‘She told me to get out of my shell.’ Grammy winning DeSoto teacher inspires confidence

By Noor Adatia DeSoto High School choir students closely watched their director’s signals for breathing and pacing cues while singing a rendition of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” After getting through the first verse during Wednesday morning’s practice, Pamela Dawson paused the performance and asked her 11 students to close their eyes to better feel the music. “Be dramatic,” Dawson advised them with a chuckle. “Be just as dramatic as I am.” The class giggled. With these words, she went back to circling the floor, stomping her feet to the rhythm of the song and encouraging her students to sway their bodies to its melody. Earlier this month, Dawson won the 2023 Grammy Music Educator Award for her impact on students’ lives and commitment to maintaining music education in schools, according to a news release from the school. The Recording Academy and Grammy Museum, who designate the honor each year, awarded her $10,000 and a matching grant for her school’s music program. Judges chose her from a pool of 10 finalists nationwide. This was Dawson’s second time getting nominated. While the DeSoto school may be well known for its athletic program — the football team recently won a second championship title — Dawson helped put its arts and music program on the map, officials said. Her students have performed in the competitive Texas All-State choir and earned spots in the American Choral Directors Association Honor Choir. Some of her students will travel to Cincinnati later this month for the 2023 National Honor Choirs. “My students are fabulous,” she said. “And to me, receiving the Grammy is about them, not necessarily about me, because they were open to receive everything that I had to give to them.”

‘Helped me get out of my shell’

Dawson said she makes mental health a priority in her classroom. After the pandemic, she saw many teens struggle with anxiety and low self-esteem. “The art of music” helps ease her students’ anxieties and boost confidence, Dawson said. Throughout practices, she leads them in deep-breathing exercises and other movement activities that stimulates their brains in positive ways, she added. “We also provide a safe environment, a loving environment in the choir room,” Dawson said. “So they’re free to express themselves. Everything that they are going through is real, and I accept that.” Junior Gabrielle Crittendon was more shy and unsure when she joined the a capella group her freshman year. But her confidence grew as Dawson taught her how to sight read music and use various vocal techniques. She encouraged the teen to pursue a career in music, and now Crittendon wants to become an opera singer. “Even though I’m nervous a lot, and have anxiety, she told me to get out of my shell,” she said. “She told me not to worry about what others think.” Dawson directs 10 choirs at the high school, each with differing levels of rigor and a variety of styles. The educator said she tries to meet students where they are and places them in chorus groups where she thinks they will succeed most. “They have the talent,” she said. “They just have to believe in themselves as much as I believe in them.”

Real-world lessons

Music lessons are critical far beyond choir, Dawson said. Students tend to perform better academically, in part, because of the discipline instilled from such instruction, she said. “We’re one of those classes that involve everything,” she said. “So I think they decide that they’re going to take this and apply it into every aspect of their life.” That’s why schools must keep music education, she said. Born and raised in Detroit, Dawson moved to DeSoto in 2006 because officials disbanded the music program at the Michigan school she taught at previously. She hopes her recent Grammy win helps others across the country to realize that music as a valuable part of the curriculum, just like math, science and English. “I really want to advocate in the school systems that we keep (music education) there because it is the foundation of these students’ lives,” she said, adding her job is to make her students better people, not necessarily better musicians. A capella choir member Elijah Mitchell said Dawson helped him realize the importance of music in his life and motivated him to major in music when he attends college. Dawson also takes “pride and joy” in helping her students outside of school, the junior aded. “I don’t think I’ve gone to class without learning something that I can take out into the real world,” Mitchell said. Dawson hopes her students remember this message years after they graduate — regardless of whether or not they pursue music: “If you have a passion for anything, go for it, and follow your dreams,” she said. “Never think that it’s silly. … Anything can happen with hard work and faithfulness in whatever you do.”