note: the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting is scheduled to vote May 14 on the proposed 2012-13 budget which includes a $12 million allocation for continued work on the Music Instruction Space and Auditorium (MISA) project at Greenwich High School.)