POLAND — Julia Edwards’ experience in teaching began before she even went to college, she said.

In high school, Edwards took on teaching and leadership positions — whether she realized it or not — and helped her mother lead a summer music camp.

Working as the choral music teacher at Bruce M. Whittier Middle School and Poland Regional High School, Edwards was recently recognized as the 2025 Androscoggin County Teacher of the Year for her work at the schools for the last 13 years.

Between conducting her high school band on substitute days and volunteering at the local elementary school as a senior in high school, Edwards developed a passion for teaching young, she said.

Her love for exploring and learning in the sciences carried over to her love of music, she said. As a young student at University of Massachusetts Amherst, it was difficult for her to choose between focusing on music composition, oboe performance, voice performance or education, ultimately settling on the latter.

“I started out in music education because I liked that it rewarded a desire to learn lots of instruments and do some writing,” she said. “It really became my passion, as I collected experiences like working with a children’s choir and tutoring fellow college students. I lived for the moments when my students could take new learning and run with it.”

How long have you had a passion for singing and when did it start?

There is an ongoing joke in my family that when it’s someone’s birthday, we argue over who has to sing the melody for “Happy Birthday to You.” Music is the language my family speaks and I’ve been singing and writing little ditties since I was about 2 1/2 years old. There is evidence somewhere!

I was raised on Peter, Paul and Mary; Bach; Protestant hymns; Ladysmith Black Mambazo; and other musicians with rich harmonies. I’ve always had a deep love for choral music. My sister, mother and I have sung three-part harmony for church and weddings for a long time but I only developed an identity as a singer myself when I joined the Madrigal Singers and Chamber Choir in college. It is there that I finally learned good singing technique and felt empowered by that new knowledge. It’s what I try to pass on to my students now, along with many other elements of musicianship and humanity.

Were you a member of a band or group growing up or in your adulthood?

In high school, I was in all of our performing ensembles: playing piano and singing in our jazz combo, playing oboe in concert band, and tenor sax whenever we had to march, and singing in our choral groups. I benefited so much from the District II Honors Festivals and the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble and Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra, where I was surrounded by other passionate student musicians.

Since graduating college, I’ve played oboe with the Casco Bay Wind Symphony and the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra, and I currently play accordion, guitar and sing in my folk band, Bold Riley, with four of my best friends.

What I love about Bold Riley is that it challenges me vocally and creatively. With them, I can literally practice what I preach when it comes to taking risks as a musician.

What genres or types of music/singing styles do you prefer and why?

I’ll always have a special place in my heart for classical music of most eras. I love the polyphony of the Renaissance and Baroque eras and the harmonic complexity and humanity of the Romantic era. I’ll also always enjoy a good jazz tune, especially if it’s introducing me to some new sounds or rhythms. Folk will always make me feel at home because of its deep connection to the shared experiences of a community and its lack of pretension — and if I’m showing all of my cards, I love a good pop punk tune from the late ’90s or early ’00s for some nostalgic good times.

Paul Simon once said in an interview, “One of my deficiencies is my voice sounds sincere. I’ve tried to sound ironic. I don’t. I can’t.” I often feel the same — while I love shouting out a sassy tune here and there, I find that my favorite music to perform is either Renaissance madrigals, contemporary minimalist styles or folk music. There is something about singing a piece of music that was intended to highlight purity and simplicity — my voice just seems to fit better in those settings.

Is that different from the styles and genres your students prefer?

It always amuses me when my students and I find our styles aligning. I honestly love getting new recommendations from my students and am in awe of their good taste. When Pandora and its Music Genome Project first started, the whole point was to have algorithms take over for asking your buddy with the good music collection to make you a mixtape.

It feels like we lost something special and personal, so I love throwing it back to the “old days” and asking students to make me playlists of “music Mrs. Edwards needs to hear.” It helps me to stay connected to them and amplifies their voices and validates their personal tastes. Sometimes, their choices even turn into features in our programs.

What tools do you use to engage your chorus students? 

The very best tool for engaging singers is good music. I don’t always hit the target perfectly but I love choosing music from a large variety of genres, historical periods and cultures. It’s so much fun to see students’ initial reactions to the music and watch their love for it, and resulting engagement, grow.

We also do a lot of work around cultural context, so that students have a stronger connection to the origins of the music. Sometimes we even reach out to the original composer or culture-bearers of the music, if it’s in the folk tradition.

Dr. Wayne Abercrombie at UMass used to say, “When in doubt, look down. The music will always save you.” Frank Glazer, beloved pianist based in Topsham, said, “Everything you need to learn can be found in great music.” If you program good music, you can always find what you need inside it and there’s always something the students can connect with.

A lot has changed in recent decades for teachers. Has more access to technology helped you as a chorus teacher?

There are ways it has and ways it hasn’t. I love that singing will always in some way be “analog,” but there have been programs and technologies that have helped make my ability to assess students and provide support more equitable.

We used to have an app where students had their music loaded on the screen and could mark it — then they could record audio over that file, so I’d see their music and hear them sing. It was amazing because it could all happen in class, so my ability to assess their singing around peers was entirely authentic.

There are also other apps that help students with sight singing practice, ear training and making recordings at home. I love when their creativity has a little virtual playground where they can experiment with their own ideas, as well.

The toughest part about teaching with technology is that there have been so many times when we find something that really works perfectly for our needs and then it changes and forces us to pivot. While that’s not always bad, it means the focus moves from the music to learning a new platform, which is never how we really want to spend our time.

I’m glad for technology that can help my students access accurate information, collaborate on research and learn new skills. At the end of the day, though, I am more glad that I teach a discipline that encourages students to interact with each other and not screens, and I find that, usually, the less technology we use in class the better — I suppose it’s the balance that is key.

Often the arts get treated as a less important subject in high school. What can students get from a choral class that they might not be able to get in the traditional school subjects?

I appreciate this question and am glad for a chance to speak to it. John Quincy Adams once wrote in a letter addressed to his wife, “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”

I think these words highlight that the arts are how we express our values as a society and help to define our values and priorities. Some say the arts are valuable because they support other subjects — this can be true. I love teaching science, history, geography, linguistic and mathematical concepts through my chorus class. My students often tease me: “Wait, aren’t you the music teacher?!”

Others may say that the arts are important for student engagement and attendance — so many students identify their arts classes as the sole element making them feel connected to school. Then, many of us feel that the arts are foundational to our identity as humans and both express and help develop our highest levels of thinking.

It is all too easy to find scientific data to back up the role of music and arts in brain development, social-emotional well-being and building a student’s sense of belonging and identity. One of my County Teacher of the Year colleagues, Monica Malcomson, summed it up well, as we had a roundtable discussion about how we tackle some of the issues and needs in public education today. She said, “I feel like all of the topics we have brought up would be addressed so effectively through more arts programming,” and I believe she is right.

When I ask my students what they get from chorus that they don’t get from other classes, some mention “a sense of community” and “belonging.” Others bring up “leadership skills, especially with doing sectionals and being a section leader,” and “the strongest friendships in my whole life … the whole classroom (feels) like a big family.”

One student claims, “I think we are also taught a great deal of independence (in) chorus, having to hold our own in our own sections. Also being held accountable to our personal learning and accounting for and acknowledging our mistakes — even though it doesn’t feel great — and moving past them.”

What I see in my own students as a result of being in chorus is a reinforced growth mindset and, perhaps one of the biggest reasons I teach, an incredible sense of trust in the process and a resulting willingness to be vulnerable in front of peers.

Using one’s voice is one of the biggest challenges teens can face and we use chorus as an opportunity to embrace that vulnerability and celebrate it. We celebrate risks as growth opportunities, we celebrate failures and mistakes as learning opportunities, and we celebrate each other for the unique gifts that each person brings.