Sing-alongs

12/2/19
Liza Ewen
Acting Head of School

Near the end of my first year at Friends School Haverford, my father asked me what the most surprising difference was between my many years as a high school English teacher and my new job at a Nursery-8 school. My answer was almost immediate: “I had no clue how much I’d be singing.” The perplexed look on my father’s face stemmed from his intimate knowledge of my generally off-key crooning in the passenger seat the summer we drove from one New England college tour to the next. I come by a lack of vocal talent honestly. My father is all but tone-deaf, though this never stopped us from belting out Don McLean’s “American Pie” in cacophonous glory each time it played on the mixtape (with the windows securely rolled up, of course).

Something that distinguishes FSH from other schools is our commitment to arts education, and this includes the integration of music not just into our curriculum, but into the lifeblood of the school. We sing together each week at the close of meeting for worship, and we sing together at the close of school before each extended break. While I have worked with great music teachers who insist that everybody can sing, I haven’t worked at another school that actually gets everybody to sing. We aren’t coaxed or guilted into it--we know that this is a place where we add our voice to the chorus.

While sing-alongs are certainly something you’d find in other early childhood programs, you’d be hard-pressed to find one like ours--one that includes a room full of singing teachers, 7th and 8th graders (whose very development requires that they refuse to participate in such events), and grandparents alongside gleeful four- and five-year-olds. For me, there is something truly sacred about these moments. I know I am part of something that isn’t happening everywhere else--it’s an essential part of what makes Friends School Haverford itself. Inevitably, each June, there is a departing student who cannot stop weeping as they realize they’ve just experienced their last FSH meeting for singing. That, I’d argue, is the greatest testament to the power of art and the power of excellent teaching.

Thanks to Tr. Ed for leading us in song, for helping us find our collective voice, and for providing us so many opportunities to sing together. Thanks to those of you who can’t help but join in, even if you “can’t” sing or your middle school child insists they won’t sit next to you if you do. Together, we give voice and melody to what we know to be the real power of community.