The choir gets louder, the intensity in the auditorium bursts out the walls and the look of excitement, passion, a face of a mad man takes over and then they bow. They take in the pride and the applause goes to them and soon after they “sprinkle” some to the chorus. They are the double face of the choir. They are the Carreras.

Twin brothers, Mr. Mark and Paul Carrera, graduated Lane in 1987. Years later they find themselves right back to where they began: the fourth floor wing in the music department.

Seventeen years ago, Mark Carrera revisited his time at Lane but this time as a choir teacher. Carrera worked with four other choir teachers before return of the dynamic duo to Lane 10 years ago when Paul Carrera began working at Lane. They spent years running back and forth between Lane and the elementary school where Paul taught, prior to his fourteen years at Lane to accompany school concerts.

After three years of hassle, they met with Lane’s then principal and gave [her/him] an ultimatum: both Carreras or no Carreras.

Although they currently teach Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced Choir, this was not always how they began. Paul Carrera played in high school as a cellist and Mark Carrera a violin player, but since the age of 5, they stuck to their main instrument: piano. They both were piano accompanists at their first college, Moody Bible Institute, for the men’s glee club and that was when they fell in love with choir.

As music majors at Lane, both were required to take three class periods for music, though they did not mind spending their time in the fourth floor wing, hoping for a moment to escape any other class to get back to the orchestra rooms.

Coming back to Lane, they were both shocked by the major difference in course expansion compared to their time at Lane when shop classes that dominated the course catalog: Wood shop, metal shop, machine shop, etc.

“As a music major, we were not allowed to take [shop classes]. We had three periods of of music everyday back then. Four,” Mark Carrera said. “including lunch. Five or six if you cut a class.”

Recollecting funny memories from Lane, both produced stories of their experiences of being pestered by class president and the football team. Standing four feet tall, neither were much involved in sports. In fact, spent time despising P.E. curriculum with ten weeks of swimming followed by track.

“Ooh, we hated it. All that chlorine and,” they both take a moment to scoff at the memory. “Changing in the locker room. And then your do is messed up the rest of the day! I had swimming first period! My hair was messed up the rest of the day!” Paul Carrera said.

Both Mark and Paul Carrera have been involved with a funding organization called DonorsChoose since 2009. Through DonorsChoose, they have maintained funding for most everything that decorates their two classrooms: choir chairs, cabinets, their green screen, dresses, tuxedos, digital projectors, frames, and even their invitations to both the winter and spring concerts, however; their most grateful receiving through the organization remains Ms. Elizabeth Gottlieb who comes from a professional music organization called Music of the Baroque.

As a grant that has been continuously renewed for the past eight years and is worth approximately $10,000 dollars per year, they are grateful for the help that Gottlieb has provided through her frequent visits through the year to mentor students in preparation for the concert and the two competitions that the Advanced Choir members take place in. One being an optional solos/ensemble contest and the other is a required choral competition that Lane competes against many other schools in Chicago including Whitney Young, Lakeview, and Walter Payton.

Their most recent grant received media coverage with a Google documentary which covered the grant created by Paul Carrera for Mr. Payano’s Music Therapy class which would fund a variety of instruments. It reached its height at the assembly with the Special Education students and the Carreras’ Advanced Mixed Choir class.

Dedicating time for creation of these grants, they spend their most time in preparing their students for upcoming concerts.

“My favorite part of choir is the atmosphere that the Carreras create in the classroom. They have worked very hard to make the room more personalized. Throughout their year of teaching, they have been able to find the perfect balance between making their students laugh and enjoy the class … along with having enough time to perfect all of our pieces,” Emily Welch, Div. 751 said.

They spend two months learning the music before they constitute the song as concert ready. Their expectation for a near perfection comes down to the sound of a vowel, making sure that the students meet what they believe their students are capable of. Though the winter concert is their favorite in the midst of Christmas and the nostalgic emotions that follow suit, their spring concert is when they show off.

“The second concert in the spring is more technical. That’s when our choir sings better. There are things that we like about both concerts. The spring concert is when we really show off how good our kids can be.”

Their hope and pride is displayed in the songs that they choose for their students. They challenge them and they adore the students that take the class year after year, finding appreciation in the time that they put into the class and beyond that, the time they put into the art of music.

“Every year we have kids go to the best music schools in the country. […] They continue to sing in their college choirs, even as not music majors, they continue to sing. And they keep growing and they are even better. One of our favorite thing is when the students come back to say ‘hello’ and that is just a rewarding thing,” Paul Carrera said.