Education

The firm belief in the potential significance of music in all lives, fundamental to the founding of Schola Cantorum on Hudson, has also provided continuing dedication to the growth of its education programs. In one form or another, all SCH activity emerges from this foundation. SCH education programs have grown over the years in ways designed to nurture capacity for musical skill, experiences, and expression in members of the community, in young school-age musicians, and within the SCH membership itself. Read on to discover where you might fit in!

Choral Scholar Program

SCH’s Choral Scholar Program is designed for high school juniors and seniors of outstanding vocal promise who intend to pursue a career in music. This part of SCH outreach was activated in the group’s very first season (1994-95), and has been active throughout its history. Click here for chronology and biographies of our Choral Scholars. A Choral Scholarship enables a student to participate fully as a singing member of SCH and to receive partial tuition for private vocal instruction. SCH experience, training, and written recommendations go with our Scholars as they apply to various conservatories and music schools. Our Scholars and their families are also counseled in the complex process of conservatory auditions. Scholars are generally selected toward the end of their sophomore or junior year through a process that includes submitting application materials, undergoing singing and sight-reading auditions with the Artistic Director, and meeting for interviews with the Artistic Vision and Education Committee. SCH supports no more than two Choral Scholars at any one time.

A Choral Scholar audition is highly selective and is based on a combination of audition (including a prepared song, sight reading, and ear testing) and interview with the Artistic Director, musical experience, and recommendations. Basic application information and forms are available by clicking here, and should be submitted in April of the sophomore or junior year of high school for the following acdemic year.

Interested candidates for the SCH Choral Scholar Program are welcome to contact the Artistic Director by phone (201-918-3009) or via e-mail.

Cantorum Young Singers

In 1999, Schola implemented the Cantorum Kids program, since renamed Cantorum Young Singers. Through this program, a school is selected for year-long involvement with SCH. Schola's Artistic Director visits the school during the year to interact with the students and their director and to prepare for the planned musical collaboration. The number and nature of shared events is arranged with the director of the adopted program. Click here for a chronology of school programs with which SCH has collaborated through the CYS Outreach Program.

Applications for adoption as the Cantorum Young Singers are reviewed in the fall of each year for the following season, and include a recording of live performances, among other material. Basic application materials are available by clicking here, and additional information may be obtained by contacting the Education Coordinator.

Sightsinging Classes and Summer Conservatory

Along with the Choral Scholar Program, Schola began offering sightsinging classes to interested members of the community in its very first season. Curriculum and materials for these five-session basic-skills classes were written by the Artistic Director, who also taught the classes.

Starting in the summer of 2007, Schola expanded the range and scope of the course by inaugurating its Summer Conservatory experience. Module I (first of three, and similar to the original sightsinging classes) assumes no previous experience. Many who have taken this course have sung in church and/or community choirs—largely by ear—for many years, but have an interest in connecting their aural skills and experience with actual music-reading understanding. The classes provide a safe yet challenging environment for developing music reading skills and healthy vocal skills quickly. Homework assignments reinforce the newly-learned skills. Students keep the instructive materials included with the tuition. Modules II and III build on the strengths acquired in the Module I, and are for intermediate and advanced students.

For more information relating to future plans for sightsinging classes and/or Summer Conservatory, please contact the Education Coordinator via e-mail or at 201-918-3009.

Educational In-Reach

Weekly Class

As a demonstration of commitment to the growth of SCH’s own singers, in January 2006, Schola Cantorum on Hudson took the innovative step of providing its members with weekly pre-rehearsal classes in advanced vocal technique and assertive sight-reading skills as a benefit of membership—a truly unique offering not found in many choral organizations in this area. This offering is available only to members of Schola Cantorum on Hudson.

Dramatic Coaching

In recognition of the fact that musical performance is about ‘presentation’ just as much as it is about vocal technique, the cast of Schola Sings Solo is provided with a session with a well-known dramatic coach, each year. SCH members who are not part of the Solo cast are encouraged to learn from this session as active observers.

Professional Development

Schola Cantorum on Hudson is accredited as a registered New Jersey Education Professional Development Provider. New Jersey public school teachers are eligible to apply for continuing education credits earned through membership and participation in our performances and educational programs.