New faculty member and director of the Glee Club, Sean Grier, puts student experience first.
Almost no element of music making is more important than community to new faculty member and director of the Glee Club, Sean Grier. Not just a feature that makes music more fun, community is vital to the production of good music.
With over 15 years of music education experience, his opinion stems from extensive research and first-hand practice. His dissertation, “The Vulnerability in Singing Comes From Trust in the Relationship First: Perceptions of Human Connection in the High School Choral Classroom” explores this firsthand through interviews with high school choral teachers, observations, and focus groups with their students. Describing the interviews, Grier recounted, “all three of the teachers talked about the importance of standing at their door at the beginning of class and just saying hello to people as they walked into the room.” It’s those little things that build trust, connection, and comfort in a choral environment. Without this trust, students won’t feel comfortable learning.
“We are coming in every single day and using our voices is a social element. It’s a vulnerable element. You know, it’s a little bit different than being in an orchestra or in a band, because our instruments are our voices,” he said.
So how is community created in music? In the past few rehearsals, Dr. Grier has led students in conversations surrounding what it means to be in a community working towards a shared goal. Most students are probably used to the obligatory “where are you from,” and “what is your major.” Taking it a bit further, the Glee Club discussed what each of them wanted out of the ensemble and what is important to them in the learning process. Other days, they talked about lighter things like what their favorite classes were. More than just knowing each other as students, Grier has enabled them to learn more about each other as people.
Although he’s been teaching at UNC for a short time, he’s already seen the effects of these practices. By taking time to talk about what makes students nervous when singing, they can address those issues as a group. Describing this, Grier said, “as an objective observer, it seems as if members of the Glee Club are being much more social with each other… I see them asking each other questions about music, about singing, about sight reading, about markings.”
Community also means being inclusive. As the graduate student coordinator in the University of Michigan School of Music’s DEI Office, Grier spent much of his time creating resources for building equity in music education. To him, it’s a function of teaching. It’s important that their repertoire choices come from diverse sources and that students learn about different perspectives and cultures. It’s Grier’s hope that this, in addition to the community building practices, will enable students from all backgrounds to feel comfortable making music together.
“I think that is a big part of what equity and inclusion is, if something happens in the world, if something happens in our lives, we can know we’re in spaces where we can talk about that. We can trust that those around us are going to listen to us, validate us, support us,” said Grier.
Although some might criticize time spent on community building as detracting from time spent on technique, Dr. Grier disagrees. He describes it this way: “Learning the piece of music goes differently if everyone in that ensemble feels like, oh yeah, I actually believe that my conductor is okay if I make a mistake on this… I actually believe that my peers standing next to me, on both sides, in front of me or behind me, are going to be okay with me if I make a mistake, or they’re going to pat me on the back if I mess something up. They’re not going to look at me oddly if I ask a question.” These conversations are vital to students feeling confident enough to give their best effort to a piece of music, even if that means making a mistake. This best effort leads to better, stronger music.
In addition to building community in his own classrooms and the Glee Club, Dr. Grier has found community as a new faculty member at UNC. From the front office to faculty offices, Dr. Grier has experienced open doors and a welcoming atmosphere.
“I’m grateful for the fact that everyone here, whether it’s in an email, a quick pop into an office, in a conversation or in a meeting, people in the department really seem to be looking out for the faculty and the staff, which I think trickles down, of course, to students.”
By Erin Luoma, Department of Music
