CRANFORD, NJ – At the beginning of each school year, Cranford High School’s esteemed choir director Anthony Rafaniello posts a quote for student reflection on his classroom wall. This year, the quote was from American philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952):
“We always live at the time we live and not at some other time, and only by extracting at each present time the full meaning of each present experience are we prepared for doing the same thing in the future.”
Dewey, an active leader in the American pragmatist movement of the 1870s, argued that students must not be passive recipients and regurgitators of information but rather they must actively participate in their education. As the quote demonstrates, Dewey believed the education of students must be grounded in relevant experiences, experiences that would aid in all future endeavors.
As a member of the Cranford High School Concert and Madrigal Choir, I can attest to the fact that this principle guides Rafaniello’s style of instruction—he challenges us to use the skill sets taught in order to uncover the music for ourselves.
After auditioning in the spring of last school year, Andrew Gathercole and I were selected to perform with the 2024 New Jersey All-State Mixed Choir in their annual concerts at the teachers’ convention in Atlantic City and at the NJPAC, scheduled for Sunday, November 17. The performance at Atlantic City was a three-day marathon of non-stop rehearsal. This trip, singing among New Jersey’s best for hours on end, directly challenged Andrew’s and my ability to take the lessons Dewey and Rafaniello preached and apply them in the real world.
Ask anyone to describe their All-State experience in one word, it is sure to be “exhausting.” Rehearsals stretched from the early morning hours to late at night. Dr. Michael Semancik, this year’s director of the All-State Mixed Choir and a distinguished figure in the world of choral conducting and music education, set the expectation of excellence early. Our first rehearsal, a three-hour late-night excursion, was filled with necessary tension. Anyone could wave their arms and accept the product of such a talented cast, but what made Semancik such an excellent director was his drive to achieve more.
The actual performance was breathtaking. With a varied palette of music, the choir performed numerous different styles of song, opening with Stacey V. Gibbs’ spiritual, “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired.” Jake Runstead’s “A Silence Haunts Me,” a melancholy adaptation of Ludvig van Beethoven’s letter to his brothers in which he lamented his gradual hearing loss, proved to be the night’s highlight. The piece is a marathon, spanning approximately ten minutes. Within it, we join Beethoven in his journey towards deafness, experiencing terror, fury, hope, and loss alongside the legendary composer. The raw emotion of the piece left many stunned. While reflecting on the piece, Andrew remarked “how the piece grew from soft to thunderous to silent, illustrating anger, grief, and eventual acceptance…it was such a powerful yet heartbreaking message.” The tears of audience and choir members alike certainly validated this sentiment.
Joining the All-State Choir in Atlantic City is certainly one of those experiences Dewey advocated for students to have. Sharing a collective love of music, the ensemble forged new friendships and sharpened the skillsets of New Jersey’s best.
