In room E103, students eagerly coalesce into a pod of voices as music director Johnny Erdman directs them through “Aurora Borealis.” SCHS seems to focus on cultural and linguistic diversity, and the choir thrives off of exploring songs from all over the world.
According to Erdman, bringing everyone together is the central goal of the program.
“At its core, I think it has to do with more about growing the human that is each of us, using music as a sort of a vehicle for human growth, for kindness and compassion,” Erdman said.
Erdman has been leading the SCHS music department for 11 years and finds value in diversifying the repertoire of songs in choir, widening his students’ scope of everything that surrounds them, within both language and culture.
“It makes us realize the world’s bigger than just ourselves,” Erdman said. “I think it also provides a great opportunity to be empathetic to learn about other people.”
Sophomore Ella Rupel recognizes Erdman’s attempts at exposing his choir students to different cultures. She and her peers have expressed their enjoyment and appreciation of the languages they sing from the cultures they’re given the opportunity to learn about.
Having been in choir for a year, Rupel described her experiences in class and expanded on the ways Erdman provides outlets for students to share and express their own culture and language.
“In the beginning of the year, we fill out a form,” Rupel said. “He asks us the different languages we know and how we can incorporate that into our music selection.”
Language diversity is one of the emphasized aspects in choir, and students like Rupel have offered their own knowledge to the class about their native languages, such as Hebrew. Sophomore Asher Aguirre expressed their liking for the program including different cultures at their performances.
“He’s (Erdman) had a lot of very awesome ideas,” Aguirre said. “Including last year, incorporating sign language into the choir, that was really nice.”
Through the music program, Erdman aims to create a welcoming environment, a notion that Concert Choir 2 student, junior Chris Ventura can relate to.
“We try to include everyone,” Ventura said. “Trying to make everyone feel safe, comfortable and just have a fun time.”
Sharon Freeman, Vice Principal of Activities, recognized Erdman’s efforts and highlighted the importance of embracing diversity in culture and language. She emphasized that students should be comfortable enough to express their culture to others.
“Music is something that is in every culture, in every background, every lifestyle,” Freeman said. “I think it’s something that anyone can embrace.”
Concert Choir 1 participant freshman Sophia Mateos Acevedo contributes to the overall cultural exploration that goes on in the class by sharing aspects of her culture and linguistic background.
“I recommended songs in Spanish to help represent Spanish speaking cultures,” Acevedo said.
While choir students are at most in the music room for an hour and thirty minutes at a time, the exposure they get contributes to their celebration of others. According to Erdman, that is the embodiment of what they do.
“The spirit of music, it inherently is a celebration of culture and of peoples and of societies and communities,” Erdman said.