By Ariel Alvarado
One would imagine a children’s chorus would solely serve children, but this year the Wilmington Children’s Chorus (WCC) expanded its services to include a twenty-four-year-old.
Some background: WCC is an organization dedicated to empowering young people to change their world through music. This mission encompasses students ages six weeks through eighteen years old in various programs. These programs include Performing Choirs, Neighborhood Choirs, Early Learner’s Music Programs, Summer Camps, and Cultural Exchanges, and serve approximately 625 students in the Wilmington area and beyond.
August 2023 marked the beginning of the Daniel L. Ridout Jr. Teaching Fellowship, a program that provides practical professional experience and mentorship to BIPOC music education and choral conducting professionals at the beginning of their careers. This program is named after Daniel L. Ridout, Jr. (1929-2013) who believed that music is humanity’s great connector. A local educator, composer, and choral director, Ridout was known throughout Delaware as an accomplished musician with a deep knowledge of Negro Spirituals. Although he passed away in 2013, Ridout’s legacy lives on in his family, compositions, the many students he impacted throughout his career, and the young educators he will continue serving through this fellowship.
I have the distinct pleasure of being the Inaugural Daniel L. Ridout Teaching Fellow. I am a conductor, vocalist, and ‘scholartist’ from Atlanta, Georgia. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Spelman College and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from The Ohio State University. While finishing my studies at OSU, I attended the American Choral Directors Association National Conference where I learned about this amazing opportunity. As someone who grew up in a children’s choir, I knew the impact that an organization like this has on its children and community and knew this was somewhere I wanted to be. I am delighted to have been given this opportunity and to have made so many lasting memories with my staff mates, students, and families.
This fellowship is designed to give early-career educators the perfect opportunity to be both student and teacher in a practical setting. I was tasked with creating lesson plans, employing my own teaching methods, and even creating a full-length concert entitled “A Joyful Noise” which took place on February 10, 2024. This summer, I assisted our Summer Camp program as a conductor and music theory instructor and led a site for our Summer of Song Festival (shout out to the Kingswood Kids!). I had the autonomy to engage with the students and repertoire in a manner that is true to my educational philosophy and who I am, while also having examples of the highest caliber in Ms. Kimberly Doucette, our Artistic Director, and Mr. Philip Doucette, our Associate Director. That combination has helped me gauge how best to teach young singers to become highly skilled vocalists and musicians.
On an average day, you’d find me:
- Collaboratively teaching and conducting in all our Performing Choirs for rehearsals and performances.
- Assisting and observing in our Early Learner’s Programs and Neighborhood Choirs (which often includes being covered in scarves by two-year-olds who find it hilarious).
- Engaging with weekly artistic planning meetings, professional development activities, and networking opportunities.
Special occasions for my position included:
- Conducting for Westminster Choir College’s annual concert An Evening of Readings and Carols.
- Assisting our Select Choir in their performance of OperaDelaware’s production of Pucinni’s
- Submitting my first conference presentation in collaboration with Ms. Kimberly Doucette (we gave this presentation on August 3rd!).
The Wilmington Children’s Chorus, its students, and its families have changed my life for good. I have known since I was twelve years old that I want to be a choral conductor and have been tailoring my education and pursuits to aid this effort. This fellowship has given me more confidence, experiences, mentorship, and insight needed for me to take the next step in my career as a conductor and an educator. WCC saw an inequity within the choral music field that needs to be addressed in a meaningful, sustainable, and equitable way. They set out to address this in a way that edifies everyone who is part of the process, and their efforts are creating lasting positive change for the organization, students, families, and this grateful Fellow.
You can learn more about the Ridout Teaching Fellowship, generously supported by our friends at The Presser Foundation, at www.wilmingtonchildrenschorus.org/teachingfellowship/.
Ariel Antoinette Alvarado is the Inaugural Daniel L. Ridout Teaching Fellow of the Wilmington Children’s Chorus, where she works with over 600 youth, ages 6 weeks – 18 years old. Ariel is a conductor, vocalist, and scholartist dedicated to restorative justice and student empowerment through culturally responsive pedagogy. Having grown up with little representation of her identities, Ariel’s work focuses on centering the voices of the marginalized and making connections across cultures.
