Cheney Teacher Tells Students: Pour Energy Into Singing

Thu., March 13, 1997

Janice Podsada Staff writer

Harlan Henderson is hardly an unsung hero.

For 23 years he’s been teaching teenagers how to sing.

Turning youngsters into songsters isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Contrary to popular opinion, opening your mouth and belting out a tune is not singing, said Henderson, a tall man whose dulcet command of the piano keeps his students singing somewhat on key.

Henderson spends his days shuttling between Cheney Middle School and Cheney High School, telling students that they should feel their singing in their cheekbones and not in their nasal cavities.

Learning how to sing takes energy, stamina and practice and as much determination as a well-conditioned athlete poised to tackle an opponent, Henderson said.

It’s a message he frequently delivers to his sixth-period non-audition choir class at Cheney High School.

Students in the class are all over the scales when it comes to experience. Some possess as little as six months of singing experience, while others have been intoning tunes for two or three years, Henderson said.

But even the old pros sometimes need a gentle reminder that a lively refrain is best produced by looking lively.

“Some of you look really ready to sing,” said Henderson, imitating his students, who stood slumped forward as if they had just finished a five-course meal.

“You’ve got to be ready to sing,” he boomed. But even Henderson’s booms sound melodic.

“A bomb could go off underneath you and you wouldn’t know it.”

“I want you to attack this song like you’re going to kill it,” he said.

Students appreciate Henderson’s sense of humor and his unfailing ability to detect a sour note.

“He’s got spunk,” said senior Perri Breese. “He gets you going.”

Breese, who has taken classes from Henderson for three years, nods emphatically when asked if her singing has improved.

And freshman Kate Stoll says not only has her voice improved, but she can tell when the person singing next to her is flat.

“You feel bad for them,” she said, giggling. Stoll has spent three years in Henderson’s classes.

“I’ve learned everything I know from Mr. Henderson,” Stoll said.

Jeremy Clark, 14, a bass, has been singing for two years. In that time his voice has changed, falling into the lower range of the scale. At the same time his enthusiasm for Henderson’s teaching method has risen.

“I’ve had lots of different teachers. He’s the only one who explains things,” Clark said.

Henderson, whose humor never misses a beat, claims his upbringing left him no choice as to his career.

His mother gave piano lessons at home. His childhood was filled with music from dawn to dusk.

“I woke up to the piano, went to bed to the piano, ate to the piano,” Henderson said.

So when it came time to choose a career, music was his natural choice.

“You spend that many years with it, you might as well do it as a job.”

Hutton musical scheduled for tonight

Kindergartners and first-graders at Hutton Elementary will star in the musical “The Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings” tonight at 7 p.m.

The musical is about a rabbit who isn’t content with just being himself, said Deborah Johnson, principal of Hutton. Admission is free. Punch and cookies will follow the performance. Hutton is at 908 E. 24th.

For more information call 353-4434.