Irving's Pied Piper makes choir fun

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By MELISSA LEE / Lincoln Journal Star

Every Friday, Sarah DiMagno’s alarm clock goes off before 7 a.m.

Every time, a mini-debate begins inside the 11-year-old’s head.

I want to sleep.

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Music teacher Mike Robb directs the eighth-Grade chorus during rehearsal at Irving Middle School Wednesday. Robb has been teaching at Irving for seven years and directs six chorus groups, five of which meet outside of regular school hours. "They are extremely dedicated students," said Robb of his chorus groups that meet before and after school. (Heidi Hoffman)

No, I want to go to choir.

No, I want to sleep.

No, I want to go to choir.

Every time, choir wins.

“It’s always worth it,” the Irving Middle School sixth-grader says.

Why? Well, to start, there’s the dancing, props and relaxed dress code, welcome twists on the traditional choirs for which Sarah has sung.

There’s also the promise of treats if she shows extra effort or records perfect attendance for an entire semester.

And then there’s Mr. Robb, Irving’s wildly popular choral teacher who just makes choir fun, Sarah and other students say.

“He’s kind of like a kid, so he gets kids,” Sarah said Thursday afternoon after she and 100 other sixth-graders finished their final rehearsal for Irving’s year-end choral concert that night.

“Parents can be like, ‘You do bad, you get punished.’ He’s like, ‘You do well, you get rewarded,’” she said.

Indeed, whether it’s his youthful energy — he’s just 33 — or the Sweet-Tarts he’s known to hand out, Mike Robb’s message is clearly resonating with Irving students, who are signing up for his choirs in droves despite early wake-up calls and high standards on attendance, effort and ethics.

Some 350 of Irving’s 840 students — an eye-popping 42 percent — participate in one or more of the singing groups Robb leads, which include individual choruses for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, a swing choir for eighth-graders, a girls’ choir and a boys’ group affectionately called Man Choir.

Many of the students start in sixth-grade and never quit.

“You get to sing and have fun at the same time,” said Mary James, 12, a sixth-grader who intends to stick with Mr. Robb throughout middle school.

“I just love it all.”

Striking a balance between work and play, Robb sprinkles choir practice with jokes but demands students’ attention, constantly commanding, “Eyes right here!”

He patiently, consistently hushes them, grabbing their attention with clapping games and discreetly asking the occasional chatterbox to take a seat away from the group.

Students know Robb wants their respect. In fact, before they can even begin choir, students are asked to sign a “contract” with Robb indicating they understand they’ll be expected to work hard and that if they miss more than five practices, they’ll have to sit out a semester.

That rule teaches students accountability, Robb said, and makes them all the more proud when they pull off a big concert.

“They feel they’re part of something special,” he said. “They understand they’re going to do their best and be committed.”

Robb livens up choir by combining traditional songs with upbeat tunes often bolstered by dancing, acting and props.

This year, for example, sixth-graders’ props included a mixing bowl, a kite and a “self-help” station to aid “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Seventh-graders delivered Beatles songs, and eighth-graders learned Broadway tunes.

Not only does the variety keep sleepy students awake in the morning, it ensures they don’t get bored and coaxes them out of their shells — a tough task for many middle schoolers, Robb says. It also draws students to choir who might not originally have thought a singing group could be fun.

And choir helps the students meet new friends — with all that dancing, you’re bound to knock your neighbors’ elbows more than a few times, and you’d better apologize to them by name, jokes sixth-grader Alex Souliere, 12.

After multiple invitations from Robb, Alex finally joined choir this year. And he’s glad he did: He earned a solo for Thursday’s concert and has even learned a dance step or two.

Sure, it’s tough some days to resist hitting the snooze button, Alex admitted, “but I made a commitment to Mr. Robb and I’m following through.”

Besides, he said, the friendships, jokes and occasional donut make getting out of bed a little easier.

“We’re all here by choice,” Alex said. “We’re here because we want to be. And we all have a good time.”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.