New choir director open to new ideas

New Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP) music teacher Joshua Sorenson followed a long path to get where he is now.

Sorenson originally comes from the small town of Walker in the northern part of Minnesota. His first career was in the Navy as a jet engine operator.

“I did my schooling in Chicago and was stationed in Hawaii for a while,” Sorenson explains. “I was then stationed in the Westpac-Arabian Gulf for 14 months in 2011.”

He also served as an education petty officer in the Navy and was in charge of teaching others about ship operations.

“Military life was good for me,” he says. “But, I always felt like there was something more.”

While in charge of fuel and waste offloads, he had time to think. “Music was always a constant in my life,” he explains. “I was in stage band, marching band, choir, and musicals in high school. I also come from a family of educators. Both my parents teach and Grandpa taught.”

To him, the switch of careers felt natural. He also realized that teaching was his calling when he saw the “light bulb” moments his peers experienced during training. “When I showed them how the light engine works and all of that, it made me think even more,” he elaborates. “Between my time teaching and music being a constant in my life, it made sense to put the two together.”

That’s when he pursued his bachelor degree in music education at Bemidji State and received his dual license for band and music. After attending there for five years, he started his teaching career at Bertha-Hewitt schools as the 5-12 music teacher. “I taught choir, world music, and music theory,” he states.

While finishing school at North Dakota State University for a master’s degree in music, he was a music teacher at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City High School where he helped start a chamber choir group. However, he was looking to get a bit closer to family.

“I have some family near the Janesville area,” he states. “My grandparents are close to here, too. As opposed to being three hours away in Grove City, being here at JWP makes it so I’m only an hour away now. It also puts me closer to family near the Twin Cities.”

Sorenson’s favorite thing about teaching is seeing kids grasp concepts and move forward. “When a student understands something and they keep running with it, that makes the job fun,” he explains. “When they also suggest stuff and are like, ‘I saw this, we should do it. That’d be cool.’ That is also a fun part of the job.”

More specifically, Sorenson’s favorite part of choir is the message within the pieces performed. “I love the text,” he emphasizes. “Music as a whole —the grandeur of it and the different situations it can be used for is great. And instrumental music can strike people. But the text is something universal. When you attach the text to a beautiful piece of music, it’s another layer.

“What’s great with choir is that we can use that text not only to teach students but communities,” Sorenson continues. “Whether it’s social commentary, emotional learning, history, or maybe even math, you pick all the things and we can talk about it. We talk about every subject level at some point.”

Sorenson says one challenge as a choir teacher is finding a good repertoire for the students. “It’s tough trying to relate older music to the kids,” he admits. “Most contemporary music is often not school appropriate. Also, oftentimes, what they hear on the radio is not arranged for choirs. If you try Disney songs, if it doesn’t sound exactly like in the movies, the kids might immediately disconnect.”

That being said, Sorenson claims there are still plenty of good musical arrangements. “I plan to do some pop tunes arranged for our first concert.”

When it was announced that Sorenson was the new choir teacher at JWP, he says he received overwhelming positivity and support.

“I’ve felt more welcomed here at JWP than in any other school district,” he says. “I cannot say enough nice things about the administration, music faculty, and the rest of the staff in the district. It’s been a super-smooth transition and I am thankful for that.”

He had lots of praise for JWP band teacher Adam Hille. “He has been awesome to work with,” he states. “I can tell he cares a lot about the students and loves his job as a music teacher.”

Sorenson has stayed active in musicals, barbershop quartets, men’s choruses, and the occasional brass ensemble. He’s also been helpful at JWP: He marched with the school marching band at the Minnesota State Fair. “It was great meeting with them,” he says. “I’m happy to help out where I can.”

Sorenson wants to make the music department at JWP as good as it can be. He is open to taking any suggestions former alumni, teachers, students, and families within the district have for the choir program. 

“I’m excited to get to know the kids and for us to create music together.”