This year, the Lexington High School’s music department welcomed Sarah Labrie as a new chorus teacher. One of the agreements made during last year’s contract negotiations between the Lexington Educators Association and the school district was to reduce the amount of classes each teacher taught. For the performing arts department, this meant adding a new choral conductor.
“We moved towards finding someone who would teach chorus as a part of their teaching load, but also take on some of the music electives. As it turns out, Ms. Labrie was the perfect candidate,” Jason Iannuzzi, a choral conductor who has taught at LHS for fifteen years, said.
Labrie was originally part of the faculty at Stoughton High School, but had always hoped to work in Lexington.
“I thought, ‘Well I’d probably never change jobs unless something like Lexington opens up,’ and then poof, Lexington opened up. I thought, ‘Oh my god I have to apply for that,’” Labrie said.
Iannuzzi believes having another chorus teacher has contributed to multiple positive changes in the teaching environment. For instance, by focusing on fewer students, he is able to give more comprehensive feedback, grade assignments accurately, and focus on enriching the classroom environment by getting to know his students. Additionally, having a second experienced opinion has been helpful.
“Having someone else here to bounce ideas off, share responsibilities, and be available to students who need extra help at any time, has been absolutely amazing. Going from teaching five sections of chorus to just three has really given me back some bandwidth and has been very valuable,” Iannuzzi said.
Both Iannuzzi and Labrie are alumni of the same college, which is reflected in their similar teaching methods. Iannuzzi believes that this has made the transition easier.
“We literally had the same approaches. Many of our vocal warmups are the same, so I find that it has been a very good fit,” Iannuzzi said.
In the classroom, Labrie aims to emphasize the community aspect of choir and the need for a safe space in developing a collective sound. She believes in the philosophy that happier people can do greater things.
“If you start by attacking [any task] rigorously and academically, you’ll never get the best product, so I hope to build a community, and have a happy experience…because the music is already great,” Labrie said.
