Learning, Fun Blend in Harmony for HPISD Honor Choir

Revived program draws fourth and fifth grade singers

Young singers are finding their voices in Highland Park ISD’s Fourth and Fifth Grade Honor Choir, which returned this year for the first time since 2017.

Choir membership was open to all district fourth and fifth graders who wanted to join. Some of the group’s approximately 50 members may already play instruments or sing in choirs with competitive auditions, while others signed up to be with their friends, said HPISD Director of Fine Arts Natalie Walker. 

Both reasons are good ones to sing along. There’s a place in the choir and in the district’s fine arts programs for everyone, including those who may not be outstanding performers.

“We’ve got the kid that just kind of wants to sing, and may not have the God given talent voice, but loves music,” Walker explained. “And we have a place for that kid, too. They’re just as much a part of our ensemble.”

Rehearsals combine joyful singing with games, and are led by Walker, head choir director at MIS/HPMS Julia Durbin Nyoka, and assistant choir director at MIS/HPMS Alex Reichert. Associate Choir Director Neal Patel provides support for the group.

“They give me energy back,” Durbin said of choir members, who she described as excited and focused. “I find that I am a more energetic teacher in front of them, because they respond so well.”

After the Honor Choir began in 2007, it kept students singing for a decade before being discontinued due to staffing changes and construction at Highland Park High School.

Walker explained that she was able to restart the program thanks to the district’s support for the fine arts, and she was motivated to do so in part by encouragement from Honor Choir alums.

HPHS senior Grace Martin, a member of the Honor Choir in 2017, said she still remembers when an older student bought her a reward from the vending machine because she’d done a good job.

“I looked up to the older kids so much,” she said. “Getting that feedback and that connection with them just stuck out in my mind as such an amazing thing.”

Martin and other former Honor Choir students said memories of their time in the choir encouraged them to continue their studies of music. Walker said she hopes that message also resonates with today’s young choir members.

Fewer students are pursuing the fine arts in HPISD, a decline that Walker said may be due to competing time commitments, and to the fact that most arts classes don’t give students the same grade point bump as advanced placement courses.

But the commitments, she said, are manageable, and students focused only on grades on paper miss the larger benefits of the fine arts. By participating in music, students engage both sides of their brain, build academic ability, and can be driven to succeed in school.

“You’ve got another adult in your life who’s rooting for you. You’ve got a circle of friends that is cheering you on,” Walker said. “I think that there are so many things about the arts that allow people to experience a broader perspective of school, and of themselves.”