The lights dim. The audience goes silent. The director lifts his arms, and suddenly the room is filled with music, the singers’ collective voices enveloping the auditorium in sound. This is the moment Daniel Massey, the White Station High School (WSHS) choir director, and his students have been working towards — when their hours of rehearsals culminate in a concert.
Massey’s passion for music began in high school when he learned guitar and would play late into the night with a friend. He sang in choir as a senior to get a fine arts credit, but continued pursuing guitar in college. Only after a finger injury did Massey begin singing again.
“My whole world changed [in college] in a positive way,” Massey said. “[Singing] was absolutely wildly different. Singing in groups that I never knew existed, musical gratification … All of a sudden, I’m going to other high schools and recruiting. All of a sudden, I’m singing this really high level music for people, and making their days and months better … traveling the world.”
Massey now shares his passion for singing with students through WSHS’s choirs, which welcome both beginners and advanced musicians. Class typically starts with warmups. Then, Massey leads rehearsals of pieces that will be performed at concerts later in the year. However, it is not just about learning notes.
“That’s the hard part — turning the ink into something you sing,” Massey said. “The ink on the page means nothing if you don’t sing it … [It is] just getting the notes off the page.”
Choirs are not structured like a typical class; students are not given tests or graded on submitted work. Instead, the focus is on singing at a high level with other musicians. Each member matters and must give their best to produce a unified sound.
“It’s all a team effort,” Massey said. “The biggest thing about this class is that everybody matters to everybody in that room … because if someone isn’t doing their job, it causes somebody else’s job to be harder. So that’s the best part about choir … you do the right thing because it’s the right thing, not because you’ll get written up or you’ll get a bad grade.”
Massey still pursues his own musical goals outside of school. In addition to being a staff singer at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Massey has been a performer with Opera Memphis and now sings in the Memphis Symphony Chorus.
“I also sing in a small group put together by Dr. [William] Skoog … the former choir director at Rhodes [College] … a small choir of really, really good singers,” Massey said. “I’m really fortunate to be able to sing with him. We rehearse every Tuesday for about two hours, and then we’re getting ready for a concert in January … Symphony Chorus has taken up so much of my time, especially singing in the small chamber group — the Handel’s Messiah Chamber Chorus, which was probably the best chorus I’ve sung in as an adult. They were incredible.”
All of these commitments require frequent practices, plus concerts and dress rehearsals. Massey finds it a fulfilling experience to share his craft with the audience, despite the time it takes to rehearse.
“It [is] totally worth it,” Massey said. “Just seeing the look on these people’s faces — how much they’re just blown away by music performed at such a high level like that. If you know nothing at all about music, there’s something innate about a choir or a soloist being so good at their craft that they just can’t help but be moved by it.”
Outside of music, Massey also helps coach the WSHS baseball team in the spring. He played baseball in high school and finds it a refreshing break from teaching.
“That’s why we have all those baseball players [in choir] … and some of them are really good singers,” Massey said. “I go out there and practice with them, go to a few games, help out as much as possible … I love doing that. It’s a great reset when I’m tired.”
As a teacher, Massey is motivated by the impact music has had on his life. He wants to be there for others and help them find a deep passion for singing, even when rehearsals are long or notes and rhythms are challenging.
“[Music] has changed my life in such a drastic way and opened my life up to something that was not there,” Massey said. “[Music] is something incredibly powerful … and I love it, and I want to share that with other people. That’s my drive in this — I want other people to get that musical fulfillment that I’ve had.”