Maggie McClellan is a composer, singer and choral director dedicated to bringing music into children’s lives and using the music of the world to build community. She has taught the joys of music to children of all ages in both school and private settings since 1989, in recent years specializing in music for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. In 1999 she founded the Phinney Neighborhood Community Chorus in Seattle, bringing people together to sing and perform. Since 2004 the chorus has helped to support Ecol Pa Nou, an elementary school in the remote village of Pichon, Haiti. Maggie completed two years of training at the Kodály Pedagogical Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary, and she holds a BA in music composition and an MM in music education.
Artist’s Statement
As a composer, my process isn't very complex. I get inspired and then I do it, whatever it is. I may have a goal, say working with a particular text, or producing something for teachers to use in their classes, but the real impulse that drives me is a very simple thing, like getting into a river with a strong current. You get in and you just go. I'm drawn to that river and I like being in there!
My work is probably most influenced by the following things:
- My desire to connect people: to each other, to their own feelings and to the best of human nature that lives inside each of us.
- Music that made a strong impression on me (to name a few, works of Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Leonard Bernstein, and Rogers and Hammerstein.)
- The desire to express things I feel and to share what I think is meaningful.
There is some wonderful music for children out there, but quite a lot of it tends to be 'cutesy', and lack originality and meaning. It isn't required to stand up to high standards, passed off as "just for kids." It's important to influence children with quality, to pique their curiosity with interesting and emotional music, especially when they are young. I hope to accomplish this with my music.