by Anne Sears
When she was a little girl, Lisa Diver MME ’12 knew that she wanted to be a teacher. Today, just a few years after graduating from Westminster Choir College, her life seems to have come full circle as she has returned to her alma mater, Roland Park Country School, to teach upper school music.
While she dreamed of teaching, Diver wasn’t sure about the subject until her junior year in high school. But after singing in all of her school’s ensembles, serving as president of the a cappella group and performing as a member of the Children’s Chorus of Maryland, she decided to focus on music.
She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Delaware and then a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College in 2012.
“I owe a lot to Betty Bertaux, director of the Children’s Chorus of Maryland,” Diver says. “Through singing, I found a home and a family, and I want my students to have the same feeling. I want them to experience how music can transform your life. The interesting thing about music is how it evolves. You get a piece in September and then continuously work on it throughout the year. I enjoy watching my students see how they grow and evolve as an ensemble just as the music evolves over time.”
She has plenty of opportunities to share that experience as the conductor of three ensembles. She also teaches music theory and is music director of the school’s annual musical. This fall, she will also be head of the school’s performing arts department.
All the students at Roland Park Country School are girls, which presents Diver with some repertoire challenges and also opportunities for her to serve as a role model for the girls in her ensembles and classes.
“I’ve partnered a few times with other schools that enroll boys, so that the girls have the opportunity to sing music for mixed choirs,” she says. Last year, she took some of her students to a choral festival at Carnegie Hall so that they could sing with many different types of voices.
“I try to show my girls what a strong woman can be,” she says, considering her role as a conductor. “I’ve been surrounded by strong females,” she adds, noting that she was inspired by Amanda Quist, conductor of the Westminster Chapel Choir, while she served as Quist’s graduate assistant at Westminster.
Reflecting on the impact that Westminster Choir College has had on her teaching and conducting, she says, “I owe a great deal to Master Singers. (The ’demonstration choir’ for graduate students). That experience, combined with serving as a graduate assistant, was the best preparation for teaching. We learned things that we could put into our ’tool box.’”
