The newest voice in Aurora's music department
By: Shane Siddall
The start of a new school year not only brings new faces in the student body but it also brings new teachers. One of the many new faces that we are seeing around the halls is Mr. Downing, our brand-new choir director.
Mr. Downing happens to be one of the youngest, if not the youngest, staff members working for Aurora City Schools, with him graduating in 2013 from Monroe Falls. After he graduated, he pursued higher education at Kent State University for his undergraduate degree in music education. To further his education, he earned his master’s degree in music theory. On a fun note, he made mention of a one-hundred-and-twenty-page research paper he had to write over three months that he said was his pride and joy when he had it published, and since this was the era of COVID and lockdowns he had to defend his paper online which made his venture even more difficult.
Being a choir director is a very niche job to which he agreed so one would expect the person to have a lifelong love for music right, which they would be right Mr. Downing has had a lifelong passion for music with him playing multiple instruments like the guitar, drums (his favorite), bass, piano, singing, and he is currently learning the cello from another Aurora staff member, Mr.Burdett, the orchestra director. Even away from instruments and performing he still has a strong passion for music. He likes all genres of music saying that there is a form of art in each of them and that they all have their place in the greater musical world.
Now as if he wasn’t already impressive enough, his degrees in music qualify him to direct most performance-based school musical groups, like the band, the choir, the orchestra, etc. He clarified that although he is “technically’ qualified for those positions he is nowhere near as skilled or has anywhere near enough experience to do the jobs that Mr. NaBring or Mr. Burdett do with him having great admiration for their abilities and the excellence in which they do their job. In addition to his many degrees, he also has taken extra courses in the history of music, mathematics of music, and more involved classes that cover music theory.
Continuing, Mr.Downing was eager to come to our humble abode. He explained, “Aurora has a very high ceiling for success, it is a very academically driven school, and the administration is very effective and supportive, and the student body is very respectful, well mannered and for the most part causes no trouble and are very adjusted to the school routine.” This is very true with our school being ranked one of the best in the state and the upper echelons of the country, it makes our school very attractive to an up-and-coming teacher looking to start their career off well. Even before his teaching career really took off he was already taking great strides in the music world with him being part of the prestigious Cleveland orchestra, to which Mr.Downing replied “ The Cleveland orchestra is one of the most prestigious orchestras in the world with the orchestra members being some of the best musicians in the world, now the choir that I am apart of is all volunteers and is the best voices in the area with preforms along with the orchestra” which people can see preform at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Concert Hall in Cleveland.
Finally, for some ‘fun facts’ about our new choir director, he is a massive basketball and in particular Cavaliers fan, and he is also a big browns fan “I try to watch every single game Donovan Mitchell is going to have a break out all star game this year”, he loves to get out to Cavs games and loves to play basketball as well, and he also follows the entire NBA as well. He is also married and his wife, Mrs. Downing is the choir director at Field local schools where she directs the middle and high school choirs mirroring Mr. Downing making them the musical dynamic duo.