After 20 years with the San Diego Children’s Choir, our incredible Apprentice Choir Lead Director and Preparatory Choir’s Associate Director, Margie Orem is retiring from her music teaching duties. Over her tenure Margie has touched hundreds of lives as our ensemble, outreach and early music education specialist and all-around amazing contributor. We’re excited to announce that while she is stepping down from her day-to-day role, she’ll remain involved with the choir in a new role as a resource teacher, collaborating with the current teachers.  

We recently sat down with Margie to talk about how her role is changing and why she is excited about the future. 

We understand you are changing roles and reducing your hours with SDCC. Can you tell us more about your new role?

Starting next season I won’t be conducting or attending rehearsals but I plan to remain involved with the Choir as a resource teacher, available to collaborate with the current teachers.

Moving forward, Abby Greathouse, who is currently lead director of Preparatory Choir, will be the lead director for both Preparatory and Apprentice Choirs. Ms. Greathouse and I have benefited from working alongside each other in various capacities for over a decade, including as my collaborative accompanist and co-teacher. I’m excited and confident about the quality that she will continue to bring to our young choristers. Ms. Greathouse teaches with a wonderful balance of organization and humor in rehearsals and performances. 

What excites you about the future of the Choir?

Transitions can be hard, but the SDCC artistic and executive teams have worked diligently to select, cultivate, and train the teaching staff. That said, I am excited for the continued growth that lies ahead for students, teachers and families as SDCC continues to provide quality music education for San Diego County.

Tell us more about your 20 year career with SDCC.

I started in February 2004, and conducted for the first time at the 2004 Spring Concert at Copley Symphony Hall. In addition to teaching Preparatory and Apprentice Choir ensembles, I was at the ground floor in 2010 of Early Years, a beginning, play-based music program for children ages 4-6. Also dear to my heart is the School Outreach Program which also started in 2010 as an after-school program and has grown to provide music education to elementary school children in underserved communities. 

I also just completed my 5th year as SDCC’s master teacher for the Early Academic Readiness and Learning Intervention (EARLI) research project in partnership with UCSD and Vista Unified School District. The project studies the influence of various school-day musical interventions on early childhood development and follows transitional kindergartners up through their first grade years. I teach and UCSD's EARLI project scientists gather data. 

It may be my 20th year with the San Diego Children’s Choir but I started teaching music education in 1975! 

What led you to this career?

What led me to a career in music education was a nurturing, musical family. I read music before I read written language. I “conducted” records of Beethoven and Mozart symphonies out the window to our streets, Verdi and Mozart! REALLY. And my first “conducting gig” was standing on a kindergarten lunch table conducting the parents and kindergarten classmates in the Star Spangled Banner. Funny that my conducting “career” will begin and gently end conducting the Star Spangled Banner at this summer’s San Diego Padres on June 8th.

We’ve heard from our choristers that you teach with a balance of humor and discipline. What guides your approach to teaching? 

Humor is a huge part of my teaching and I interject it throughout my lessons so children are engaged and having a hearty laugh. I like to discuss the difference between mean and strict. My number one job is to keep them safe. I have clear expectations and share 3 simple rules: follow directions, be kind, and have fun.

What does the Choir mean to you?  

SDCC means so many things. It means family and belonging for me and hopefully for the families who participate in the Choir programs. We see these children and their families finding a group of people that care for them and share similar values and interests. 

It means excellence in music learning and performance, but also in building a quality human...who laughs a lot.

What are a few of your favorite memories from your time teaching?

There are so many memories. I have memories of finding a pair of children’s formal uniform shoes discarded under a piano after a long concert! I remember having to pull up a young chorister that had slipped between the stairs on the risers, only to find him still singing as he emerged from between the slats. There were so many times when I saw a child put all the pieces together, and have an epiphany, realizing “aha, so that's how this works!”   

What do you plan to do with your newly found free time? 

Spending more time with and helping out my two daughters and granddaughters is at the top of my list. I also plan on being available to help new teachers as they reach out and their needs present themselves; read more books, take walks and hikes on new and old familiar trails, and spend more time with friends near and far. 

What do you enjoy the most about working with the kids? 

The children are so insightful and hilarious! They make me a better person. 

All of us at the San Diego Children's Choir want to thank Margie Orem for her years of dedication, offering San Diego’s children fun and engaging music education, and choral singing expertise. She has been an inspiration not only to our choristers but also to the people who have had the opportunity to experience the magic she creates for hundreds of children in our community. As one parent shared, “Ms. Orem is an amazing instructor, but more importantly, human.” We will be honoring Mrs. Orem at our 34th Annual Spring Concert on Sunday, June 2, at The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla.

If you would like more information about our programs or wish to make a donation in honor of Margie Orem, please visit our Donate page.