Amazing People: PS22 Chorus

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In Graniteville, Staten Island, in Public School  22’s choir room, about 65 fifth graders gather twice a week to sing. But this isn’t your typical choir practice. Kids aren’t reading sheet music and they aren’t singing Do-Re-Me. Instead these kids are singing songs like “We Are Young,” “Wonderwall” and “Somebody I Used to Know.” 

PS22 Chorus’ director Gregg Breinberg (or as he is fondly called "Mr. B") said when he started teaching chorus he wanted to teach the kids songs he would enjoy leaning if he were a kid. 

Most of these kids qualify for free lunch. Some of them are learning English as a second language and others have special needs. But they come together twice a week and none of that matters.

Mr. B has taught the kids to feel the music. Close their eyes, dance to the music and sing. A lot of these kids struggle in school. He wanted them to have a place to come to be encouraged and to know that here there's no wrong answer.

After watching just one of their videos its obvious why they have gained so much attention. How does one man wrangle 65 fifth graders, calm them, teach them and get this as a result:

 

Mr. B said he became a music teacher to inspire students to believe in themselves and be comfortable being themselves.

"It gives them confidence. It shows them that there’s something that they can do that they’re good at. It also develops a sense of teamwork because obviously chorus is a thing that you can’t do by yourself. You need the teamwork aspect of it to make the group a success," Mr. B told LA Music Blog.

And he makes teamwork a necessity. When each child sings a solo the others clap for them from the beginning of the song to the end.

When Mr. B took the job as a music teacher at P22 he never thought he would be getting attention from around the world. PS22’s youtube channel now has almost 50 million views. 

 

Mr B said, "The greatest thing about the website and the whole internet phenom thing is that it’s waking people up to what the arts can do for kids and how important it is for their education."

He started the choir in 2000 and since then the world and its stars have taken notice. Celebrities now frequent the PS22 choir room to sing along. Everyone from Adele to Rihanna and Gaga to Beyonce have made the trip to Staten island to sing with the group of fifth graders.  

"I just never would have expected it. At the time, I was just putting the kids’ work up to show a few friends of mine, and then it became where people were finding these videos. I think what happened was we sang with Tori Amos after we put a few of her videos up that year," he said.

Every year he gets a new group and he said year after year it never gets easier when he has to let them go. He sees them grow so much in the year he has them them. Then they move on to middle school where there's no music program at all.  

Because of Mr. B and the PS22 choir the past 12 years of fifth graders at PS22 have come to school feeling accepted and loved. They've encouraged one another and learned that they are capable of more than they could have imagined.