Music teacher Anita Slobig talks about music programs with her SAVAPA Music class students at Southwest High School on Nov. 3. (JOSELITO VILLERO PHOTO / November 3, 2011) |
While marching bands with their parade competitions and field show exhibitions have been a source of local pride in the Imperial Valley for generations, national attention to vocal music has only recently began to resurge as a widely accepted art form.
Massively popular television shows like “American Idol” and “Glee” on Fox as well as NBC’s “The Sing-Off” — an a capella vocal competition where vocal groups are pitted against each other in NBC’s primetime Monday time slot, now in its third season — have begun to bring vocal music back to the forefront of viewers’ minds and listeners’ ears.
Because of this, vocal music is now being more readily accepted as something “cool” among students, recording artist, Nashville Symphony Orchestra board member and The Sing-Off judge Ben Folds said in a Nov. 3 media conference call.
“Music education in public schools is being less funded every year and there’s a sort of, almost a reciprocal effect at the same time,” Folds said. “There are more and more a capella groups springing up (formed) of volunteer groups of kids. And they are having to learn music from the inside (without the help of schools).
“I have a lot of music teacher friends and they have been very excited about how their students have reacted to (‘The Sing-Off’). And I get a lot of feedback that way,” Folds said.
While the Imperial Valley does not have many a capella, or “voice only” groups without musical instrument accompaniment, there are a number of vocal groups including those for youngsters including the Imperial Valley Junior Master Chorale and the Southwest Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts music classes at Southwest High School.
IVC professor/IVJMC director and “Noteworthy” vocal group member Hope Davis agreed with Folds in that a big draw for young people to join a vocal group is singing in front of each other and audiences and serves as a major confidence builder.
“Very shy kids turn into very, very confident super stars. It awakens their whole artistic spirit,” Davis said.
“Now coming up in the Christmas show everybody wants a solo,” she chuckled. “(Singing) definitely opens them up, like flowers. It’s just wonderful.”
Davis attributed a renewed interest in vocal groups such as IVJMS and other student vocal groups associated with Imperial Valley College to television shows, particularly to young men since “sometimes they think it is unmanly to sing but these shows (show them it’s not).”
“And what groups like Afro-Blue (from ‘The Sing-Off’) show too is that (vocal music) can be refined, too, and not just any old thing,” David said.
“It helps with the awareness that different kinds of music can be refined.”
“It shows that singing is a real skill,” Elizabeth Ruiz, 16-year-old soprano in SAVAPA music and a Southwest junior, said during a regular class rehearsal.
“When you tell people you can sing they’re like (oh, big deal),” Ruiz said. “When you watch ‘The Sing-Off’ it really shows what you can do. It shows that singing is a skill and it can take you very far if it’s your passion. I love it.”
SAVAPA music students agreed that singing has brought them new confidence; something that Folds and Hope said translates well for students in helping them improve in other core subjects.
“I was actually a real shy boy, but as I entered high school I saw how much confidence SAVAPA singers had,” 17-year-old tenor Brandon Currin said.
“Everyone here feels like family,” Currin, a senior at Southwest, said. “It’s something that will positively affect me in the future.”
Staff Writer Roman Flores can be reached at 760-337-3439 or rflores@ivpressonline.com
Massively popular television shows like “American Idol” and “Glee” on Fox as well as NBC’s “The Sing-Off” — an a capella vocal competition where vocal groups are pitted against each other in NBC’s primetime Monday time slot, now in its third season — have begun to bring vocal music back to the forefront of viewers’ minds and listeners’ ears.
Because of this, vocal music is now being more readily accepted as something “cool” among students, recording artist, Nashville Symphony Orchestra board member and The Sing-Off judge Ben Folds said in a Nov. 3 media conference call.
“Music education in public schools is being less funded every year and there’s a sort of, almost a reciprocal effect at the same time,” Folds said. “There are more and more a capella groups springing up (formed) of volunteer groups of kids. And they are having to learn music from the inside (without the help of schools).
“I have a lot of music teacher friends and they have been very excited about how their students have reacted to (‘The Sing-Off’). And I get a lot of feedback that way,” Folds said.
While the Imperial Valley does not have many a capella, or “voice only” groups without musical instrument accompaniment, there are a number of vocal groups including those for youngsters including the Imperial Valley Junior Master Chorale and the Southwest Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts music classes at Southwest High School.
IVC professor/IVJMC director and “Noteworthy” vocal group member Hope Davis agreed with Folds in that a big draw for young people to join a vocal group is singing in front of each other and audiences and serves as a major confidence builder.
“Very shy kids turn into very, very confident super stars. It awakens their whole artistic spirit,” Davis said.
“Now coming up in the Christmas show everybody wants a solo,” she chuckled. “(Singing) definitely opens them up, like flowers. It’s just wonderful.”
Davis attributed a renewed interest in vocal groups such as IVJMS and other student vocal groups associated with Imperial Valley College to television shows, particularly to young men since “sometimes they think it is unmanly to sing but these shows (show them it’s not).”
“And what groups like Afro-Blue (from ‘The Sing-Off’) show too is that (vocal music) can be refined, too, and not just any old thing,” David said.
“It helps with the awareness that different kinds of music can be refined.”
“It shows that singing is a real skill,” Elizabeth Ruiz, 16-year-old soprano in SAVAPA music and a Southwest junior, said during a regular class rehearsal.
“When you tell people you can sing they’re like (oh, big deal),” Ruiz said. “When you watch ‘The Sing-Off’ it really shows what you can do. It shows that singing is a skill and it can take you very far if it’s your passion. I love it.”
SAVAPA music students agreed that singing has brought them new confidence; something that Folds and Hope said translates well for students in helping them improve in other core subjects.
“I was actually a real shy boy, but as I entered high school I saw how much confidence SAVAPA singers had,” 17-year-old tenor Brandon Currin said.
“Everyone here feels like family,” Currin, a senior at Southwest, said. “It’s something that will positively affect me in the future.”
Staff Writer Roman Flores can be reached at 760-337-3439 or rflores@ivpressonline.com
