Nicholas Rhodes, vocal music teacher

What were you doing before you started working at GCAA?

“I originally got into music because I was a rock musician, so when I was 14 or 15 I started playing in bands and that was my first musical experience. I did that for a living most of the time until I started teaching. When I went to college I joined the choir there…there was a new choir director at the college one year and he took me under his wing,…got me into the choral music world, so I ended up changing my major to choral music.”

What is something that you want people to know about you?

“I really like to have a good time, but I think the best times you have in the classroom are when you’re being extremely productive. At the end of the day, you get to look back and think ‘wow, we really got something done today’”

What’s your long-term goal for your students or class?

“I’d like to make them feel more secure as singers. I think a lot of people get kind of nervous singing in front of others and we have a lot of newer students in the high school ensembles this year, and I just want them to be more secure singing, because they all have really nice voices.”

What are you looking forward to at GCAA?

“There’s a lot of performance opportunities, and a lot of students are really inspired to perform, and I think that’s really cool. In many ways that sets this school apart. At a lot of other schools performance and ensembles are…an afterthought, but here they’re at the forefront, and I think that’s really awesome.”