New Sound on Campus

Mr. Greg Daigle and Ms. Maeve Lien join Ms. Rosemary Ward to round out the vocal and instrumental instruction. You can read all about their education and employment background in the new faculty news article, but here’s a more personal look at who they are, their thoughts on music, some of their favorite things, and their feelings about joining the Xaverian community:

Mr. Daigle:

Mr. Daigle is a Baritone who plays the guitar, bass, drums, mandolin, banjo, and piano, but says that “conducting a choir is where I feel most at home.” He can’t name his favorite musical because it boils down to “anything and everything,” but says that his favorite song to perform is An Die Musik by Franz Schubert, while his all time favorite piece of music is the fifth movement of Mahler 2. His best acapella experience was opening for Pentatonix at UNH in 2012. In that vein, his favorite beatbox/vocal percussion sound is (drumroll please…..), “PFFFT!”

Mr. Daigle looks forward to helping Xaverian’s “amazing students see the musicality in the world that surrounds them.” He says his first year at Xaverian will be a success if his students are proud of the results of their hard work.

Ms. Lien:

We asked Ms. Lien if she prefers jazz or classical music and her response was, “Both!” “Classical,” she said, “is the foundation of our written music, and jazz is the foundation of improvised music. In this day and age they must work together and be performed by all artists! They in turn are the foundation for rock, pop, R & B, funk, rap, etc., and influence everything we play, hear, and experience musically - actively or passively.” Her favorite composer is John Williams, while her favorite song to perform is Missa Gaia Earth Mass, by Paul Winter. Her favorite pop song is And the Grass Won’t Pay No Mind, by Neil Diamond. Her first love? The saxophone. Although she also plays the flute and clarinet professionally.

Ms. Lien is excited to get back into the classroom, particularly back into all-boys education, because, “Boys are lots of fun to teach, and you learn so much from them as well. Boys show a willingness to take a risk and try anything.”