Music

Marian Singers is an auditioned 10^th – 12^th grade choir. The award-winning Marian Singers have been the school’s premier choir for nearly a century. A trailblazer for treble choirs, in 2008 the Marians were the first treble choir in state history to compete in the Oregon State Choir Championships at the 6A level, have since won numerous league titles and trophies, and in 2015 became the first treble choir in history to win the state title. The nationally recognized Marians have received the prestigious honors of performing at the 2013 Northwest National Association for Music Education conference, the 2018 Northwest American Choir Directors Association conference, and the 2022 Oregon Music Education Association state conference.

The choir has performed on stage at the Arlene Schnitzer Auditorium and Keller Auditorium, along with several other Portland venues, has travelled to New York, Seattle, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, and was invited twice to perform for President and Mrs. Obama at the White House (2012, 2013). The Marians perform at school liturgies, the Christmas and spring concerts, area music festivals, and several other school and community special events. Students are provided with the opportunity to participate in the Oregon Music Educators Association Solo and Ensemble contest, as well as the opportunity to audition for the Oregon All-State Choir.

While preparing music for performance, students study the following topics: proper breath technique for singing, vocal health, efficient and healthy singing technique and skills, choral blend and intonation skills, sight singing, ear training and music literacy skills, choral repertoire representing a variety of musical genres, cultures, and languages.

Marians rehearse Tuesday and Thursday after school from 3:15 – 4:45, with occasional extended rehearsals until 5:15. Auditions for this prestigious group are held the last week of school every year. Interested in more information? Contact kathy.briggs@smapdx.org

Rose Choir is a non-auditioned choir, open to all students (Grades 9-12) who want to sing. This class for credit meets before school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7:30 – 8:20 AM. Rose Choir performs annually at our Christmas and spring concerts, along with performances in the community. This popular ensemble averages approximately 65 students every year. While students prepare and rehearse music for performances they study the following topics: proper breathing technique for singing; vocal health, efficient and healthy singing technique and skills, choral blend and intonation skills, sight singing, ear training and music literacy skills, and choral repertoire representing a variety of musical genres, cultures and languages. Students are provided with the opportunity to participate in the Oregon Music Educators Association Solo and Ensemble contest. Interested in more information? Contact kathy.briggs@smapdx.org

SMA offers both a chamber orchestra as well as an advanced strings ensemble. Our orchestra students perform annually at our Christmas and spring concerts, along with performances in the community. Rehearsals are focused on developing good ensemble skills, sight-reading, ear training, and performance techniques in a variety of musical styles and genres. Students are eligible for participation in the Oregon Music Educators Association Solo and Ensemble Competition in the spring. Auditions are held at the beginning of each school year. Orchestra is a class for credit which meets Tuesdays 3:25 – 4:25 & Wednesdays 3:25 – 5:25 after school. 

Piano Ensemble is a part of the history and heritage of the SMA community. It is the only ensemble class offered at the high school level in Oregon. This unique piano program allows for collaborative duets and accompanying skills to be developed. Piano Ensemble is a class for credit that meets Mondays 3:25 – 4:50 after school. Piano Ensemble performs annually at our Christmas and spring concerts. Students have the opportunity to compete in MTNA music contests. Interested in more information? Contact Sonja Poida sonja.poida@smapdx.org

The focus of this exciting course is performing jazz/pop a cappella choral arrangements and show choir literature, programming a well-balanced set of music (opener, comedic, medley, ballad, closer) using appropriate vocal styling and choral choreography, and staging. While students prepare and rehearse music for performance, they study the following topics: proper breathing technique for singing, vocal health, efficient and healthy singing technique and skills, choral blend and intonation skills, sight singing, ear training and music literacy skills, and basic movement, dance, and choreography.

Students in the class choose and rehearse contemporary choral music and develop a fully choreographed show choir and a cappella set for performance at the Spring Concert.

Learn to play piano! Students who enroll in class piano study and practice beginning technique and music literacy using Frances Clark’s intervallic approach to playing piano. While learning to read and perform music at the keyboard, students study penta-scales, tetra-scales, major scales, arpeggios, accompanying and transposition, repertoire, and sight reading exercises. This course is recommended for any student desiring to learn how to play the piano, interested in studying music theory and composition, or continuing with music studies after high school.

Music Appreciation is a required course for 9th grade students, part of a year-long rotation of music, art, dance, and theatre. In this 9-week class, students study the elements of music (melody, harmony, style, rhythm, form, timbre, texture, and expression) through composition and analysis of several musical genres.

Music Theory & Composition is a study of the structure of music applied through analysis of music and original compositions. Students explore the elements of sound, music notation, tonality, modality, melody, harmony, rhythm, form, sight singing, and ear training. This is a very important class for students interested in studying music in college. Topics studied include major and minor key signatures, harmonic structures and functions, musical terminology, keyboard/piano skills, sight singing, and ear training. All elements of music (style/genre, timbre, harmony, expression, melody, rhythm, texture, and form) are studied in depth. Prerequisite Skills: ability to identify pitch in both treble and bass clefs; ability to read basic rhythmic patterns; beginning level piano/keyboard skills. Class Piano is a recommended but not required prerequisite for this course.

Music Theory & Composition II is a continued study of the structure of music, applied through analysis of music and original compositions. Topics covered include scales, tonality, modes, transposition, cadences and non-harmonic tones, melodic organization, harmonic structures and functions, modulations, binary and ternary form, musical terminology, keyboard/piano skills, sight singing, and ear training. All elements of music (style/genre, timbre, harmony, expression, melody, rhythm, texture, and form) are studied in depth.

Music students at SMA are offered the opportunity to travel to Austria, Germany, and Switzerland to learn about music history. This spring break trip takes place every three years and includes a tour of the Vienna Opera House, a classical music concert in a Viennese palace, Mozart’s Birthplace, an evening of Bavarian folk music and dancing, and an official Sound of Music tour as students visit Lucerne, Innsbruck, Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna.

Kathy Briggs has been teaching since 1998 and has been leading the award-winning music program at St. Mary’s Academy since 2006. She has earned numerous awards and recognition for her teaching, including the 2016 Oregon ACDA Podium Award for Excellence in the Choral Arts.  Her research has been published in the ACDA Choral Journal (Vol 52, No. 5), she has authored and published general music lesson plans for VH1 and NAfME, and she has been a presenter at both state and regional NAfME conferences. Ms. Briggs’s choirs have won numerous awards and recognition, including performances at the 2022 OMEA State Conference, 2013 NAfME Northwest Conference, 2018 Northwest ACDA Conference, and winning the 2015 OSAA State Choir Championship. Her students have toured in New York, Florida, Washington, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and France and her choir was invited twice to perform for President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and their guests in the White House (2012, 2013). She is a proud member of ACDA, NAfME, and OMEA, is honored to be a Past State President of OMEA, and currently serves as the State Choral Chair on the OMEA/ACDA boards.  Ms. Briggs earned her BA in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MA in Music Education/Choral Conducting from the University of St. Thomas. Ms. Briggs achieved her lifelong dream of meeting Julie Andrews in 2019.

Sonja Poida is a native of Portland, Oregon. She and her brother grew up in a German-speaking
household full of classical music and five pianos. While in high school, she spent time studying abroad in Germany where she also studied piano at the Music Conservatory in Frankfurt with Professor Meyer-Hermann.  Ms. Poida obtained her Bachelor of Music from Indiana University at Bloomington, where she studied with Luba Edlina Dubinsky and graduated with high distinction. She earned her Master's degrees in both Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from the University of Oregon, where she worked with both Dr. Dean Kramer and Dr. Claire Wachter. She was the winner of the Mu Phi Epsilon Bernstein-Crosman Award for Foreign Study, which enabled her to move to Weimar, Germany in order to pursue her studies at the Franz Liszt Conservatory under Professor Arne Torger. Her studies focused on solo
piano literature as well as vocal accompaniment, earning her an Artist Diploma. Upon her return to the Pacific Northwest, Ms. Poida worked as the associate teacher at the Joanna Hodges Piano Studio in Vancouver, Washington for several years before establishing her private studio in Portland. She has been a regular adjudicator for the National Federation of Music Clubs for over 15 years and is a member of the National Guild of Piano Teachers and OMTA.