When people think of music and the classes they’ve taken, the curriculum is not what comes to mind first. Reading, writing, and math are all very different from vocal health, musical literacy, and breath control. The choir teacher at Potosi, Ray Calderon, is trying to change that.
“Mr. Ray”, as he is known around the building, is starting to implement concepts like literacy into day-to-day elementary classes. Students are now able to look at a scale on the board and correctly identify notes as young as four years old. His plan is to start teaching them more challenging concepts to build the program as a whole. That way, when they get to high school, they know how to properly read sheet music, and they can challenge themselves with harder music.
It’s no secret that fine arts numbers have slowly gone down the last few years. Ray is not worried about it. He believes that the drop in numbers might have to do with the fact that he’s changing what they do in classes. “Mr. Ray’s mean because he’s changing things. Mr Ray’s mean because he has to grade us,” he says, “No different than science. No different than math. [I’m] changing a culture.”
He gave more explanation about how the culture is already changing. When asked about the decline in numbers, he responded, “I’m okay with that. That’s fine. You see, middle school’s hungry.” The Potosi middle school choir is the largest middle school choir in the Six Rivers Conference, and back in September, 22 students participated in Six Rivers honors choir.
Ray explains that he influences his students with “real-life experiences.” He currently sings with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and receives gigs with orchestras internationally. He also provides connections to local gigs for his high school students. A few years back, senior at the time, Ava Gillian (class of 2025) sang the national anthem at a Dubuque Fighting Saints hockey game.
“You see, I’m not going to be that guy who can instruct other people, and then not go out and do it. No. Go out and do it. Teach them the real world. Teach them the right way. Guide them,” Ray says.
Ray grew up in New York in a community that did not provide him with a lot of opportunities. Despite the challenges he faced growing up, he made it to Broadway. Ray was a primary rehearsal tenor Broadway called when they needed someone to fill in.
He is now bringing those experiences to Potosi and showing students that music could be a realistic career, or at the very least, a serious academic pursuit in school. Ray hopes that when people think of the Potosi choir, they see the new skills being developed and the hard work his students are putting in.