Retiring choral director challenged students to think

Soon after Naperville North's production of "Pirates of Penzance," Director Jim Yarbrough will be walking the plank.

Voluntarily, of course.

The choral director is retiring after 23 years at the school and 33 years of teaching overall. His students say his concern for them and his sense of humor will be missed.

"Probably one of the best experiences of high school is doing the musical with Mr. Yarbrough because he gave you the opportunity to do anything even if you were just in the ensemble," senior Dan Brennan said.

He learned a variety of lessons from Yarbrough, including how to act while singing and the importance of enunciating consonants.

Senior Joanna Brodecki said Yarbrough encourages students to think for themselves and makes choir fun.

"He's like a friend," Brodecki said. "He's a director but also we can joke around with him and poke fun at him, he can poke fun at us."

Students had an additional level of respect for Yarbrough because of the teacher's own professional background. Yarbrough sang with the Chicago Symphony Chorus for 19 years and is part of five Grammy-winning recordings.

"He always has gone the extra mile and he has so many connections he'll just set you up with different things you can do," senior Claire Morley said.

Yarbrough said he feels somewhat indifferent about retiring. He could easily stay another 10 years but on the other hand, there are other opportunities he would like to explore.

"It's just time for me to do something different," he said. "Most importantly it's time for somebody else maybe with different ideas to come in and drive this program."

Yarbrough plans to spend two weeks in Italy next spring with his college roommate, who is an opera singer there. He also would like to referee basketball games, volunteer at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and do research at Lincoln Cathedral in England. He is also considering working toward an administrative certificate.

Yarbrough said he has worked with great students and staff at North, but he doesn't have a favorite production because "every show is special." He has enjoyed watching students grow from their experiences.

"I hopefully opened the doorway for them into something different, into a different world," Yarbrough said. "I try to encourage them to think there are different ways of attacking different problems from different directions. We just happen to do it with music."