Interview: Aaron Nigel Smith

Aaron Nigel Smith features a lot of guest stars on his album Welcome to the Village -- Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Lucky Diaz -- but the guest artists featured most prominently are the kids of his One World Chorus, a multi-national choral group.

Smith chatted with us earlier this month about his experiences growing up at a choral boarding school, his long route back to kids' choral groups, and the benefits of singing in groups, not to mention his future plans (hint: Bob Marley has something to do with it.)

Zooglobble:What was your first musical memory?

Aaron Nigel Smith: I think it was my elementary school music class with Mrs. Gibson.  We played the xylophones; she was using the Orff/Kodaly method.  I really enjoyed that above and beyond the rest of school.  It opened me up.

And at age 11, you went to study music away from home?

Yes, at the American Boychoir School.  I was at Camp Albermarle, a summer camp, and while there they picked a few kids to audition.  I passed the audition, and soon I was at the school.

It was an incredibly life-changing experience.  From day one, people knew that you wanted to be a musician.  There was choir practice several hours a day on top of class.  We toured every state, we went to Europe, we sang with people like Jessye Norman -- it was incredibly high-quality.

What did you want to do as a musician?

I wanted to be a singer, specifically a classical singer doing light opera, oratorio, choral music, that was my main thought, anyway.

And so what was the path from that career to children's musician?

I went to Interlochen, the music camp, which is where I met my wife.  I attended the Manhattan School of Music and performed with the Albert McNeil Choral Singers.  I toured internationally, I was touring rigorously.  But with with kids, it was a little rough -- literally the day after the birth of our first son Zion, I had to fly to Japan for two weeks.  I did it, because that's what I had to do to earn money for our family, but it was heart-wrenching.

The first hour I spent teaching music was another life-defining moment for me.  I went into the class and immediately threw out the plan I had -- I spent time with the kids with honesty and integrity, I improvised.

That was ten or eleven years ago now.  It's great to see families engaged together.

What was the inspiration for the One World Children's Chorus?

That's really coming full circle for me.  I had been exploring ideas for working with a non-profit.  And I'd been touring and working with my children's music program FUNdamentals.

The choir started in California as the Palisades Choir, but if you're familiar with that area, you know that there's not much need for outreach in that area.  When we decided to move from Los Angeles to Oregon, we expanded that vision to Oregon, then to New York City with some kids I'd been working with there for a few years, and then to Nairobi, Kenya.

We started working with the Cura Orphanage there.  We were able to send proceeds to the orphanage.  And I wanted to have these groups of children singing together.

Do you have particular memories from the sessions?

With Los Angeles, it's the memory of the inception of the recording in my home studio, with my sons, goofing around.  In New York, it was the opportunity to collaborate with Antonio Dangerfield, who was my high school roommate and now works with the Achievement First Academy.

As for Kenya, I'd never been there before.  I'd see the state the kids were existing in, then see them sing with such joy -- they had joy in their eyes as they sang together, even though they had no shoes and were singing in a mud hut.

And in Portland, I finally feel at home.  There's been such openness and kindness -- help with with recording, appearances on TV, and parents jumping with enthusiasm.  We had auditions yesterday and the day before and had 50 kids.

What do you see as the benefits of choral singing for kids?

Well, the voice is a pure instrument, it's inside us.  Beyond that, we all come out of preschool together, but by the time you hit fourth or fifth grade people can be tool cool for someone.  Choir has you standing next to someone, blending your voices together.  Those values of cooperation are useful.  Not even 20% of these kids will become musicians, but they'll learn you can accomplish a lot if you sing together.

There aren't many opportunities to have kids sing together, particularly outside of a church setting -- what advice do you have for getting a group together?

Well, to start off with, just sing with your kids -- it's OK!  We spend so much time telling then not to sing, right?  It doesn't have to be from a hymnal, of course -- sing Bob Marley, the Beatles, general sing-along.

Once kids start singing, they want to sing together, to write music.  And there are so many audiences if you want to perform in front of audiences -- schools, nursing homes.

Singing is coming back into vogue now with Glee and American Idol and the rest (not that I'd push Idol and those shows).  That shows cool high school singing.

What's next for you?

I'm excited about the next season with One World.  We've picked out our next location -- in February we're going to Jamaica.  We're going to be working at Bob Marley's elementary school.  There's also a possibility of working in Haiti in 2013.  That's a little more unstable, and we're trying to find the right partner.

Our next CD is going to be a holiday CD, and we're also doing a holiday concert.

Finally, we're going to put on a children's music festival here in Lake Oswego in the Portland area -- we have a year to pull it off.

Photo credits: Dove Rudman (ANS), Melissa Heinonin (OWC Portland), Michael Kilmurray (Cura school)

Caroling Tips: Caroling with Kids

With Christmas rapidly approaching, I thought I would share some tips for caroling. I actually wrote much of this just after the new year, but thought that tips on getting the most out of the caroling experience with kids wouldn't be of much use in January. (Music can be an important part of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and Valentine's Day, but caroling... not so much.) So read on for my tips on how you and your kids can get the most out of caroling without driving you (or your kid) crazy.

I actually went caroling twice in December 2010, which proved useful as there were a number of things I learned the first time (on a Sunday morning with a church group at a nursing home) that I used the second time (on a Monday night with friends from our -- and in our -- neighborhood). It wasn't the first time I'd gone caroling -- I'd also organized our prior neighborhood caroling event a couple years ago -- but I paid much closer attention to what seemed to work well.

1) It helps to have a single sheet. Books of carols are nice, but it takes too long to find the carol you actually want to sing. That's why my carol sheet (see below) is two pages, which can be copied back-to-back on a single sheet of paper. You obviously still need to find the carols, but it's much easier scanning a single page or two.

2) You need to have (at least some) songs preschoolers can sing. This is assuming, of course, that preschoolers are part of the mix (although it can be argued that simplicity is essential, and it's not that bad of an idea to stick to the simplest of carols). That fancy carol sheet is of little use (beyond that of pride) to the preschooler who can barely recognize their own name let alone the second verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Songs I'd include in this category include "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," though I'd note that even more complex carols like "Deck the Halls" offer opportunities for the youngsters (kids pick up the "Fa la la la la..." part pretty quick).

3) Have a variety, but not too much so. You need to have a variety of songs so you're not singing the same three songs at every stop. Having said that, there is some value in everyone singing the songs 2 or 3 times during the caroling session so they actually master it, and if you have 30 songs (many of which will be unfamiliar to many of the carolers), you're not going to get that value. Also, you need to include a preschooler-friendly song (see above) at every stop.
4) Three songs. Like I said above, three songs. This translates to maybe three minutes of actual singing, which to me just feels right, and is long enough without having the kids (or, frankly, the carolee) get antsy.

5) Two verses. One verse plus a chorus just doesn't feel long enough. But singing the third verse ends up making you feel like you're the only one singing as the kids -- and the listener -- fade away as they hit ever-more-unfamiliar lyrical territory. It also usually puts the song at about a minute in length, helping you meet that three-minute time limit. Obviously, if you're singing with a bunch of experienced singers, then go ahead, add that third verse, your fellow choristers might appreciate it. Having said that, note #4 -- it's a little weird to be standing at someone's door for 10 minutes while you going into the finer points of what you and Fanny Bright did on that sleigh ride in "Jingle Bells."

6) One hour. Probably less, even, but definitely no more than an hour. After maybe 45 minutes, you could tell that the younger kids were getting antsy. In our evening caroling session around the neighborhood, we sang at I think 8 houses in about 55 minutes, which seemed just about right.

7) Someone needs to lead. There needs to be a song leader fielding song requests from the kids (or the carolees) and starting everyone off on the same note. If you have an instrument -- a ukulele or guitar -- that's helpful, but I've found I'm so focused on the lyrics (even ones I've sung dozens if not hundreds of times) that I don't end up strumming much.

7a) Don't forget the shakers and bells. I forgot this year, and it definitely lacked a little something compared to caroling of prior years...

8) No surprises. With one exception, we only caroled at houses who knew we were coming. That prevented us ringing doorbells and waiting in vain for someone to answer. It also prevented us from caroling at folks' houses who probably weren't in the mood or wouldn't appreciated ("You're Jewish?"). We had a slot open up and my wife decided to check to see if our neighbor would appreciate a last-minute caroling -- as it turns out, it had been a very long day at work for her and she politely declined.

9) Lots of cookies and hot chocolate. This is probably a good tip generally, but especially for caroling.

10) Bonus updated comment: This year we decided that instead of rushing from house to house for our neighborhood caroling we'd host a caroling party. We wanted to spend more time singing and less time walking. Now, this being the deserts of Arizona, we were able to host the caroling party outside at the very tiny park inside our neighborhood. (It was maybe 50 degrees at 6 PM, so very doable.) We had a few flyers delivered, and notified folks via the neighborhood's e-mail list and Facebook group. While it took a bit longer to set up the lights than we'd anticipated, we ended up singing the dozen or so songs on our song sheet and sang for probably 17-20 minutes. With a little more planning, we could easily add a few songs to the list and sing longer. We've already talked a little bit about making it more elaborate for next year.

But you don't have to host it outside or make it fancy -- though it probably makes it easier to attract passers-by. Inside can work just as well -- and has the added benefit of easier keyboard accompaniment and quicker access to the hot chocolate and cookies. ;-)

Additional Resources
-- Here's the caroling sheet we used this year.
-- Better Homes & Gardens has a Christmas carol page, including a songbook you can use as is or to select particular carols for your own one-sheet.
-- Lori Henriques wrote a nice post on caroling parties that complements (meaning, goes with, not praises) a lot of what I've said here.