Kerri Dilling — 6th-8th Grade Ensemble and Elementary Choir (3rd-6th grade)
Kerri Dilling earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Voice Performance from Maranatha Baptist University. Having developed a love for music at an early age, her desire going into college was to learn the pedagogical side of singing so that she could help others cultivate that same love with sustainable results. Her experience of teaching private voice lessons goes back to her college days, and the music classes as well as the voice pedagogy classes she took have allowed her to successfully teach elementary choir for five years.
Kerri’s passion in teaching elementary students in a choir setting is for the students to learn proper vocal technique. First, when an elementary aged child learns to sing correctly, he is learning a skill that can take his talent to its full potential and be sustainable for the rest of his life, rather than damaging his vocal chords and never being able to come to the full potential he has. Second, proper vocal technique is extremely important to the overall sound and tone of the choir. Many people have low expectations when it comes to what an elementary choir can sound like, but Kerri believes and has experienced first hand that an elementary choir can rise to the level that you expect from them, and an important part of that is teaching how to get that sound and tone.
Kerri’s goal is to teach children the joy that can come from making beautiful music and to ignite within them their own love for singing and music.