From 60 students to 116 students, Pitman Choir’s growth has been exponential in nature over the past four years. Mr. Partan, Pitman’s choir director, is connected to it all.
Foremost, it must be acknowledged that 10-20 students graduate per year which means these empty spaces are also being filled by new students as the year begins. About 20 choir students graduated this last year and the PHS choir still shot up from 88 to 116 students, showing a total gain of around 48 new choir students this year.
As well, Pitman’s choir program has grown from two classes, a beginners and advanced choir, to three, now including an intermediate choir. Not to mention the choir groups that work certain days during Pride Times.
But where did all these new choir enthusiasts come from?
Quite a number of places, actually. To name a few, TJHS’s (Turlock Jr. High School’s) own choir classes, Mr. Partan’s guitar classes at Pitman, and those who join at the beckonings of their friends who are part of PHS’s choir program.
There is one person who is connected to all of these happenings and that is Mr. Partan himself.
Mr. Partan used to teach TJHS’s choir class and has made a legacy for himself there after he left to do more work at Pitman. Many people enjoy Mr. Partan’s guitar classes enough to join his choir classes. And Mr. Partan is always encouraging his students to ask and promote choir to their friends.
Brooklynn LaFollette, a student in Pitman’s advanced choir, Madrigals, shares her own experience.
“At our graduation parade, I sang the national anthem by myself and [Mr. Partan] trained me. So that was the first time I met him and we just, like, giggled the whole time. I still keep those voice recordings of me and Mr. Partan giggling over the notes of the national anthem. So I think that’s when I was like, ‘ok, he’s actually really cool. I should definitely join choir.’”
If there is any reason for the multitude of students that have joined choir it is because Mr. Partan makes choir a safe, fun, and educational place for students.
There have been both upsides and downsides to this growth.
It becomes harder for the choir to travel to and from concerts, as buses are extremely expensive and the choir can only raise so many funds. Not to mention that the choir has to fit onto smaller stages or risers and spacing becomes a slight issue. Somehow, Mr. Partan manages to manage all of this and more, while still keeping up with all of the students and their needs.
On the bright side, more voices and classes allows for more repertoire to be used, more variation in the music that the choir sings, and difficult songs that are appropriate for each class. It also gives the choir both strength and impact in the music they sing. Ultimately, through it all, even if not everyone is familiar with each other, the choir is all still connected as a group and as a family.