photo by: Jeff Burkhart contributed

Members of Cantemos Youth Chorale are pictured at a concert on Feb. 24, 2022.

Let the kids sing.

That’s the concept of a new nonprofit children’s choir that aims to eliminate the barriers that keep students from participating in out-of-school choirs. There are no fees or auditions to join the choir, Cantemos Youth Chorale — “cantemos” means “let’s sing” in Spanish — and transportation is even provided for those who need it.

“We want zero barriers for these kids to participate,” Cantemos Director Emily Boedeker said. “It’s truly a community choir.”

Boedeker, a music teacher at Woodlawn and Cordley elementary schools, said she has always taught in Title I schools, which have large concentrations of low-income students, and she’s seen the students who are left out of private choir programs. The choir was the idea of a group of Lawrence residents, and Boedeker said the goal is to make sure kids of all backgrounds and circumstances can sing.

“I’ve always had students who love to sing or love to make music, but sometime it’s hard for parents to find the time or the resources to pursue musical things outside of school,” Boedeker said. “And there were a couple other music teachers who felt the same way.”

photo by: contirbuted

Director Emily Boedeker is pictured with members of Cantemos Youth Chorale at a concert on Feb. 24, 2022.

Lysette DeBoard, who spent years as an elementary music teacher, also saw the barriers that keep some kids from joining private youth choirs. DeBoard is now an instructional coach at West Middle School, but she said that when she was a music teacher she organized before-school choirs that were open to everyone, and it was always her personal dream to see that concept expanded. DeBoard said that Sandy Cooper, a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, heard about what DeBoard called her “come one, come all choirs,” and approached her about starting a community children’s choir.

“So that’s kind of where it came about,” said DeBoard, who is now the secretary for the choir’s board. “And I kind of built the choir the way that I had always dreamed it would look, but it definitely could not be a thing without Sandy’s work and without Trinity — it is very much a team effort.”

The choir, which began this school year, is open to children in third through sixth grades living in Douglas County, and fees are funded entirely through donations. DeBoard said a lot of the first donations to help get the choir started came from Trinity members, but the choir now gets a variety of donors. She said Cooper currently serves as the board chair, and Trinity provides the choir a free place to practice and perform its concerts.

The name of the choir was also chosen with intentionality, reflecting the goal of the choir to embrace differences and welcome everyone. Boedeker said the choir has sung multicultural songs as well as popular songs the kids are familiar with. Boedeker is part Japanese, and she said her grandmother came in and taught the kids a Japanese song and the choir has also sung a song in Spanish.

“We sang a song called “Cantemos” and we have some Spanish-speaking kids in the choir and they were just so excited,” Boedeker said. “(Saying,) ‘Hey, I know this, I can help sing this.'”

Both Boedeker and DeBoard hope to see the choir continue to grow. Boedeker said the choir had 28 kids enroll for the first semester, and that enrollment increased to 40 kids this semester. She said the choir now includes kids from all 13 Lawrence elementary schools, as well as children from a couple of private schools or who are homeschooled.

photo by: Jeff Burkhart contributed

Woodlawn Elementary student Max Hall, center, and other members of Cantemos Youth Chorale are pictured at a concert on Feb. 24, 2022.

In the coming years, DeBoard said she’d love to see the choir expand to include multiple choirs of different age groups. She said it’s been great to see the concept grow into a choir of 40 kids in its first year.

“It’s felt really good because I have always believed that we need this in our town, but sometimes your beliefs don’t match everyone around you,” DeBoard said. “… But seeing that large turnout, and how it keeps growing, and how we’ve had donors from all walks of life, has been so great. Because it really is reaching all of these students who may not have the opportunity.”

Boedeker said the choir also hopes to continue to grow its community ties, including collaborations with local musicians. For example, Boedeker said the choir collaborated with a local ukulele club and area music teachers for its winter concert and hopes to have guest musicians at its upcoming spring concert, Alegría.

The concert will take place at 3 p.m. May 1 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1245 New Hampshire St. Songs include “Jubilate Deo,” “I Just Wanna Shine,” “I Love the Mountains,” “El Vito,” and “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night. Admission is free, and Boedeker said anyone in the community is welcome to attend.

Families may sign up for Cantemos Youth Chorale or the choir’s camp that will take place the first week of August on the choir’s website, cychorale.org. Donations to the choir can also be made online.