Berryman Strikes Up The Choir

Dr. Jonathan Q. Berryman isn’t lamenting how technology has changed our world. Instead he’s harnessing it to help young people find their voices in the choir.

Berryman has been making New Haven sing since settling here after obtaining a master’s in choral conducting at Yale. He has served as musical director at churches. He founded the Heritage Chorale, which is going strong in its 26th year. And he has taught music in New Haven schools.

From church to community choirs, the average age of participants has skewed older over the years. Young people are too busy, or less connected to institutions. Berryman is working to draw more young people into choral singing, from his work in the community and church choirs to his hope to eventually launch a choir at Hillhouse High School, where he currently serves as assistant principal.

“The factory model of living, where people work 9 to 5, made it possible for people every Tuesday night, say, to have a rehearsal from 6 to 7:30. Now everybody has a side hustle. ​‘I’m an Uber driver. I’m a Lyft driver. I have a full time job, a part-time job, and a side business,’ ” Berryman observed during a discussion Tuesday on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program.

“How do we make time for people to find time to rehearse? You have to craft that time.”

He does that partly through rethinking the role of rehearsals (to maximize time) and through digital tools.

“I’ve started sending parts: ​‘Learn your music before you get here.’ The idea of coming to rehearsal to learn music, that is over. That’s dead. It’s no longer necessary. You can go on YouTube and learn the entire Messiah. ​‘Learn your part! Here’s the score. Here’s somebody singing it.’

“We’re utilizing technology to bridge the gap, to make sure that people who do have side hustles are not spending a lot of time in rehearsal to learn music. The only reason we should come to rehearsal is to hear what it sounds like when we’re singing it together.”

Click on the above video to watch the full discussion with Dr. Jonathan Q. Berryman on music, the digital age, and Hillhouse High School’s work in preparing students not only for college but, alternatively, for precision manufacturing or skilled professional careers, on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of Dateline New Haven.