Kids Around the Bay

Pacific Boychoir Academy: Music's Call to Action

You wonder how long we can go on with this sordid obsession of trying to get children into ever better schools and colleges. The idioms of the day are revealing. The notion used to be to “ace” an SAT exam. Now it’s to “kill it.” Said sometimes as though the whole SAT process had become a form of academic-violence and by ‘killing’ it the taker is merely acting in self-defense.

And all the while you keep wondering, what has education come to mean? Is it about learning or achieving, or putting a new ornament on the family crest?

So it’s always reassuring to hear about school life just outside the mainstream. The other day we spoke to John Lynch, the academic director at the Pacific Boychoir Academy, which is located in what used to be the Oakland Hebrew School on Ridgeway Avenue. The academy opened 15 years ago with an after-school program for six boys and has grown into a day school, from fourth to eighth grade, with 57 boys.

Boys only, which is one aspect of the 19th-century, English public school character of the school. Another is that you learn Latin. Moreover, the boys run various aspects of school life and must take responsibility for chores. Indeed, every student has a job around the school.

“We give them real responsibility, which we see as intertwined with creativity,” Lynch told us. “Most schools are about imparting knowledge. You are given something to remember and you tell it back. But we look at gaining knowledge through the ability to solve problems. We use music as the medium and so children learn how to solve a music problem and then adapt that to, say, a math problem. Our goal is for children to use their imagination to find solutions and to take responsibility for the process — and to learn what it means to be part of the group.”

As for creativity, Lynch gave an example about how school life and the study of music inform each other.

“When kids get into a conflict, they come to me, they explain what happened, and I have them recognize each other’s versions. And then I lead them to collaborate to figure out a solution. Very much like a duet. And of course that’s one of the great values of music because in rehearsals and concert you learn to work toward a blended solution.”

“I would say that by the time they get to the eighth grade, these boys are pretty conscious of both the goal and the process, and how the imagination can be a very powerful force for good in life. That's also part of the metaphor of the choir: being able to hold your part in life, in the midst of the group.”

For those who can’t help wondering, you will be relieved to know that graduates of the boychoir academy often go on to such schools as Head Royce, Athenia, Berkeley High, and Oakland Tech.

Upcoming boychoir events include two this weekend: this Friday, at 7 p.m. at Jackson Hall in Davis, a collaboration with University Chorus and the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra. The program includes Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, K. 339; Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Requiem.

On Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m., at the Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, the boys perform their Harmonies of the Season concert.

"I Believe I Can Fly"

The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir: Three Grammy-winning award albums. One of the treasures of the Bay Area. Diverse in every sense. Their bread and butter ranges from spirituals to contemporary gospel. In the Interfaith Youth Choir, there are 21 kids from far and wide, ages 13 to 18. Everyone auditions, usually in February. “We do it just to make sure they’re not tone deaf,” says Terrance Kelly who founded the adult choir 27 years ago and the kid’s choir 14 years ago.

Ninety-eight percent of youth choir members go on to college, including Oberlin, Berklee College of Music, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Hampton, Morehouse, and one graduate is now at Harvard Business School. How do you it? we asked Kelly.

“We hold their feet to the fire and honor those who are doing well [kids with a 4.0 get $25 at the end of the semester; 3.0 gets you $5]. I’m pretty hard on them, but if they you know you love ’em, you can be as mean as you want.

Next year, the kids are going to sing in New Orleans and on the trip, visit a plantation and an alligator farm. “Some of these kids haven’t spent any time outside a city,” Kelly said.

“Seven years ago I had a 14-year-old girl; she was having a rough time, problems with her parents, problems with life. She had a .67 GPA. I told her that was about the price of a piece of candy, not a GPA. So I just fussed and fussed and threatened to kick her out, but lovin’ on her too. She got herself together and graduated with a 3.2. She called me Poppy. So I’m mean, but sweet and I just love ‘em to death. That’s the secret, they have to know you love ‘em.”

“If you expect nothing you get nothing,” Kelly added. “I expect big things and they do big things.”

The annual holiday concert is on December 16, 7 p.m. Program includes holiday songs, and maybe one or two “positive songs,” including I Believe I Can Fly. At the Imani Community Church, 3300 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland. Donations requested: $20 for adults: 18 and under, $10.

Melody of China, With Earplay

Melody of China is a San Francisco-based music ensemble that offers both traditional and contemporary Chinese music. Some works have been commissioned.

On Friday, at 8 p.m. at the Old First Church in San Francisco, the group presents Joan Huang’s work, River During the Qinming Festival. The performance will include Earplay, a Bay Area, six-member ensemble devoted to new chamber music.

Also on the program: a world premiere by Eric Myers along with works by 20th-century Chinese composers. For ticket information, visit oldfirstconcerts.org, or call (415) 474-1608.

The San Francisco Symphony Comes to the Mondavi Center

As part of its effort to provide family entertainment, and to celebrate its anniversary season, The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis features the San Francisco Symphony Family Concert on Friday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.

This celebration of the holidays marks the Symphony’s first family program at the Mondavi Center, and will feature the orchestra accompanying the very touching animated film, The Snowman, about an English boy’s relationship with a snowman, plus favorite holiday classics, and a sing-along with the orchestra.

The Pacific Boychoir Academy will also perform with the symphony.