At high schools, a ‘Glee’ effect

By Helena Oliviero

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The excitement builds in a cavernous classroom at Marist High School after the school’s elite chamber choir sings a new song, and it’s pitch-perfect.

“Not bad for only the second time seeing this piece,” Sharon Coheley, the school chorus director, says with a smile.

Marist may be well-known as a sports powerhouse, but the private Catholic school is also a singing sensation. The school features 11 choral ensembles, including the Girl’s Trio, the Men’s Quartet and the Vocal Jazz Ensemble. The list goes on, with singers belting out not only the classics but pop song mash-ups, too.

Here and everywhere, school chorus directors are seeing a surge of interest in singing, and they credit shows such as “Glee,” a TV musical comedy about high school misfits who perform high-energy, witty and stylized numbers, and the buzzy show “The Sing-Off,” featuring a cappella groups, for sparking the attraction.

In high school culture, it has led to a phenomenon known as “The Glee Effect,” blurring the line between kids who play sports and those who sing by helping erode negative stereotypes and getting kids thinking about trying something new.

At Marist, for example, half of the chamber choir members are school athletes. It’s a story line played over and over across Atlanta.

“Students come to high school trying different roles and they often stick to one characteristic that defines them, like ‘I play football,’ or ‘I am good at math.’ But what ‘Glee’ and even ‘High School Musical’ have shown them is they can be an athlete and a singer and a scholar; that they don’t have to define themselves as just one of them,” said David Langley, one of the two chorus teachers at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee.

“We had a 250-pound wrestler last year in the a cappella group,” Langley noted. “That’s happening more and more.”

Opening doors

A recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive found 31 percent of 1,800 kids between the ages of 8 and 18 surveyed said music-themed shows such as “Glee” and Disney’s movie “Camp Rock” make them want to get involved in music making. Some said the shows have inspired them to audition for a school play or musical; others suggested the programs make them want to take singing lessons. One in 10 of those surveyed said the shows make them want to pursue a professional singing career.

“The best thing with these shows is that they’ve loosened the stereotypes for boys and singing,” said Amy Hughley, chorus teacher at Riverwood International Charter High School in Sandy Springs. “I’ve always had some football kids in my men’s-only ensemble, but I now have a real mix of kids — some who play sports and some who are only into arts and that’s it. Kids coming from all different backgrounds. And they come together ... as a family, and they come together to sing. They are really good at putting their differences aside.”

Kids aren’t just watching these music-filled shows, they are studying them for ideas, as well as making them bonding events. Alyssa Boehnlein, a senior at Marist, said she and her classmates in an economics class gathered to watch an episode of “Glee” as a way to celebrate taking the class exam.

The kids say they realize the show is not entirely realistic, not only because they know no one jumps on stage and breaks out into a polished performance, but also because they know they could never get away with some of the featured songs, i.e. Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.”

Many chorus teachers are also huge fans of “Glee” and “Sing-Off,” though some worry a bit about the sometimes edgy plot lines and dialogue on “Glee.”

‘Kind of a big deal’

Harrison Fields, a 10th-grader at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, said he was awestruck from the moment he first set eyes on the school’s a cappella group “Da Boyz From Da Hill,” which was formed five years ago. He was an eighth-grader at the time, but the performance hit all the right notes, and he knew he wanted to be a part of it. Last year, he made the group as a ninth-grader.

“It’s kind of a big deal,” Fields said about being part of the group, which blankets the schools with posters to advertise its shows and draws crowds of hundreds of students. “We are not an elite group, but it’s cool. It’s awesome.”

A track athlete and a high tenor, Fields said he finds it satisfying to create music and develop fresh twists on sounds and songs with other members of the group.

He recently performed a Boyz II Men rendition of “Silent Night” with his group, then joined the larger school choir to sing a Renaissance piece.

“It’s definitely a good feeling, and I guess it makes me feel important,” he said.

Brendan Hickey, a senior at Marist, didn’t know he liked to sing until the end of his sophomore year.

“I was the quiet one in the corner with a book,” he said. “And now I’m on stage.”

He’s a self-professed “Gleek” and also loves “The Sing-Off.”

“When you sing, all of your stress melts away,” said Hickey, a member of Marist’s chamber choir and vocal jazz quartet. “If I sing at the beginning of the day, it sets a nice positive tone for the day. If its at the end of the day, it gives me something to look forward to.”

Hickey said he’s not sure he would call singing in the school choir “cool,” but he said it’s not a negative, either.

“Classmates will hear you are in the school choir and say, ‘That’s nice,’ ” said Hickey. “It’s neutral, I would say.”

Not just for kids

Kids aren’t the only ones getting together to sing. Many adults are also getting into the act.

A 2009 Chorus Impact Study estimated that 33 million adults in the United States regularly sing in choruses, up from 24 million in 2003. The study, by choral advocacy group Chorus America, also estimated that 10 million American children sing in choruses today. That translates into more than 1 in 5 households with at least one singing family member.

Sometimes, this love for singing takes a long absence and is then awakened.

Donald Milton III, director of music at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, has seen his church choir double in size during the past three years. He’s not sure adults are returning because of hit TV shows. He thinks it’s because it’s cheap entertainment, and because singing feels good.

“Children love to sing and they sing all the time. And when people say they don’t sing or are tone-deaf, I say everyone can make sound and everyone can enjoy music. ... A couple of weeks ago, we sang a Nigerian folk song. A [choir] member said when she sang as a teenager, she felt free. She said 30 years later, she felt that feeling again.”

Back at Marist on a recent afternoon, members of the school chorus members reveled in performing “Glee”-inspired mash-ups: The girls interstitched the songs “Halo” and “Walking on Sunshine,” while the boys put together “It’s My Life” and “Confessions.”

But ultimately, it wasn’t “Glee”-style glitz or glamour keeping many of them after school.

Instead, they casually gathered around the grand piano to sing “Candlelight” one more time. Just because they wanted to sing.

REASONS TO SING

• 90 percent of educators believe singing in a choir can keep some students engaged who might otherwise be lost.
• Children who participate in a chorus get better grades than children who have never sung in a choir. Fifty-four percent of parents whose children sing say their child receives all or mostly A’s in English and other language arts classes compared with 43 percent of parents whose children have never sung in a choir.
• The majority of parents surveyed believe multiple skills increased after their child joined a chorus. About 70 percent say their child became more self-confident and saw improvement in self-discipline and memory skills.

Source: 2009 Chorus Impact Study, Chorus America

ON TV

• ‘The Sing-Off’
• Hosted by Nick Lachey, this show has kicked off its second season of competition among some of the country’s top a cappella groups, with celebrity judges and fan voting. Live finale 8 p.m. Monday.

'GLEE'

• Musical comedy in its second season about a group of misfit kids turning to music in fresh and new ways to deal with high school drama. It features high-energy, stylized vocal performances. 8 p.m. Tuesdays on Fox.