HOMETOWN HEROES: Music teachers on a mission to save choir

March 10, 2016 10:18 pm

By: Alexandra Cowley

acowley@abc6.com

Two elementary school teachers in East Providence have started a movement. They’re changing the way public schools do chorus and it’s really striking a chord.

Taylor Temple and Nick Hurd know music and the arts are the first to go when school districts are looking to cut costs. So, these teachers are trying to change that. They’re tuning out the perception that music class is expendable and turning up their new idea: The Kids Rock Chorus.

The chorus at Waddington Elementary in East Providence and the group at Kent Heights Elementary, have a message for anyone whose ever doubted elementary school chorus.

These two groups of talented 4th and 5th graders are part of The Kids Rock Chorus. The group was started by music teachers Taylor Temple and Nick Hurd about 6 years ago.

Temple said, "I started teaching the chorus and I would do typical repertoire and it just wasn’t scratching that itch that the kids had and I had."

"I can get passionate about this song way more than I can get passionate about a song about Spring that I’ve never heard before in my life or a song about cheeseburgers," laughed Hurd,

Temple and Hurd still teach their regular music classes, but had a desire to do something different with their choirs.

The Kids Rock Chorus meets once a week during the school day and all the kids really love it. They kind of have to, it’s a lot of extra work.

"Mr. Temple gives us a CD and papers all the time and says work hard, study your songs, and when it’s time to show we do good," said one 5th grade student.

The groups practice all year in preparation for their big concert in the Summer. They even post videos on social media in hopes of getting people hyped up about chorus again.

"The whole point of filming these kids and doing socially conscious songs was we want to survive we want this group to not be taken away and if we’re a boring group or were the same old thing we’ve seen what happens to those groups they disappear," explained Temple.

Former Kent Heights Elementary School principal Fatima Avila has seen the positive impact the chorus has had on the kids.

"It makes them excited and that’s what we need we need, to get kids excited about their learning again," said Avila.

The kids who make up the chorus are constantly changing. It’s Taylor and Nick’s mission to make sure music, and this group, remain a constant in schools.

"This is always on the chopping block. They’re going to have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming, but hopefully it doesn’t come to that," joked Temple.

The Kids Rock Summer concert is June 8th at East Providence High School.