Letters to the Editor

My name is J. Patrick McGill and I am a music teacher in Washington County. I am also married to Bethany Mingle, a 2001 graduate of Central High School. We met in Pittsburgh where both of us have had successful careers as singers with the most prestigious organizations in the city, including the Pittsburgh Opera, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, and Resonance Works Pittsburgh, in addition to her work as a physician assistant and mine as a teacher. We are both appalled at the hasty removal of the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” from the Spring Cove Middle School Chorus concert by the school district administration.

As a school choir director, I have programmed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in my concerts in the past because I believe in the historical significance of the piece as well as the message that it sends. The lyrics of James Weldon Johnson inspired hope when they were first written in 1900 for African Americans subjected to racism, persecution, violence and death which led the NAACP to adopt the song as the “Black National Anthem” in 1917. This song has become foundational to American choral music and denying the middle school students at Spring Cove Middle School the opportunity to perform it after spending months rehearsing and learning about it is a hindrance placed on their education. The Ensemble Standards established by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) require the students to present the repertoire they have rehearsed to an audience so that they can see the results of their hard work and dedication while enriching their community through their musical output.

I find it troubling that a small minority of students were moved to express their discomfort just hours before the scheduled performance. Surely, these students and their families had ample time to open a dialogue with their directors and express any reservations they had about performing the piece. I am certain that if they had done so, Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Seackhamer would have been able to explain the context of the song as well as its historical significance and come to an understanding with this small minority of students. By bowing to this reactionary pressure, the Spring Cove School District administrators have favored the unwarranted sensitivities of a few over the educational needs of the many.

As quoted from the district website, “The mission of the Spring Cove School District is to inspire and equip all students to become responsible, respectful, and productive contributors to our local and global communities.” As a result of removing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” from the Spring Cove Middle School chorus concert repertoire, the district has failed in its mission. The action is inspired only by fear and has showed students that there is no place for songs that send a message of hope and freedom to those who have been historically oppressed. But as the song teaches us:

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers died.

…

Out from the gloomy past,

‘Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

Hopefully, one day these students will be able to lead us to a place beyond where this administration has fallen short of its mission.

By J. Patrick McGill

Washington County, Pa.