Choirmaster/Artistic Director
The heart of any music program is its faculty. Endowment
funds are needed to offer a competitive salary and
benefits for a talented Choirmaster and Artistic
Director. Currently, Dr. Darryl Roland serves as
Choirmaster and Artistic Director of the Cathedral
Choir School of Delaware. Dr. Roland specializes
in the choral training of children and has earned
a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree and Performer's
Certificate in Organ from the Eastman School of Music
and a Master of Music Degree from the University
of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
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Student Scholarships
Endowed scholarships are needed to meet the growing
demand for enrollment. The Cathedral Choir School
has recently doubled in size to forty students and
would like to serve at least fifty students. Recognizing
that economic class must not prevent a student from
receiving the finest musical education, the Cathedral
Choir School of Delaware awards a financial scholarship
worth approximately $3,000 per year to its students.
Scholarships provide seven to ten hours each week
of "out-of-school" arts learning, including
vocal training, private piano lessons and leadership
development. Children and youth ages 7 to 17, regardless
of their religious affiliation, can apply. The only
requirement is that they be able to match pitch.
While donations to the Annual Scholarship Fund cover
half of these costs, one-time gifts to the Endowment
are needed to make up the difference.
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The Louise M. Hatch Endowed Scholarship Fund
During
her 107 years of life, Louise Murgatroyd
Hatch was very interested in the people and organizations
that made up her community. Before her death in
2004, two scholarships were established in her
name through a generous gift of $50,000 to the
Cathedral Choir School of Delaware's "Continuing the
Tradition" Endowment Fund. Through this gift,
each year two youth from Wilmington will receive
a comprehensive musical education, leadership development
and free private piano lessons. Mrs.
Hatch was a life-long member of Grace Church
in Wilmington. After husband Joseph Richmond
Hatch died in the mid-1930's she joined
the New Century Club on Delaware Avenue which
had a large and active membership that produced
dramatic plays. Louise directed many of these.
For many years, Louise's son Joseph Hatch
has been a member of the Cathedral Church of
Saint John, since his adult children were very
young. According to Joe, Louise would be happy
to know that her generosity has already made
a difference in several children's lives.
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Piano Program
The Cathedral Choir School
provides piano instruction to students at no
cost. This instruction gets an instrument into
the hands of children within a significant "learning
window" of their brain's development
which can enhance their musical ability for life,
and their abstract reasoning skills for academic
studies, including math and science. Each student
receives a weekly thirty-minute private lesson that
includes both piano technique and theory. Parents
help encourage good practice habits by attending
the lessons and by being involved with their child
as they practice at home. This program also provides
the loan of a high-quality digital piano so that
the child can practice at home. Private practice
capability is crucial to the student's development.
The Cathedral Choir School's The Cathedral
Choir School has hired two new piano teachers, including
Professor Delbeau who is Head of the University of
Delaware's Piano Department and an Associate
Professor of Piano, to meet the demand for instruction.
Endowment funds are needed to ensure that every student
that is interested can study piano.
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Leadership
Development
The Cathedral Choir School
helps to develop community leaders for the
future. Through weekly rehearsals and performances
students are encouraged to think of the group's
needs before their own. There is peer pressure
to achieve. A "Leadership
Council" for the students meets monthly and
focuses on leadership training, including Dale Carnegie's
fundamental techniques on how to win friends and
influence people.The
Cathedral Choir School also offers Student Assistantships
to students during the school year. Assistants
are paid by the hour, perform a variety of administrative
tasks, and learn basic job skills like punctuality,
communication, dependability and money management.
All Cathedral Choir School students receive a
monthly stipends (from $2 to $22 per month) based
on their rank, attendance and standards of achievement.As
part of its leadership development program the
Cathedral Choir School sends ten of its top students
to the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) weeklong
residential Summer Camp which takes place at
King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
This camp is internationally known. The students
are selected based upon their demonstrated excellence
in leadership, citizenship and artistry. They
are joined at the Camp by 170 choristers from
across the United States. Students stay on campus
in a dormitory and get to experience college
life.Many
Cathedral Choir School choristers have a desire
to go to college, but don't have the social
or financial resources to do so. The Cathedral
Choir School is seeking volunteers to mentor
choristers during their high school years so
that this dream can become a reality. Endowment
funds can help to enhance and expand these leadership
opportunities.
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Concerts
and Tours
International tours allow students to
be a part of history by singing in some of the
greatest cathedrals in the world, to visit important
historical sites, to be cultural ambassadors,
to travel beyond their neighborhood and to grow
both personally and professionally. In 2003, the
In July of 2003, the Cathedral Choir, featuring
20 boys and girls from the Cathedral Choir School
of Delaware, completed its first international
tour to England and sang in some of the greatest
cathedrals in Europe. The Choir plans to return
to England in 2007. Endowment funds are needed
for transportation, lodging, food and other travel
necessities.
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