Jay Kellner is taking his final bow.
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After a 34-year teaching career, the music educator and choral director will be retiring at the end of this month.
“I love what I do,” Kellner said. “It is this pairing of awesome music, awesome passionate students and my passion for both. That is the most invigorating thing about what I do and that is the reason I hate to retire.”
His voice is Kellner’s primary instrument, but he also plays piano, ukulele, classical guitar and was a professional banjo player. He earned his undergraduate degree from Lawrence University in 1983 and began his teaching career that same year at Elgin High School.
In 1992, he earned his master’s degree from Northwestern University and in 1997, he was tapped to help open District 204’s brand new high school on Naperville’s south side – Neuqua Valley.
Besides the thousands of Neuqua students he has inspired over the years, Kellner has worked with singers from the Chicago area as the founder of the Elgin Children’s Chorus, which he directed for 30 years before stepping down in 2016.
He and his wife, a retired teacher, are the parents of a son and daughter who – you guessed it – are also teachers.
We sat down with Kellner to learn more.
What and where do you teach? I teach six curricular choirs at Neuqua Valley High School, 2360 95th Street, Naperville.
How long have you been teaching? 34 years, 20 of them at Neuqua Valley.
What degrees do you have? Bachelor’s from Lawrence University and a master’s degree from Northwestern University.
Did you always want to be a teacher? When I was in high school, our (choral) director was ill and he left notes for us to do various things with the choir while he was gone. I got up in front of (the choir) and started directing. I felt like I was part of the creation of this amazing sound and I was able to be artistic with it. It was the most powerful thing I had ever felt and I knew right then I would direct choirs.
Do you have a teacher who inspired you? Dan Dauner, who I believe is still a church choir director in the Evanston area. He had graduated from Lawrence University and was teaching choir at my high school when I was a senior. He helped me focus on what it would take to succeed at college. I had dinner with him about 10 years ago and thanked him and told him how he inspired me to do what I do now.
Any advice for a new teacher? Be prepared and then be prepared to divert from your preparation.
Do you ever do anything crazy, such as a joke when conducting? I think if you ask my students, they would say that I do something silly or crazy most every day of the week. Seriously, it is pretty rare that I am serious for any long period of time.
Do you get nervous before a performance? I am nervous only when I am not prepared. When students ask me how to get rid of their nerves, I tell them to prepare more than they think they need to.
You have traveled abroad with Neuqua choir students 17 times. Do you have a favorite destination? I always say my favorite was the last place we traveled to, which kind of makes sense. But maybe Kitzbuhel, Austria, which we went to at the infancy of my touring back in 1985. I have a real affinity for that place.
What type of music do you listen to when you’re not working? I listen to talk radio, it kind of cleanses my palate a little.
Three words that best describe you: passionate, enthusiastic and goofy
What would people be surprised to learn about you? I was in a rock band for five years and also that I lettered in high school in football. I am the choir guy who knows how to play football.
Jane Donahue is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
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