After more than 30 years as a music educator in the Santa Maria Valley, Ernest Righetti High School choir teacher Denise Paulus is putting down her conductor’s baton.
“It has been an honor and a privilege leading the Righetti choir students to be the excellent musicians they are now,” Paulus said in a press release. “Thank you for letting me retire with good memories. I feel sad for those who wait until it isn’t fun anymore.”
Recently, she accompanied two of her students to Carnegie Hall to perform in the National Honor Choir, and then she made the journey back to New York City a couple of months later with several of her students so they could work with John Rutter, who’s best known for “Requiem” and “Manificat.”
Paulus began her career in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District as a substitute in the mid 1980s. She now plans to direct an adult choir, give private voice lessons, and do tons of volunteer work.
When she started the choir program at Righetti, there was only a piano in the choir room. Over time, she brought additional necessities in, such as sound equipment, to make the program complete. She developed a music history and appreciation class through which she taught students that history relates to music, art, architecture, philosophy, fashion, and more.
“All art matches the period and what people feel about what is going on around them,” Paulus said in the release.
When she was 7, Paulus’ father put a conductor’s baton in her hand, and she knew right away it was something she wanted it to be a part of her life. For Paulus, music has been the key to a rewarding career and community service for others.
“When the kids sing something perfectly, it’s amazing,” Paulus said in the release. “You feel like you’re part of something timeless.”
This article appears in Jun 12-19, 2014.
