East Union graduate returns to conduct

Even while navigating a crowd of 67 students in East Union’s auditorium, all of whom could easily get off-track with the mention of “67,” Taylor Mayne injected the choir of students from all over Southwest Iowa with musical energy.

It’s a homecoming for Mayne, who graduated from East Union in 2012 and returned last Monday to conduct the Pride of Iowa Conference Honor Choir. Now as a conductor, and working alongside his former teachers, Mayne wanted to show students how far their interests can take them.

The Pride of Iowa Conference is comprised of Central Decatur, East Union, Lenox, Martensdale-St. Marys, Mount Ayr, Nodaway Valley, Southeast Warren, Southwest Valley and Wayne school districts.

Since graduating from East Union, Mayne has gone on to earn a Bachelor of Music in voice performance from the University of Iowa and a Master of Music from Ohio University. Mayne, while teaching at both Grinnell College and Drake University, is also working on his doctorate at the University of Iowa.

Mayne has performed across the United States and in Europe through opera, musical theatre, soloist work and Bach cantatas. Yet, when back at East Union and looking at his former music teacher, he still has an instinct to call him Mr. Clark.

“It’s an instance where you look up to that person, and now you get to talk to that person as one of them,” Mayne said. “I’ve been fortunate to be able to do things in different countries and teaching at the university level, but he’s still Mr. Clark to me. It was hard to say Wes. I don’t know why; it was just really hard.”

Wes Clark, one of East Union’s music teachers, had decided to invite Mayne to return to the school for this Pride of Iowa event. With East Union’s turn to host the event this year, Mayne’s background fit for the area made considerable sense.

Returning to East Union, Mayne said he didn’t recognize the building, even when he said he felt nostalgic. This school was where Mayne had originally found his passion for music. Contributing this passion back into a choir of honor students, it’s a full-circle moment.

“It’s a feeling of bringing this art that I’ve worked so hard on and bringing it back,” Mayne said.

Clark, who has taught at the school since 2001, had worked with Mayne at a time when he was at a crossroads for his college education. Mayne was considering studying instrumental music (he played tenor sax in band), but Clark was able to convince him to try out for the musical.

“I felt like he had skills he should explore; I felt like he would really enjoy it,” Clark said. “It was one of those things where I shouldn’t let him get away without trying.”

From there, Mayne performed vocally at a solo contest, which he won. This passion for vocal music snowballed into a full-ride scholarship to Arizona, a transfer back to Iowa, a trip to Italy and France to perform opera and landing at education where he now encourages the next generation of singers to follow their own passion.

“There’s nothing better than when a student discovers the things you’re trying to help them with,” Mayne said. “That emotional sensation that you see, there’s no better sensation. There’s no better feeling as a teacher.”

Encouraging students to raise their energy for this performance is no small feat, so Mayne approaches it from an understanding of the vocal instrument. Unlike other instruments, the human voice is dependent on the entire human body, with the energy needed to perform at a high-level needing full concentration.

“The voice, if our minds are off of it, it doesn’t get that full attention,” Mayne said. “You can hear it. You get better results and you get quicker results if the person is on a certain level.”

Those quick results were needed last Monday, with the choir preparing for a concert together that night. Within the span of a school day, students from across Southwest Iowa met each other for the first time, learned to work together and performed with each other.

Alongside Mayne’s conducting, Anna Chen accompanied the choir during the concert. Chen, originally from Taiwan, is pursuing her doctorate in piano performance from the University of Iowa and is a piano and music theory professor at Southwestern Community College.

The full day represented an injection of musical talent from this corner of Iowa, bringing together a collage of dedicated performers. When those students take off their choir robes and exit the concert, Mayne wants them to remember the power of music.

“Music, we are so fortunate to have music,” Mayne said. “Not only if you want to go into music, you can do it for the rest of your life, or you don’t even have to go into music to do it the rest of your life. Music is always a part of us.”