Amidst all of the new teachers at Cathedral Catholic this year is Campus Ministry Music Director and teacher Mr. Pat Robell.
A graduate from the University of Oregon and the Cornish College of the Arts, Mr. Robell has had music in his life since his first trombone lessons in the sixth grade and piano in Junior High. “As soon as I began to play, I was really intrigued with how you put things together,” he said.
It was this very same interest that caused him to eventually take musical composition courses at the school he was attending at the time.
Although he believes he has a natural talent for the art, Mr. Robell is still determined to improve his skills. He said, “I had to do music because of the desire and the way it makes one feel. I felt as if I did not have a choice.”
It was this very same desire and yearning to be involved with music that helped drive him to success; and before he was even out of high school, he was able to not only perform in a seven piece ensemble at Disney, but also to submit a score to the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy (MD) telethon where he was a finalist after submitting an orchestration for MD theme Save Room for the Children.
As Mr. Robell matured, he went on to be a teacher at a multitude of schools, including O’ Dea High School in the Archdiocese of Seattle, where he was the chair of the music department; Seattle Pacific University, where he taught a digital performer software class that embodied technology in the classroom as well as teaching audio and notation workshops; University of Washington, where he taught classes and workshops similar to those from his courses at Seattle Pacific University; USD, where he taught professors how to use certain music software; and finally, Cathedral Catholic High School.
Mr. Robell has always been very aware of Cathedral, as both his brother and his son attended CCHS, and he believes that Cathedral is “life-giving.” Now that he is teaching here, he’s looking forward to improving the music program here at Cathedral.
The expansion of the music program will hopefully allow the theory of music to be taught through AP music classes on top of having the performance aspect of the arts. “It is like having two things rolled in one,” he said.
As far as classes go, there is much in store for the students of Mr. Robell’s. Not only will participants of his classes be learning how to read music and rhythms, they will also learn how to pay attention to details, and to sing in two- to three-part harmonies. Furthermore, they will also receive an understanding, and eventually implement the use of score analysis. Mr. Robell is even hoping to eventually post videos of the entire school singing, as soon as there is more participation, on the Campus Ministry YouTube channel.
Ultimately, it is Mr. Robell’s goal to pull the community into a greater participation at Masses. He believes that, since spoken responses and sung prayer are one within the same, and that, “the voice is an extension of who we are,” the school will eventually be able to get more people involved in the music during liturgies.
Mr. Robell said, “Music is a vehicle used to release energy through self expression. So when I am involved in music production for a higher purpose, such as bringing God to the community through music, it is a great honor. Really, our main goal is to raise awareness that participation at our liturgies is important.”
