Nathan Wubbena, Children/Community Youth R&R Chair
I sat down to talk with Chris Maunu this month, a former Colorado colleague whom I got to know more when our choirs sang one of his pieces in 2021; we had a wonderful conversation. Chris is a kind and genuine person, and had some great thoughts to share that can apply to any rehearsal space. I invite and encourage you to take the time to listen to the full conversation on the SWACDA YouTube channel (coming soon) – you’ll be able to gain some more insight into his thoughts and listen to deeper dives on the topics; the questions and answers below have been shortened with minor edits for brevity and clarity.
Chris, why don’t you tell me and those listening a little about yourself?
I’m one year into my role as Artistic Director of the Pacific Youth Choir. It’s a program that serves students in Kindergarten through 12th grade in Portland, Oregon. Before that, I taught 17 years of high school choir at Arvada West High School, just outside of the Denver metro area. One year before that, I taught middle school choir. I grew up in a really small town in South Dakota – I had 12 people in my graduating class.
Can you tell me about some key points in your musical journey that were foundational to who you are today?
That’s such a huge question. I think probably the first one was when I was in high school. I participated in choir and band, but it was not an experience that most people have…my experience was minimal. I participated in the South Dakota All-State Chorus, and my clinician was Dr. Edie Copely, it was a life-changing moment when I realized what the possibilities are with choral music – it was inspirational…you can go down the list of various people that have inspired me since then on multiple times in my life, but I think we all go back to those early stages and think: if it weren’t for this person or situation, what would I be doing now?
You’ve had a lot of success in creating some incredible music with your students and bringing that to various stages. What do you think your strengths are as an educator?
I think, for me, it comes down to vulnerability and authenticity. You can’t just say: “These are the three steps to creating a vulnerable and authentic culture in your classroom.” But I think it comes down to being able to model that for your students. Early in my career, I remember going to conferences and coming back and trying to be different. After about a decade, I finally started leaning into who I am – that’s the point in my career where my students started to buy in more to me. When students see someone being authentic on the podium, they can pick up on it. That doesn’t necessarily mean wearing your heart on your sleeve, though that can be part of it. I think everything gets built out from that point, because students need to feel safe and comfortable for learning to take place.
We all have a little bit of envy for other people’s gifts…but we all have something special, and if we lean into our own special gifts, that’s the path to the greatest success, in my mind. I think that kindness, authenticity and vulnerability can show up in every aspect of what we do – our pedagogy as well as our culture.
We all have areas that we’re working on – I know I have plenty. What are you personally trying to work on improving right now?
I think it was Brene Brown that said “comparison is the thief of joy.” I think we’re all kind of wired that way as we’ve evolved…but if you allow it to debilitate yourself as a conductor, that’s where you really get into trouble. The comparison itself, if you can compartmentalize it, and maybe learn and be inspired by it, I don’t think that’s a totally bad thing. But when I look back at my career, I think my first 10, 11, 12 years I let myself be negatively influenced by that.
It might be my time management. Motivation is a tricky thing…we wait for it to happen, but it doesn’t always come, so I’ve had to learn that I need to create a structure for myself. I have a lot to do, but I don’t have a structure laid out for me, so I have to create that in my own life and follow that plan and not wait for the motivation to arrive. That’s probably been the biggest challenge at this stage in my career.
I’m trying to work a lot on building connections, both between myself and my singers, as well as between the singers themselves. I want to continue cultivating a safe and welcoming space for my singers, and from what I’ve seen, you’ve been able to do that very well in your own ensembles. What has helped you do that? What are some keys to success in this area that others can employ?
Even as a public school teacher, I viewed music-making as the path to building that connection, though I know some people are so great at doing those team-building exercises. We do this thing together, we work hard on this thing together, and there’s this underlying comfortability and culture and bond that starts to happen. I think the ultimate thing is time.
Being intentional about repertoire choices, not shying away from using what music can do for us to approach more difficult things. Using repertoire to respond to what’s going on in the students’ lives – one particular program we did at the Colorado conference and then at SWACDA was based around a shooting threat that happened at our school, and the kids had our classroom to help process through that grief.
Taking time when you need it; sometimes it’s more valuable not to sing and just to be together. I’ve never been afraid to do that – who cares if the performance is a week away? If something hard happens, the choir room is a safe place to express their feelings, and other teachers (in the school) often don’t take the time to do that.
You’ve been able to take choirs to National ACDA, as well as other wonderful opportunities. How have you been able to help your singers reach this level of performance? Do you have any suggestions for those who might be interested in preparing and submitting their choirs for similar performances (whether it’s at the local, regional, or national level)?
It’s just a ridiculous amount of really hard work. Being relentless about things – many times, my students would get annoyed with me because I know in my head the sound I’m going after, and I know they can do it. It doesn’t take just one time to tell them a thing; you have to do it repeatedly until that neurological connection is made, and they start remembering to do it themselves. I think that’s the greatest joy as a teacher and conductor – when suddenly you see the students begin to do it and they make adjustments by themselves.
Arvada West is a “regular school” with a wide SES range. In any given year, out of 250-300 people in the program, there would be maybe three kids that took private lessons. My master’s degree is in vocal performance; I think approaching it as a voice class and just focusing on healthy tone production is valuable for a developing singer.
Arvada West’s auditorium is beautiful and not a super great place to sing, so we would usually find a church in downtown Denver that had a better acoustic and have someone come and record. Students LOVED the experience of singing in a different acoustic, and even though I thought of it as another thing to get done, it was a treat for them to get into that sort of space and sing.
Another thing I’ll add: don’t feel like you need to have something super difficult. Choose repertoire that you know your kids will be successful at. I remember sitting on a CMEA committee listening to audition recordings, and I listened to a recording of a French piece in unison, and I think it was probably my favorite thing I heard of all the choirs I listened to. Something that’s a little more simple and is done artistically and well – that can go a long way.
As a composer, especially at the beginning, one of the important aspects of success will be self-promotion. This is also true for other things, like finding additional opportunities such as conducting honor choirs or obtaining a competitive position. What have you done, and what have you learned from those experiences?
I started composing during the pandemic; I didn’t intend for anyone to sing my works – it was an artistic outlet and something I could still do. I got the feedback that I should share it with more people, so I started sharing little clips of things on social media and created a website. It’s an interesting thing, self-promotion – most people who direct choirs operate in an educational space, and I think there’s a certain service element to what we do. If there’s any self-promotion that gets entangled with that, it might not sit well with other people; that’s been a tricky thing to negotiate. But on the other hand, if you don’t do it, nobody’s going to know.
Same thing with guest conducting – you don’t get an opportunity to do that if people don’t know your work. If you’re just in your classroom doing great things, it probably won’t get noticed. Even if it’s your beginning ensemble and they’ve learned to match pitch for the first time, I think we should embrace sharing and uplifting others’ good work in our field. So often, we’re the only ones in our building doing it, and we have an opportunity in this media-driven work to share the goodness that we’re all doing.
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Chris Maunu is a conductor, educator, and composer based in Portland, Oregon. He is the Artistic Director of the acclaimed Pacific Youth Choir, Affiliate Faculty at the Portland State University School of Music, and Artistic Director of the professional ensemble Choro in Schola. Chris spent 17 years as the Director of Choirs at Arvada West High School in Colorado, leaving a legacy of expanding the boundaries of what young singers can achieve.
A four-time GRAMMY® Music Educator of the Year Finalist and a two-time recipient of the CMA® Foundation National Music Teacher of Excellence Award, Chris is a passionate advocate for music education. Choirs under his direction have received national and international recognition, performing at over a dozen conferences, including National and Regional ACDA events. His ensembles have earned the American Prize in Choral Performance, the Gold Diploma at the Rimini International Choral Competition, and much more.
To contact Chris, or learn more about him and his compositions, you can visit his website: https://www.chrismaunu.com/bio
