CCSD educator receives Grammys semifinalist honor

A Clark County School District teacher was recognized as a semifinalist for the Grammys Music Educator of the Year award, the only Nevada educator among 25 semifinalists chosen from nearly 2,000 nominations nationwide.

Kim Ritzer, director of the Green Valley High School choir and a 30-year veteran of the district, got the news that she was in the quarterfinals for the award in March, just as the pandemic hit and school buildings closed. Though Ritzer didn’t make the finals announced on Dec. 10, she said it was an honor just be nominated.

“Every music educator should get the award this year for what we have had to overcome,” she said.

Ritzer is a founder of the Green Valley High School music program, having opened the school in 1991.

Of her top career highlights since then, Ritzer listed seeing her choirs perform at national and regional conferences for the American Choral Directors Association and at Carnegie Hall. But the day-to-day experiences are equally rewarding for someone who planned to teach choir since the second grade, she said.

“I wanted to be a music teacher because of my music teacher. … Those educators really gave me a chance, and that’s what I try to do for kids,” Ritzer said. “When I see kids and the lightbulb goes on, and they get a concept or their voice grows, that for me is why I still keep teaching.”

This year, with live performances and festival trips curtailed by the pandemic, the educator award asked teachers how they had adjusted to distance learning and kept kids producing music, Ritzer said.

With 120 students in one choir alone, Ritzer said she put her class up on a 45-inch TV connected to a computer so she could see them all. Students also practice together in breakout rooms, where section leaders play piano or backing tracks, and Ritzer can drop in to listen. To hear the choir in unison, they have to edit together individual student tracks.

In this way, they have been able to do most of the activities they would do in a normal year, including putting on virtual performances of “The Star Spangled Banner” and the song “Seasons of Love” from the musical “Rent.”

The yearly awards banquet went virtual, Ritzer said, as did auditions. She also volunteered to work the school’s socially distanced graduation and dropped off yard signs for seniors.

Her students have responded with enthusiasm, she said, attending classes and showing appreciation for every effort teachers undertake to provide a sense of normalcy.

“Some days I look at them, and they just need to talk, so we just talk,” she said. “I just see it in their eyes that they want to get back to school.”

When schools do reopen, choirs will face extra challenges, as health authorities continue to warn against singing in confined indoor spaces. But Ritzer said music educators are already thinking about a safe return.

With class sizes reduced under the cohort model, Ritzer said her students will spread out in the school gym. There, they will be allowed to sing with their masks on for 30 minutes before needing to clear out to allow the HVAC system to run. The plan for the rest of the class period is to use an outdoor events tent, Ritzer said.

Her smaller classes will have the option to use the cafeteria, or sing under the dome-like entrance to Green Valley High, whose music program has won three Grammys.

“I think the kids will just be happy to just hear other kids sing,” she said. “We’ll do what we have to do to give them that experience. It’s got to be better than singing alone in their rooms.”

Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton @reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.