Innovate, Celebrate, Inspire: Camas High Choir Changes Lives - 📍Camas, WA

This is not your grandma’s music education program. From commissioning professional musicians to write entire albums with the students, to performing in New York and Los Angeles, Camas High’s Choir is the class you wish you’d been able to take. And Ethan Chessin is the teacher you wish you’d had. Award-winning and innovative, the Camas High Choir is changing lives.

👀 For more, visit the episode page.

🎶 Music in this episode by Camas High School Choir.

🎉 This episode also celebrates Dediko Restaurant and Clark County Battle of the Bands.

⭐️ Thank you to this episode's sponsor Johnson Bixby!

⭐️  Thanks to our sponsor, The Bon Vivant Traveler! Mention I'm Into This Place for a discount on your travel planning.

⭐️  Thanks to our sponsor, Riparian Media! Mention I'm Into This Place when you reach out for a free 30-minute strategy session.

Transcript

Adriana: 1:21

That is the incredible Camas High School Choir. And yes, they're singing in Portuguese. That was from a concert that they gave last year, and that song is called Rosa Amarela, and the choir director is Ethan Chessin. Ethan is one of those people that… Well, let me say it this way. You know that teacher you had in middle school or high school who changed your life? The one who came in with the most interesting ideas and ways of seeing the world? Who inspired you by seeing you when maybe nobody else did? Ethan is that guy. He's that teacher. Ethan touches the lives of hundreds of students every year through his incredible, innovative programming at Camas High School. Ethan really believes in exposing his students to music from all over the world, and also understands that even though he's a choral music teacher, not all of his students listen to choral music all the time. So he wants to figure out ways to engage his students with the kind of music that they're listening to already. Ethan commissions professional musicians from Portland and the surrounding area to come to Camas High School and create and compose music with and for the students. These concerts are pretty famous in this area now, and the students who get the chance to participate in them don't just perform in their school, but also perform in Portland and then in Los Angeles, New York, large cities. They get the chance to go out on tour like a real band would do, and share this incredible music with people all over the place. So Ethan is in the studio today to talk to us not just about this incredible music program that has grown to be one of the most well-respected programs in our region, in the state, on the whole West Coast, but also to talk about what it means to teach music at this time and for this age group. He talks about how he thinks differently, really outside the box, about what a choral music program can be. Ethan seems to have a sort of endless well of energy and enthusiasm, both for what he does and for his students, and for this community, and I know that you will be inspired by what he has to say. So as we are all gently leaning towards the beginning of the school year, I hope you enjoy this conversation, and then meet me at Camas High School. I'll see you at the next concert Welcome to I'm Into This Place, your deep dive into the local arts, culture, and heritage of Clark County. From fabulous new restaurants to quirky art installations to the historical sites you never even knew to look for, we're inviting you along. Whether you're a Clark County connoisseur or just starting to get to know her, get ready to fall head over heels for this place we call home. I'm your host, Adriana Baer, and I'm into this place. Let's go. Ethan, thank you for coming in. Let's talk about music education. What gets you up in the morning?

Ethan: 4:44

A phrase that I really love is, the more you love music, the more music you love. Uh, I just know that if you poll my students and, and you ask what they're listening to, even for my students who love choral music, you're not gonna find that much choral music. Uh, and the same is true for me. I love choral music, but that is not why I became a teacher. Part of what's so wonderful about music is that it speaks to so many different areas of who we are as people. There are so many ways, different ways to articulate that from the perspective of culture, uh, and from the perspective of, uh, beauty, and from the perspective of, uh, meaning and power. It's just so exciting.

Adriana: 5:25

So tell us about your curriculum. Like, what does your program really do?'Cause you're really known for something pretty special.

Ethan: 5:31

So what this project is, uh, it's so many different things. And it's it's developed in a number of different ways over the, over the years. Uh, but at its core, it's a recognition that, A, my students listen to music that is not traditional choral music. B, we live in one of the best places in the world for music that is not traditional choral music, although we have some amazing choirs as well. We live in an amazing place for rock music and, uh, h- hip-hop and underground music and, uh, folk music, and, and there are just so many specific little musical communities in the Pacific Northwest, um, that, that are flourishing on a, on really a national level. You can name several pop bands and, uh, and rock bands and indie bands that everybody in the country knows about who, who call this area their home. And, C, my students, um, they're curious and interested and always looking for new music and want to connect who they are as students, as learners, with, what the world is around them and what the world is going to be. The, the project is we find a local artist. Sometimes they come from an indie rock world. Sometimes they come from a folk world. Sometimes they come from an experimental kinda composery world. but someone who has no experience working with a choir, essentially. And we ask them to write a piece for our choirs, write a, write a piece with our choirs, w- write a piece inspired by our choirs, that involves the choirs, in- involves the high school students, but also involves their, their band, their ensemble, whatever they're accustomed to, to performing as, as a, as a music professional. Um, so sometimes that's a rock band. Sometimes that's a brass quintet. Sometimes that's a string trio. Uh, sometimes it, like this year, it was a Brazilian jazz group. And we invite them in to perform for the students, get a sense of us, and then write something for us, and then we perform it all together. Uh, we perform kind of an evening-length piece of music, an album-length or a concert-length piece of music, in Camas, at, at our school for our home audience, uh, to showcase for our parents what we've been working on in class. Um, and then to kind of take the show on the road professionally, to Portland and, and beyond, like, a professional touring musician would do. You've got new material, you shop it around, you tour it around, you practice it, you get it better. Um, and you bring it to new audiences to, to show what you do and, um, and, and to gauge reactions and, and learn from it. what's wonderful about this project is that through this process, the students gain a sense of, uh, ownership, and, uh, a sense that this is something that they created because of who they are and who, what they're interested in and what their skills are. and they have so much more riding on the success of this performance than they would if we were giving a concert in our home theater where I picked all the music and they learned it according to what I told them they had to do, right? There, there's just so many more parts to this process that they get to be in charge of. This year we worked with Lizzy Ellison, who's this incredible local artist, um, and she came in six times and played snippets of Brazilian music for the students and gave them writing prompts. Then she took the themes and the ideas that came out of the students' writing, and then wrote more music kind of based on those themes, and then played that music for them, and then they wrote more. And so this iterative process really, I was able to tell the students, and they, I think they were really able to feel it, which is why the, the performance was so special. they were able to feel that this music existed because of them and who they were.

Adriana: 9:14

Hmm.

Ethan: 9:14

So many of the lyrics that we, the, choir performed this year were direct quotes from student writings, uh, which is re- just really special. The other part of the project that's really important, in some years, we are able to work with, uh, media experts who come and teach our students to write press releases, and then the students write the press release about the show that they inspired, the music that they inspired. We bring in sound engineers to show students, you know, what is the role of a sound engineer. We bring in talent buyers who show students how to book a show and, and what goes into the putting together a calendar for a venue. Um, and then the students help to pick the opening act for our show. Uh, we bring in people whose job is to plan tours or to do, do photography, uh, do graphic design for posters and albums, et cetera. And, you know, we're a choir class. The students sign up because they wanna sing. We don't go too far into any of those subjects, but we go far enough that the students get a sense that those are, A, jobs that exist, and B, those are jobs that they can have an effect on throughout the scope of the show that they are, are helping to put together during the school year. And, and C, just kinda get a, a general sense of how much larger the, the world is from a occupational perspective than, than they came into the project with.

Adriana: 10:32

There's so much to acknowledge there and unpack there, and one of the themes that I'm hearing is maybe how to have a life in the arts. How to have a creative life.

Ethan: 10:45

Yeah.

Adriana: 10:46

Because it's not just performing. I mean, I, you know, you kinda wish it was, right?

Ethan: 10:51

If none of my students ever ended up as professional opera singers, I would not consider my career a failure, right? I love opera. I'm happy for my students to go into that. I'm not teaching vocal music to produce opera singers.

Adriana: 11:06

Right.

Ethan: 11:06

Right? I'm, I'm teaching that music is an essential part of your life, and you should go sing in a community chorus if you want, or go start a band if you want, or write your own songs and never sing them for anyone if you want. There are so many, creative jobs that involve creativity that m- m- make your job better or make your life better or make everybody else's life better. How can you, we use arts to make the world a better place?

Adriana: 11:33

Well, that's the question. And also I think we want to be finding ways where somebody who's a singer-songwriter is probably not gonna come out at age 18, or maybe age 44, and have a successful career as a singer-songwriter. But that doesn't mean that singing and songwriting isn't important and isn't valuable. And it also doesn't mean that you necessarily have to have a soul-sucking job that makes you miserable. So here is an opportunity to learn what else there is kind of in and around arts and culture that you can build a full life with

Ethan: 12:16

Right. You're asking me what, like, the epicenter of my, uh, philosophy about teaching choir is? It's that choir is people singing together. Yeah. That's it. That's it. Right?

Adriana: 12:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ethan: 12:28

And, and, and there are so many ways to answer that question. There's so many ways to do that, that I'm just always interested in exploring them. And what I've discovered in the last couple years, I mean, it's taken me a while to, to, to come to this, but I can be a learner every year. And even after 15 years of teaching choir, I can teach something that is wildly new to my students and also wildly new to me, where my students get to see me learning alongside.

Adriana: 12:55

Oh, that's really cool. So this past school year, you focused on Brazilian music.

Ethan: 13:01

Yeah. Yeah. And it was, it was dynamite. I mean, I love Brazilian music. I, I have for a long time. I've been looking for an excuse to perform it, um, with my students or to, to dive deep into it. We had a new excellent band director this year who's really open to collaborating, and so I brought in a samba teacher who brought in samba drums and left them at the school and let the students learn to use them. And we, we just took over the drumming classroom for a whole week and taught them how to do samba. And we taught the choir the, a whole piece of samba that they got to perform in Portuguese. We brought in bass and guitar to, uh, to perform along, and then a local professional Brazilian singer. I mean, it was just this magnificent 360-degree exploration of what is samba. And then we also brought in the amazing Kerry Politzer from PSU, who runs Bossa PDX. She taught us about the history of bossa nova. All of this was because Lizzy Ellison cites, uh, Brazilian music as a, a really strong influence on, on her composition techniques, um, and, and, and on her music. But it was, it was really an excuse to, to dive into it because I just love that stuff.

Adriana: 14:08

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Ethan: 15:27

We are gonna be exploring Ukrainian music next year. I have a couple local artists that I've spoken with. I have a, a g- good friend who is a professional opera singer of Ukrainian heritage in New York City, and she runs the Ukrainian Music Initiative and is really excited to help us find Ukrainian choral music that has been, suppressed for many years and, and un- is, uh, just now getting rediscovered. And there's a whole world there between the Ukrainian classical music, uh, especially u- women's folk singing style, uh, folk music and, uh, local musicians and pop musician. You know, Chervona is a Portland institution for a long time, um, that kind of has its, uh, feet in, uh, in Ukrainian music. There's so much, uh, that's, that's happening in the world today that, um, that we can talk about and students might have some questions about. A couple years ago when we did, Jewish music, we had that, that project planned two years in advance, and then that was the year that October 7th happened. And after we had started this project, my students had a lot of questions about Israel and about Judaism. And I think often people have the sense that music is a fun, froofy pursuit for your free time. What I am really trying to communicate to my students and my families and my audience in Camas, uh, and the audience in Portland as well, is, that music speaks to who we are as a whole. And music can be a way of teaching what is truly most relevant in students' lives, even if it's not music itself. In 2020, uh, we did a big project on immigration, and we had a whole, a panel of community members, someone from every continent who had immigrated to Camas and, uh, was able to speak to their specific, , story. Uh, we worked with the local organization, The Immigrant Story, out of Beaverton. The journalism program at Camas High School, put together a whole entire magazine on immigrant stories in our community, in our school community. And we brought in the, um, English language learners class from Clark College, to, like, have a a classroom conversation with my students and new, brand-new English speakers. And they… You know, 2020, it was still at a time when immigration was very much on, on people's minds as it is, as it, as it is now. And what better way to introduce students to a really difficult and, and tricky subject than music, where there is a hook of it sounds fun, and it… There's, there's something that, that, that you can do. But it's also uses, uses languages and, and learning new languages as at the, as the center of what it means to be an immigrant and what it means to see immigrants in your community. And we did a project in 2019 that, that kind of was based on the experience of Black Americans who had encounters with law enforcement or authority figures. The piece was called The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed. It took the last words of seven people who were killed by authority figures and set it to the really gorgeous, really evocative music. Um, pretty much all my students are white. Uh, we're, it's, it's Camas. But, that's not, that's not where you, where you stop that, right? That's, uh, that curriculum is an invitation to a conversation. And so we worked with Black community members in Portland. We performed at a historically Black church in Portland. And I had a lot of students in both of these projects, in the immigration project and in the Seven Last Words project, who were able to say afterwards, like, "I had my own feelings about this subject prior, but hearing someone tell me about their personal experience really changed my mind about w- what I think and, and how I should listen to other people and how I should interpret the news." And, like, that is what I love about choir because what you're literally doing is you are encountering somebody else's words and, and understanding how to make them your own.

Adriana: 19:24

Yeah.

Ethan: 19:24

I just love that music is a way in to so much of what is really happening in our world today.

Adriana: 19:29

Yeah. But it takes creativity and it takes courage and it takes repetition, right? You gotta get the muscles of what is it like to build a program that looks different from what everybody was thinking before.

Ethan: 19:43

It's so hard.

Adriana: 19:44

Yeah.

Ethan: 19:44

It's so hard not just because you're inventing everything on the fly, but it's so hard because the, the world of high school choir exists to support the, uh, universal uh, vision of what high school choir is and what is an excellent high school choir. And you can go to competitions and demonstrate that you have met the standards of what an excellent high school choir is, and then win a trophy. This is honestly why I teach in, uh, in Washington, in, in, in Clark County, because in Oregon there is a, a state-run choir competition that is run by the same organization that runs the state football competition. And I wouldn't say that it's run the same way, but it's run with the same result, which is there is a champion and there is a way of performing a 22-minute long set, uh, with, with music from these different eras in these different languages. And these choirs are so amazing. I'm, I'm so astounded by the incredible musicality and, and I have n- again, no shade on what these amazing teachers are doing, but I don't wanna do that. After you leave high school and there's not a competition to enter-

Adriana: 21:06

Then what?… Ethan: what is your motivation, right? And so I, I wanna both for me, uh, show that there's something else that you can do because I'm interested in doing other things. Uh, but I also wanna show my students, like, you don't have to work towards a trophy. So much of Camas High School is about working towards the trophy. It's about working towards college. It's about working towards getting that notch on your resume. It's about taking as many APs as you can. Um, and these students really need to learn that not all of life is about working towards a trophy, and sometimes you just gotta make some art. There you go. There's the soundbite, folks. Sometimes you just gotta make some art. I love it. Because, you know, having been y- like your students, right, a, a very ambitious academic student, but also an artist and, and being in the theater, one thing that was hard was like, well, what's the, what's the getting an A in art, you know? I mean, certainly you could get an A in art class, but, like, to do it for the sake of learning, for the sake of love, for the sake of community building, for the sake of, as you said at the beginning, singing together in a group, period, end of story. That, that it can have value on its own And that it can have value in the act of doing it day after day, and that it doesn't necessarily need an external validation stamp of approval, as you said, trophy, to have value. It just is valuable. Yeah, it's, it's awesome. Before we wrap up, I just wanna call out that you guys have an album coming out really soon of your last season's worth of work. Will you tell us about that a little bit?

Ethan: 22:46

Absolutely. Lizzy Ellison wrote about 16 songs for the choir. The music is so good. It's, it's probably the most fun music that we've ever performed as part of th- one of these collaborations. It's, it's funky, it's sweet, it's sad, it's Brazilian jazz. It just makes you wanna get up and dance. I don't know that there is a composer working that has such a sense of melody and soulfulness as Lizzy Ellison. I'm just such a big fan of her work. We recorded this music with her at three different shows, and she's putting it out, um, as part of her record label, Doe Records, which is actually a tremendous organization. They teach, uh, up-and-coming artists how to be, businesspeople as well as, uh, musicians. and so, that record is coming out imminently sometime, uh, sometime soon, and I'm so excited to share it with the world.

Adriana: 23:37

Yeah, I've gotten the chance to listen to quite a lot of your music, uh, while preparing for our conversation, and I will make sure to link to all of that on the episode page for this episode. So you can find that through the link in the show notes. Okay, we have to wrap up. At the end of every episode, I always ask people to shout out one of their favorite or a few favorite places in Clark County. So I'm gonna give you a minute to think about that. While you're thinking about that, I'll say to those listening, if you're not already following the podcast, please take a sec to click the checkbox or the follow button in your podcast app. That really helps us, and it makes sure that you'll automatically get our episodes when they come out each week. Okay, Ethan, who are you really into these days?

Ethan: 24:24

I will take any opportunity that I can to sing the praises of Dediko, the amazing Georgian restaurant in, right here in downtown Vancouver. I went there for my birthday a couple years ago, and I brought some friends, and we actually sang a little piece of Georgian choral music, that I just, like, have, have wanted to sing in a Georgian restaurant for so long. And they all stopped what they were doing, and they, like, came out of the kitchen, and they listened, and it was so lovely. And that, that's just a side story. But, the, the food is so good. Uh, whatever kinda food you like, there's something for you there, and it makes, makes me so joyful to get a chance to go and eat there. I also wanna shout out, Clark County Battle of the Bands. they do such an amazing job of bringing together students who don't have the opportunity to be at the center of their school culture and celebrate the incredible virtuosic work that they're doing and bringing a whole community of people together to celebrate it. It's just a really great show, and especially in a place like Vancouver that kinda has a, a, a lack of live music venues. They are filling a really profound need and are a wonderful service to the community.

Adriana: 25:34

I agree. I love those guys. Ethan, thank you so much for joining us today, and I can't wait to see what the choir does this year.

Ethan: 25:42

Thank you so much. Me too.

Adriana: 25:47

And now let's hear from you. This is our Community Voices segment, where you call in to shout out your favorites in local arts, culture, and heritage. Community Voices is sponsored by Johnson Bixby. At Johnson Bixby, you get a financial planning and portfolio management team that helps you imagine what's possible in life, create a plan, and get there over time. Advisory services by Johnson Bixby, SEC registered. Securities through Private Client Services, member FINRA, SIPC.

Guest: 26:22

Hello, everyone. This is Andrew Vo, and I wanna shout out Ranch Pizza on Vancouver downtown. That was the most delicious pizza I have ever had in my life. Thank you.

Adriana: 26:32

We'd love to hear from you. What are your favorite spots in Clark County? Who really deserves a shout-out? Give us a call and leave a message, or send us a voice note via email. All the details on how to do that are in the show notes. If you like this episode, check out our conversation with Enspire Arts that came out August 26th, 2025. We talked to Sarah Lightfoot about the state of arts education in Clark County. I'm Into This Place is produced and edited by me, Adriana Baer. Engineering by Shawn Lee Martin. This episode was recorded at The Sound Stage, the Northwest's premier voiceover and recording studio. The music you heard in this episode is from the Camas High School Choir. You can find out more about us and them at imintothisplace.com. See you out there