Student teacher finds the voice within

The first time he saw Flathead High School’s concert choir perform, Mark Peters knew he wanted to be part of the program.

He saw the choir — “one of the best choirs in the state,” Peters said — perform with a Montana State University choir a couple of years ago in Bozeman.

But it was more than the students’ voices that impressed Peters. He witnessed rituals and traditions, things that helped make students “so excited about music, excited to be part of the group,” Peters said.

“I thought, I want a program like that. Can I go to Flathead?” he said.

Peters, a Billings native who is finishing his degree in music education at Montana State, got his wish this fall when he started student-teaching with Flathead choir teacher Kevin Allen-Schmid.

Peters’ love for music comes naturally. His parents were active in Billings’ theater scene and involved in their church choir. Music was never “up on a pedestal,” as Peters puts it; it was simply part of life, as natural as breathing.

His interest in teaching goes back nearly as far. His father’s parents both were music teachers, and his mother’s parents were longtime teachers in the Flathead Valley — Joe Potoczny was principal of Bigfork High School and Nancy Potoczny taught at Cayuse Prairie School.

Peters, a tenor, first started singing in the high school choir at church. Then, because his parents were so involved in community theater, he tried out for musicals. After landing roles in a handful of shows, Peters joined his high school choir.

But his first love was band; he played trumpet, baritone saxophone and trombone. He planned on attending the University of Montana and becoming a band teacher.

That changed his senior year of high school when Peters sang in the All State Choir. The experience “made me feel like I was in the right place,” he said.

It also introduced him to Lowell Hickman, then the director of Montana State’s choral activities.

“He got me really excited about Montana State,” Peters said.

It was exciting enough to change Peters’ plans. He went to college in Bozeman and in December will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education.

But first, he has to successfully complete his student-teaching.

Throughout the semester, Peters has worked with all of Allen-Schmid’s choirs. He also has worked at Kalispell Middle School with choir teacher Tracy Snipstead.

He will be in the valley for about another month, then will go back to Bozeman to wrap up his classes. When school is out, Peters will return to Kalispell for Flathead’s winter concert Dec. 14.

He doesn’t mind coming back; helping students enjoy performing as much as he does is something Peters is passionate about.

“I’d like to help kids love music as much as I do,” he said. “I want other people to feel that excitement.”

But Allen-Schmid, who has been a teacher for 28 years — 18 as a choir director at Flathead — knows enjoying helping others find the spotlight isn’t an easy job.

“It’s a peculiar way to be a musician, because you can’t sing yourself,” he said. “If you come to it because of your joy for singing yourself and grow into it to love to be the prompter for other people, you’ve succeeded.”

So far, he said, Peters has fit in well at Flathead. He is able to adapt his teaching style to fit Allen-Schmid’s, and the students have responded well to the student-teacher.

“He’s a natural,” Allen-Schmid said.

After last month’s fall concert, Peters began concentrating on working with the men’s and women’s varsity choirs. He’ll get to see the fruits of his labor Tuesday at the Western Montana AA Choir Festival Concert, which starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Glacier High School performance hall.

Kirk Aamot, head of choral activities at Montana State, is the festival’s guest clinician and will rehearse the students and lead them in their performances.

Working with the students has been the best part of his student-teaching experience, Peters said.

“They are what makes it worth being a teacher and coming every day. Even when they don’t want to work hard, it presents a challenge. And some groups, when I tell them to jump, they jump. It’s wonderful,” he said.

But Peters also knows that teachers can be the best part of some students’ school experience.

“Looking back, teachers were always just so important in my life. They were some of my biggest influences,” he said.

“There are plenty of kids from homes that didn’t need extra support from teachers, but there are some kids who do need that extra support. I would like to be one of those people.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.