“I haven’t moved exclusively to doing multicultural music in our classroom, but I have done a lot of music that has a positive message that they can relate to. If this song has nothing to do with them, no matter how much I love it, no matter how epic or famous this is, the students will have a hard time connecting to it. I’m not saying that everything needs to be in English or be immediately accessible or understandable, but I do think there needs to be something in there that connects to their lives.”

Matthew Chi Lee is in his 9th year as director of choirs at John P. Stevens (JPS) High School in Edison, New Jersey. He is a native of Edison and holds degrees in music education from Northwestern University and Florida State University. Recently, the John P. Stevens High School Chamber Choir has performed at the 2024 ACDA National Conference as well as the 2023 ACDA Eastern Conference. He serves on the New Jersey ACDA Board as High School Youth Choirs R&R Chair and the NJMEA Choral Procedures Board. Matt also serves as the assistant conductor at Christ Church in Summit, NJ. He has been invited to be a guest conductor and clinician in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. As a chorister he has performed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the South of France. His Independent Study Project at FSU focused on Multicultural Choral Music and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in the high school choir program, and he is interested in selecting repertoire that highlights living composers as well as the diverse musical traditions of the world.

To get in touch with Matt, you can find him on Instagram (@matthewchileemusic) or Facebook (@matthewchileemusic). You can also visit his school choir's website, jpschoir.org.

Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro Part 3 episode from February 16, 2024, to hear how to share your story with us.

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Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson