New Canaan Advertiser
Former student recalls a life’s journey given its start by Arthur Sjogren

May 27, 2008

If you rode the bus to school as I did during my freshman and sophomore years at New Canaan High School, you had to walk through the entire building to get to the Music Department in the arts wing. By the time I was a junior, driving myself to school in a trashed Honda Civic hatchback, I had learned to park in the side parking lot so that I could walk up the stairs and see Arthur Sjogren first thing in the morning.

“Hi, Sjogie,” I’d say, and he’d stop rearranging music stands or filing music for a moment and greet me with his knowing smile and an inevitably funny remark.
I loved many of my teachers and liked my other classes, but I lived for “G” period when I could join my friends in the choir room and sing under Sjogie’s stern but affectionate guidance. I spent most of my high school years in that wing of the building: I was there for concert choir, for private voice lessons, for madrigal rehearsals and for the “play practices” that claimed my after-school hours throughout my four years at NCHS.

Arthur Sjogren was my cornerstone during my high school years. He was strict with his young singers because he knew we were capable of excellence. He refused to insult our potential by assigning us less sophisticated repertoire than the classical pieces he cherished and wanted us to master, hormone-addled and inattentive teens though we often were. He was a completely devoted teacher: Not in the job to be loved, but to infect us with his appreciation for the discipline of choral singing. The end result of his dedication and high expectations was that we did love him, of course. We sought his approval and vied for the special privilege of being granted a solo part by him. We wanted him to be proud of us and felt a serious collective guilt when a piece or an entire concert did not go well. Sjogie rarely admonished, but he didn’t have to: He instilled high standards in his singers, leaving us to strive to attain excellence out of respect for the performing arts. When most of the community believed that sports were the best or only extracurricular option for the development of team spirit, healthy bodies and fine character, Arthur Sjogren tirelessly advocated for the value of the fine arts, and our lives were all the richer for it.

He was not only a teacher, but also a friend. How well I remember the April afternoon in 1983 when I walked into NCHS full of self-conscious dread. My father, Carl D. Weinstein (then volunteer Police Commissioner of New Canaan), had died suddenly the day before of a heart attack. I had the lead in the spring musical, “Bells Are Ringing,” and although I was excused from school, I felt that I should appear for dress rehearsal in the spirit of “the show must go on.” My father’s funeral was scheduled for the coming Friday, which was also opening night of the show.

I was only 17 and did not yet understand that while my peers grieved with me, they were not always able to express that in a mature way. So I was hurt but not surprised when I walked up the stairs feeling an emotional pariah, “The Girl Who Was Touched by Tragedy,” and some students saw me and darted away, whispering nervously. I ducked inside the choir room to collect myself before facing the entire cast and was relieved to see Mr. Sjogren in the room having a conversation with a student, whose eyes widened in fear when she saw me. As I stood hesitantly in the doorway, Sjogie put up his palm as if to say, “I’ll be with you in a minute.” It was a characteristic gesture for a sought-after teacher who was good at deflecting interruptions, and it made me feel immediately normal and more whole. If my no-nonsense Mr. Sjogren had dropped what he was doing to run to console me, my façade would have shattered. I sidled near to wait for him, and as he finished his business with the other student, he put a reassuring and steadying arm around my shoulder. The student stammered out words of condolence and seeing that I could not respond, Sjogie responded for me: “She’ll be fine,” he said, and as I stood within the circle of his arm, I felt that perhaps I would be. He was there for me on that day and he was the most supportive adult in my life for the difficult year and a half that followed.

I did not go on to become a vocal performance major as Mr. Sjogren hoped I would, but I did become a high school teacher who brought his combination of high expectation, discipline and love to my own classroom. I have never stopped singing, never forgotten the techniques he taught me, and never abandoned the idea, instilled in me by Arthur Sjogren, that singing together creates an especially intimate and accountable kind of community. He taught me to blend my voice with others, to breathe with my whole self and to attend to the breathing of those next to me, and to be able to put myself under the guidance of a trustworthy and able director. Those are life lessons that go far beyond the choir room; they have greatly influenced my work as the spiritual leader of a religious community.

Every Sunday as I stand before my congregation and encourage them to sing hymns with vibrant spirit as well as confident voice, I hope I am honoring the legacy of Arthur Sjogren. I wish him a wonderful retirement full of music-making and exciting travels, and good health for many long years to enjoy it in.

Mr. Sjogren, I know that I speak for the hundreds of students who have benefited from your mentoring over the past decades when I say that no one deserves a beautiful retirement more than you do, and no one will be harder to replace.

The Rev. Victoria Weinstein lived on Myanos Road from first through 12th grades and attended West Elementary School, Saxe Junior High and New Canaan High School, graduating in 1984 with honors in Best Vocal Performance, Excellence in Musical Theatre Performance, and Citizenship. She appeared in the New Canaan Summer Theatre productions from 1979 to 1985, and also performed with the Town Players of New Canaan and the Barnum Players. She received her bachelor of arts degree in English literature from Northwestern University and subsequently taught high school English and drama in Chicago and St. Paul, Minn.

She received her master of divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1997. She is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, serving congregations for 11 years, for the past six years as parish minister at First Parish Unitarian Church in Norwell, Mass. She is a candidate for the doctor of ministry degree at Andover-Newton Theological School, where she also serves as adjunct faculty for worship and liturgy.

The Rev. Weinstein still appears in community theatre productions and sings alto with the American sacred roots ensemble, Sweet the Sound.

Shirley Weinstein Mole lives in Sag Harbor, N.Y. Karen Weinstein is an elementary school art teacher in Stamford, and Chip Weinstein is an advertising executive in Philadelphia, Pa.


© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers