SXSW Picks 2 Click 2007

Photo By Mary Sledd

Palm School Choir

Svante Palm Elementary School in far southeast Austin is typical public-education architecture: old but not ancient (circa 1986), brick, crowded, smaller than such buildings seem at age eight. But just up from the main office, the outer walls of Gavin Tabone's music classroom are adorned with a collage of Austin's unlikeliest (and youngest) rock stars rehearsing with Lyle Lovett and Naomi Judd and serenading the Texas Legislature. The Palm School Choir has been on NBC's Today show and opened for Neil Young's SXSW interview last year. For March 17's performance at Auditorium Shores, they're working up a cover of "Pinball Wizard" in honor of keynoter Pete Townshend.

Tabone, an affable thirtysomething who spent time in local R&B revue King Soul, has taught at Palm for seven years. About 200 students make up the school's combined choirs, but only 60 or 70 fourth- and fifth-graders make up what he calls his "traveling choir." They began recording after Palm's 2002 holiday musical was a big hit and have since minted four CDs of Tabone's originals spanning such kid-friendly subjects as friendship, self-esteem, and squirrels.

Backed by a rotating cast of local musicians, currently guitarist Aaron "Hair Doctor" Denbe, bassist Jason "Boom Boom" Brint, and drummer Jake "Bubbles" Perlman (who double as Tabone's "adult band"), they average 20-30 dates a year, including an annual Halloween Flaming Lips cover show at Ruta Maya Coffee House, trips to Dallas and San Antonio, and charming a capacity kids' tent at last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. This choir meets after school several times a week, assisting Tabone with everything from recording (all done in the classroom) to putting up fliers.

"I tell them, 'If you want to pursue music as a career, these are some of the things you have to think about,'" he says. "Basically, I want them to see what it takes to be a working musician in town."

Arts education faces a loaded deck as it is, especially in sports-mad states like Texas. Public school art, drama, and music departments too often get by on budgetary scraps, and if kids aren't engaged at the elementary level, they can be virtual lost causes in later grades. There's plenty of interest in the Palm School Choir, from both its members and its audience, and in turn, Tabone knows the choir's popularity and achievements can be a crucial factor in the struggle for better schools. He's told the school board as much, starting with something every Texas public-school teacher dreams about: smaller classes.

"Every now and then I'll get a class of 35 to 40 kindergartners in this room, and it's just out of control," he says. "People come to my room all the time to talk about the choir. Al Roker came to my room, and the first thing he said was, 'How do you do it with all these kids?'

"People look at the choir and say, 'Look, the music's important to these kids' lives. It shouldn't be neglected," he continues. "These kids are getting opportunities that they probably wouldn't get without it."

SXSW showcase: Saturday, March 17, Time TBA @ Town Lake Stage @ Auditorium Shores