Rooms 402 and 403 are occupied by the smiling faces of the Carrera brothers, often greeting students and giving out high fives. Whether you are involved in the chorus program or not, it is clear that the twin choir directors are passionate and enthusiastic about their job.

Underclassmen often choose chorus as a fun way to fulfill their music credit requirement in Beginners Choir. However, Students often stick with the program through their senior year, advancing through each chorus level.

Currently there are four choirs at Lane: Beginners Boys, Beginners Girls, Bel Canto (all girls) and Advanced Mixed (boys and girls). According to the Carreras there are over 350 students involved in the program each year.

Mark and Paul Carrera, who have run the choir program at Lane for 16 years, said they have never had any problem finding boys and girls eager to sing. But due a change to graduation requirements, the Carreras are facing new problems.

In the past, Lane  students had to take at least one music and one art class to fulfill graduation requirements. However, the 2016-2017 school year will be a little different.

“The two Fine Arts required classes has not changed, but now students can take two classes from the same subject area,” said Tara Johnson, the freshman counselor at Lane. “So, students can take two art classes, two drama classes, two music classes, or any combination of the three subject areas.”

Some CPS schools may not be affected by this rule, due to pre-existing rules that coincide with the new changes. Lane, however, is not as lucky.

Mark Carrera said he is concerned for the upcoming school year and how these changes will affect his program.

“In the past, we have just waited for kids to come to choir. We have even had to turn kids away because so many want to join,” Carrera said. “Now, we have to go out and convince kids to join, and tell them how it’s beneficial for college. Every choir director I’ve talked to is having the same problem.”

Carrera says that he and other choir directors are worried that because students are no longer required to take a music class, and can opt to take two art classes instead, they will not draw as many students as they have in years past.

“With so many wonderful electives, it’s hard to get kids involved in chorus,” said Carrera. “We’re struggling with boys; we are begging for any boys who are interested in singing to join chorus. If we’re lucky, we will only have 25 boys next year, when we would normally have around 50. That will be our smallest boys choir since my first year at Lane, which was 2000, so 17 years ago.”

In the past, there are a lot more girls than boys involved in chorus. According to Carrera, many boys take chorus for the sole purpose of the music credit; afterwards, they discover a new found love for singing and then stick with it until they graduate.

Carrera said that there were discussions of a new AP Chorus class to be implemented in the 2016-2017 school year, but after these changes to graduation requirements, the plans may be put on hold as the fight for a sufficient class size continues.

 AP Chorus was something the Carreras were very excited about and had spent a lot of time developing with Lane and CPS.

“We are not even sure if we can continue to carry out our plan of AP Chorus next year because of the cuts,” Carrera said.  

A combination of both chorus and music theory, AP Chorus would be offered to third-year choir students.

Teachers are obviously passionate about the accessibility of music in schools. Carrera said music is an important part of development and is just as necessary as math and science.

“It builds character, and shows colleges that you are able to go above and beyond,” Carrera said. “Being musically literate is extremely beneficial to a kid’s education. It shouldn’t just be math and science, it should be music as well. That’s why it should continue to be a requirement.”