In this episode, I feature Laura Ritter and her Walters State Chamber Choir. I asked students to reflect on why they NEED choir, what it has meant to them to return to singing in our current troubled time, what has created a sense of safety and belonging for them in choir. In the first two years of the show, I have mostly focused on the perspectives of directors. So, I have decided to add another category to the show! STUDENT PERSPECTIVES. After all, it is the experiences for our singers that we are trying to create. They are why we engage in professional development like Podcasts anyway!

“I felt helpless, and I felt sad. That’s when I realized there was a class called choir. I felt myself as family, and was welcomed there.“