KINGMAN, Ariz. – Dr. Michael Paceño, from the Philippines as a J-1 cultural exchange student, teaches music at Desert Willow Elementary School. He had a dream come true when he was invited by a friend in Tucson to join her choir for a performance at Carnegie Hall’s Choir Festival last summer.
“I have a good friend who went to Tucson to study her doctorate in music, Dr. Sinatra Holzman. She found a choir to perform at Carnegie Hall and invited her friends, who are all music teachers from across America. The choir was a mix of Americans and Philippinos. I sang baritone and sang the chant parts,” Dr. Paceño said. “When we finished, we got a standing ovation. It was overwhelming! I learned of it in text books. It’s something I dreamed of. In the world of music, it’s our dream.”
He said they have since given themselves a name – Cuyog Chamber Singers and have performances scheduled in Tucson Dec. 13, and in Seattle in June.
They are 35 members from all over the U.S., but back in Kingman, only 15 in his after-school choir at Desert Willow.
“I love teaching music,” said 35-year-old Dr. Paceño. “I have good students. They tend to listen and pay attention in music class.”
He said when he was in the Philippines, they didn’t have the kind of instruments they have here at Desert Willow. “Not in public school,” he said. “Private schools did have; public no.”
He’s been in Kingman four years. His first year was at Lee Williams High School as a choir and band director. “The band was a marching band and I couldn’t take the marching, so I asked to be transferred. I was sent here and the last three years have been here at Desert Willow.”
After five years, he said he has to go back to the Philippines and teach for two years. Then, he’s coming back to America to become a citizen and has already started working on that.
He was thankful for a $1,500 grant from the Kingman Rotary Club to start a keyboard program. “They supported our keyboard program. Now we’re the only school in this district with a keyboard program.”
He’s looking forward to his choir singing at the school talent show at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 9, in the school gymnasium. Some of his students will also be performing in a show at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 10 in the school’s gymnasium. He said it will be general music from kindergarten through fifth grade. “There will be singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments.”
Both shows at Desert Willow Elementary, 3700 Prospector Street, are free and open to the public.
