Choir teacher Raynard Brown explains how he started at GCAA, as well as his hopes for the vocal department.
Raynard Brown
“GCAA: it was kind of an interesting blessing in disguise. I retired. So I taught 31 years and I retired, took a year off with my son who was a senior in high school at the time, and loved it. He’s now gone away to school. In about April I started freaking out thinking, beause we only have one child, my wife is gonna be at work, my son is gonna be away at college, and I’m going to be home alone. I didn’t like that feeling. So I said I need to find a job. Well I put in to work at all these other places and then someone called and said that there’s an opening at GCAA. I had never heard of it, and so I came one day for a walk through, was feeling the vibes, thinking, oh, this is like “Fame” the movie, and so now I’m here.”
What are your hopes for the vocal department?
“I think my aspirations for the department, and I’m hearing it today, is that they will have the most incredible, formidable, music education. That when the kids walk out of here and they go to Mr. Smith, they have such a solid education that whatever Mr. Smith works with them, they’re gonna do far above and beyond anything they can imagine. I want us to be the kind of school where we cross the street and we sing with the Symphony. Or we go down the street and we do workshops with the folks who are in town from broadway. I can see GCAA being on the map and being one of those schools where people are coming and interviewing, finding out how do we get the kids to be so musically intelligent. That’s what I’m looking forward to. ”
How is GCAA a new or different experience for you?
“Like I said, I taught 31 years before and it’s different in that, that it’s a new school, I think with it being new we want to work on helping kids aspire to be great things. I think it’s in their hearts, I think our job is to help them find it. I think that’s how it’s different. At other schools, kids, we have to make them in tune with music, whereas the kids here are really already in tune with it and they want to grow. That makes it exciting.”
“I think GCAA is kind of a diamond in the rough, it’s like a really awesome secret that’s being kept. I think some great things are gonna come about from this school. I think if we get on track and stay focused with a really strong vision of who we are and want to be, I think we’re gonna see some pretty awesome things happening.”