CPA is excited to welcome new Director of Choirs for MS and US Skip Stradtman! We caught up with Mr. Stradtman this semester to learn more about his background and why he loves teaching choir at CPA: 

What is your musical background?
I love all things choir! I have a background in music education, choral conducting, and choral arranging/composition. I have taught high school, middle school, college, children's, and church choirs. If it has "choir" in the name, you can bet I'll probably like it! I also dabble in other vocal genres including contemporary worship music, vocal jazz, and musical theater.

What do you enjoy most about teaching vocals to MS and US students? 
I love witnessing the growth that young people make as singers and musicians in the choral classroom. Singing in choir is tons of fun, but it is also hard work! Every day we are putting our physical, mental, and musical muscles under stress, and often it can be hard to see the fruit of these small gains. Some days, we can even feel like we've taken a step backward! However, when the hard work pays off - like when middle school singers learn to sight-read music for the first time or when a high school choir finally tunes a tricky harmony - we create incredible moments that make the struggle worth it!

Who are your favorite artists, vocal groups, or vocal arrangements these days? 
I will give a "choir nerd" answer and a "normal person answer.” My "choir nerd" all-time favorite group will always be Voces8 - an eight-member elite choral ensemble based out of London, UK. Listening to Voces8 is like floating on a cloud - utter perfection! Check them out on YouTube. My "normal person answer" is anything in the bluegrass/folk genres, Nickel Creek comes to mind. I love their instrumentation, vocal harmonies, and compositional creativity. 

What is a favorite memory of music for you growing up? 
In high school, the boy choir I grew up singing in took a trip to Japan. While there, we would randomly sing as we walked around different cities. When people would stop to listen, they would get tears in their eyes, even when we were singing English texts that they presumably did not understand! This taught me the power of sharing beauty with others. Where words fail, music speaks!

Where do you see musical talent in the broader mission of CPA? 
I see the cultivation of musical talent specifically for the choral program as vital to the mission of CPA in two ways. The first, fairly self-evident way is that we serve a God who is worthy of our worship and praise. Indeed, we find commands all over the Psalms and other areas of scripture for us to sing praises to Him. If I can encourage our students to use their voices skillfully, joyfully, and frequently in acts of worship to King Jesus, I will have done my job well! The second, and perhaps less obvious way is that as we make music together, we learn of the character of God. All beauty finds its origin in the God of the Bible. As we learn to create music through shared songs, even songs without explicitly sacred texts, we honor Him and reflect His "creator" status in our artistic pursuits. Our God is also a God of Order. In Genesis 1, we read about how God brings order out of chaos in all realms of creation. In fact, music itself is the ordering of the "chaos" of noise! Just study the physics of acoustics and you will see His hand in the very fabric of a well-tuned harmony. As we pursue beauty and study music through the choral idiom, we realize that ultimately, we have been pursuing the Source and Creator of all beautiful things along the way.

What is a fun fact about you or something you enjoy doing outside of work? 
When I am not at school directing choirs, my wife and I love to cook together. I tend to do all of the prep work like chopping and measuring ingredients, then I pass the baton to her as she makes the magic happen on the stove! I am fascinated by the ways in which cooking, much like music, requires the usage of both the right and left parts of the brain. It is both a science and an art! We love to try new recipes and make up our own as a way to bond and unwind from a long day. There is nothing better!