Phillip Keirstead is Prince William County Schools Middle School Teacher of the Year. Keirstead teaches boys choir, or what he prefers to call “Men’s Choir” at Marsteller Middle School in Bristow.
“I was shocked that a music teacher would receive this honor when so much attention is placed on the core academic teachers,” Keirstead said. “It shows how much Prince William County cares about its students' music education.”
Over the past four years, Marsteller has sent more students to the All-State Virginia Middle School Choir than any other school in the state. Marsteller’s choir consistently receives superior rating at the District Choir Assessment, and they consistently win first place at the Kings Dominion Showcase Music Festival.
Keirstead has further demonstrated excellence in his field by building Marsteller’s boy’s choir into a state recognized entity with a record number of male members. Because of his successful leadership he has also presented at the Virginia Music Educators Association, advocating for gender specific education for chorus classes at the middle school level.
“Young men are much more open and receptive to the singing when girls are not around. I imagine it might be the same in an academic setting,” said Keirstead, who also uses his influence on the young men to teach character education.
Keirstead said this is a unique luxury that elective teachers have, because they do not have the same pressures of meeting state and national benchmarks. He said it frees him to model and discuss appropriate adult behaviors.
It is an approach his young men appreciate. His students like having male role model in the classroom, to teach them how to tie a tie, practice proper manners and treated them like young men. They feel they sing “manly” songs, and also enjoy the fraternity feel of the class, where they do not worry about their voices cracking around the girls.
Keirstead also enjoys the unique challenges that come with teaching middle school students. Whereas a high school teacher may receive choir students who can already sing and read music, Keirstead builds his students from the ground up.
“Starting a brand new song, and seeing how fast they can learn it is thrilling. Watching kids who swore to me that they didn't know how to read music finally understanding the intricacies involved in reading a piece of music is a wonderful process.”
Many people might be familiar with the idea of the male choir teacher from the TV show Glee, but Keirstead said the reality of teaching choir is much different than shown on television.
“There is NOTHING similar, except maybe the difficulty in recruiting kids to sing,” an issue Keirstead once had, but does not any more. “Kids don't just break out into song. It takes months of rehearsal to perfect a performance, not minutes.”
However, Keirstead said he does try to get his students to associate with the lyrics of a piece and emote what they are feeling.
“I try to make all our music relevant, even if indirectly. If kids can't connect to the music we're performing, the audience won't either.”
To get students to relate, Keirstead and his female counterpart at Marsteller, Julie Phelan, will put a great deal of thought into the songs they choose to sing.
“It's all about choosing the right music. It doesn't need to be pop, but it needs to be relevant somehow to these kids' lives. If they enjoy the music, learning happens on its own.”
Phillip Keirstead was previously featured by Bristow Beat in the article "Marsteller's Men's Choir Stresses Singing Can Be Masculine."
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