For the past twenty-six years, it has been my privilege and pleasure to be a part of the Garden City music education community. Over the years the population demographics have changed, as have teaching strategies; this has necessitated a fresh and changing outlook on how to build a successful singing community within the school setting.

Here are the demographics for Garden City High School, based on the 2014 minority report:

• Total high school population: 2064
• 23.2% Caucasian
• 1.5% Black
• 66% Hispanic
• 1.5% Indian
• 5.2 Asian
• 2.5% Multi-Ethnic
• .1% HI/Pacific Island

Sometimes it just takes time to understand how families work in relation to the schools; never has it been more important to have a relationship within the class and with the students—understanding the background of their home and community life is essential to making decisions that affect them at school.

Students In The Adult Role

Many times students will function as the translator for the family; this really comes into play at parent/teacher conferences. Staff translators are available at conferences, but they are always busy; many times a student prefers to translate. The challenge is to make sure that the information is being fully relayed; having a decent knowledge of Spanish and knowing key words is important!

More often than not, parents simply don't or can't attend conferences—I have found it important to ask my student who they are translating for, or who is attending with them; often it is an older sibling, aunt, grandmother, friend—it's not accurate to assume a parent is the one attending conferences. Sometimes students will come alone. There are many parents that I have never met, after having their child for four years. Many times when I review the upcoming performance schedule, they tell me they will be at work; some parents have never seen their child's concerts. Sometimes, both parents do shift work at the packing plant and the student is in charge of younger siblings in the evenings. This accounts for absences from evening events if they are pressed into service without notice. Sometimes our high school students also contribute in a significant way to the family income, and cannot afford to miss work.

Some of my older students are also excused for appointments during the day; in the course of conversation, they explained that it was really an appointment for one of their parents, and they were needed to translate or drive, or both.

Because of the parents' inability to be closely tied to the school schedule, there is what appears to be a lack of support or "buy-in" to the school activities schedule. Often, students don't have access to the internet at home; therefore, the usual ways to communicate with parents are not always an option. The student is aware of the school obligations, but doesn't always communicate them to the parent. If the parent is Spanish-speaking, materials such as the handbook, concert schedule, and grading procedures are not accessible even on the iPads. Our school has a 0ne-to-one iPad initiative, but Spanish or other language translations would be on paper, and students need to be willing to request them. We do have translators for printed material, but sometimes our parents cannot read even in their native language.

Performance-Related Issues

Our school choirs wear robes, which are checked out to choir members at no cost. Singers supply black pants/shoes/socks and white shirt with a tie for boys, and black flats/pantyhose and skirt or dress for the girls. For the freshman girls, we found activity funds to purchase black skirts to check out along with the robes; this removes one more item of difficulty in preparing their concert attire. We give many examples of cheap ways to round up shoes and other items, and offer to loan them out as needed. We have a liberal stock of white shirts, ties, black pants and shoes that have been left behind or purchased at Goodwill. As you can imagine, it's hard for them to ask for these things, but once they realize we are happy to help, (and make them put them on) they either let us know they need the items or figure out how to get them.

At concerts, an administrator opens the performance by reading etiquette guidelines, and then they are read in Spanish also. In the lower grades, concerts are often held in gymnasiums, which don't present an atmosphere for proper concert behavior. This is an ongoing process of audience education. We have parents and family groups that come in at the last minute who would rather stand in the doorway, and have to be encouraged to sit in the auditorium. They don't want to do this if there are not enough seats together.

Attendance at concerts over the years has improved, but we still hear the all-purpose excuse of "family emergency" which can cover a multitude of issues. It is also common for students to be absent for weeks at a time without any notice. If a student has finished a school year without attending a concert, we have a talk about how to communicate this to parents in a different way, in terms of finding a ride or participating the next year.

Rehearsals & Participation

This is complicated. The best way to describe our students is to say that they are somewhat emotionally guarded; it is hard for them to respond until they are absolutely sure that they can trust you. They seem very self-conscious, and I am the type of person who expresses freely! My sense of humor doesn't always translate, and when students don't have a well-developed English vocabulary, sometimes they misunderstand or feel that I am making fun of them. Eventually we get it sorted out, but I have to do a lot of explaining; I would probably be better off smiling more and talking less. In the early stages, focusing on the musical aspects of singing such as tone production, diction, and posture will allow them to feel relaxed enough to respond to more personal issues such as what the song means, adding personal meaning and taking leadership roles. It is for the best that the ninth and tenth grade choirs are gender-specific; this is definitely an advantage when it comes to helping them relax and participate freely.

A lot of our students attend Hispanic churches where they are involved in praise groups; they certainly understand how to participate but need coaching in vocal tone. They also can be locked into a certain voice range and need to be convinced to try to expand that range. Their church choir experience is a definite advantage to their participation in school choir, but can sometimes create a conflict with school events.

The Spanish pure vowels create a natural tie-in to foreign language songs; Latin works very well, and so does Italian; they are not resistant at all to singing foreign literature. I try to find good quality Spanish arrangements, and let the students be the diction coach. I have learned a lot through the years; I found a great arrangement of what I thought was a nice song called 'Las Mañanitas' only to be told it is a birthday song! Well, we sang it anyway and I got an education on that topic! I have also found that the ultimate compliment is to be invited to someone's quinceañera.

One side note is to be aware that even though our students speak Spanish, they may not read it; in our school we have a class called Spanish for Native Speakers. I fully subscribe to the principle of being vulnerable in front of my students; I ask, I talk too much, I apologize, I try to model to them that to be fully human is to be honest and to sing honestly. In this regard, our wonderful students are no different than any other and need to be held to the high standards of musicality, literacy and artistry we should expect of any musician.