His final Chorale concerts are May 3 in Greenville and May 4 in Sharon
Ed Groves and his 100-voice Shenango Valley Chorale will perform Saturday at St. Michael Church in Greenville and Sunday at First United Methodist Church in Sharon.
SHARPSVILLE, PA.
Those who sang for him will understand the aforementioned quote often used by Groves to praise a performance and simultaneously raise the bar for the next one.
Groves will direct his final Shenango Valley Chorale concerts Saturday and Sunday.
Accompanied by orchestra, the 100-voice chorale will perform a variety of works by American composers, including a patriotic section, at 8 p.m. Saturday at St. Michael Church, 85 N. High St., Greenville, Pa.; and at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at First United Methodist Church, 237 West Silver St., Sharon, Pa. Tickets are available at the door.
Much of his long and successful career was spent at Hickory High School in Hermitage, Pa., where he taught for 30 years. At times he taught more than 400 students a day because his singing groups were so large.
Over the years he taught every grade level, and at times, after teaching a 100-member high school singing group, he would hustle to the elementary school to teach kindergarten.
“It was a huge part of his life,” said his wife, Merry Ann “Jig” Groves.
He also was a visiting lecturer and adjunct instructor at several area colleges and universities.
Ed Groves, who was planning to become an engineer “or something useful like that,” said his life changed when, as a senior at Leechburg (Pa.) High School in 1953, he attended a district chorus event led by Charlie Davis of the University of Indiana, Pa.
“He took us to another level of living, with music and his personality,” Groves said of Davis. “I came home wanting to be a music teacher.”
Groves was introduced to music early in life at home, church and school.
“I remember my grandfather singing loudly in church, my mother and sister playing piano, elementary music classes, and high school performing groups and my high school director,” Groves said.
In high school, he played in the band and orchestra, sang in mixed chorus and boys chorus and qualified for state chorus, which he said he did not attend.
He was an Eagle Scout, and he was senior class president and played basketball at Leechburg High School. He served in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1959 to 1965.
While Groves has conducted numerous musical groups — high school, college and community-based such as the Shenango Valley Chorale — he thinks of himself primarily as an educator.
“I’m not a choral conductor; I’m a teacher who happens to direct a chorale,” he said.
When asked about his fondest music education moments, Groves said he couldn’t narrow it down because there have been so many.
But, he said, “the things that stick in my mind usually are rehearsals, not performances.”
Like Charlie Davis, Groves inspired many of his hundreds of students over the years to become music educators, including his daughter, Heather Groves- Edwards, who is a high school choral director in Slippery Rock, Pa.
He said some 21 of his students have become vocal and instrumental music teachers at the elementary, high school and college levels.
“He enjoys teaching — that’s his gift. He knows how to motivate people,” his wife said.
Groves said his wife has had a huge influence on his life.
“If our marriage was spaghetti sauce, she would be the oregano. She spices it. She pushes me,” he said, looking at her with a smile.
Another of Groves’ mentors was his father, W. Edgar Groves, who instilled in him a good work ethic.
The elder Groves operated a service station at which the younger Groves worked, starting as a boy and off and on until he graduated from Indiana State Teachers College (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in music education.
But, his wife said, Groves also taught himself by paying attention to other directors — looking, listening and taking notes.
One of Groves’ longtime friends, Raymond Ocock, formerly of New Wilmington, Pa., described Groves as a “superb and thoughtful musician, a natural musical conductor, always knowing the music and the subtleties involved and thoroughly projecting them to the choir and audience.”
“I have known Ed from the early 1960s. It was a joy to sing with him and to be his accompanist. He will be long remembered in the Shenango Valley for his exceedingly fine work with choirs, schools, instrumentalists, singers and the general public,” said Ocock, former teacher at Westminster College and Thiel College, and choir director and organist at First Presbyterian Church in Sharon, Pa., now of Topsfield, Mass., near Boston.
As to the future, Groves said he will continue teaching at Westminster.
Also, he said there is a woodworking shop in his basement where he plans to “create some sawdust,” and he wants to get in shape so he can do more hiking with Merry Ann, who has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. “Also, I want to be able to travel together more with Jig,” he said.
He said he loves directing the Shenango Valley Chorale.
“When I was hired by the chorale, it was like a gift from the gods of music. It energized my musical attributes, involved my heart and brain, and permitted me to interact with many wonderful people,” Groves said.
“Other than my family, chorale has been the most important thing in my life. It’s not a job, but more like a hobby I’m really, really committed to. I am going to miss it terribly, but it is time to go.”