SCHENECTADY — Diane Warner told her husband if he wants her to retire to Florida, he’ll have to find her a chorus.

For the past 25 years, this music teacher has devoted her free time to the Capital District Youth Chorale. And she said hearing the voices of her 133 children, ages 9 to 17, is too beautiful to relinquish.

“I was ill with a stomach virus and went to rehearsal,” said Warner in her office at Shenedehowa High School. “Hearing their voices, I felt better. I told the kids, they are better than Tylenol. When they sing, it is so beautiful.”

Their healing ring tones can be heard this afternoon at Union College’s Nott Memorial. There, the various ensembles of the CDYC will sing a silver anniversary concert that will include a commissioned work by Florida Central University composer David L. Brunner.

His “Lake Isle of Innisfree,” based on a William Butler Yeats poem, will be showcased along with choral music by Handel, Bach (in German) and Mozart (in Latin). The young people will show off some of their other talents, too. A young pianist will play Chopin, another chorale member will sing a song from “Porgy and Bess,” and others have selected some Broadway tunes.

Warner relishes sharing her love of music, which was bred at her family home in Pennsylvania. Her father was the “town tenor” and her aunt a church organist.

Career path

At age 7, she started piano lessons. In parochial school, she sang Latin Masses. In high school, she played organ at her church, too. By the time she went to college, at Immaculata University, she studied piano and voice with the intention of becoming a teacher. She was unsure of her career path until she student-taught.

With her husband, John, attending Albany Law School, Warner started her teaching career in music at Scotia-Glenville Elementary School and then she spent a dozen years at Schenectady High School.

She moved over to Shenendehowa High School in 1999, where, for eight years, she ran the district’s music department, expanding it to its current status, adding guitar in the middle school, an advanced placement music theory course in the high school and enlarging the orchestras throughout the campus.

She retired as department head when the school rules changed, forbidding administrators to teach. She is now happy to lead the high school chorus part time and says she has no intentions of retiring.

Q: Why did you start the chorale?

A: That’s an interesting story. I was looking into doctoral programs, and I was accepted into the University of Miami. My daughter was 5. I felt if I had a grandmother who could watch her, I could do it. But since we didn’t have a grandmother, the mother part of me wouldn’t let me do it.

I was teaching in Scotia at the time. I was upset that so many of the strong singers would stop singing once they left sixth grade. So I wanted to start something where they could continue to sing. I started with grades 3 to 8. The 8-year-olds wouldn’t leave their shoes on their feet. So I made the youngest age 9. Then the girls didn’t want to leave at 14. So we extended the oldest age to 17. And then when the boys voices changed, they cried because they didn’t want to leave. So we had to have a group for them. We have several choruses. It’s morphed over the years. So, I say, I did this rather than get a doctorate.

Q: What is the difference between working with young voices and adult singers?

A: You have to watch where the repertoire lies. If it is pitched low, they never develop the high tones. Once you get the middle-school boys, you have to be careful because they are changing. You have to periodically check them. When they begin the change, they don’t have the power. Every year, it’s different.

Q: How do the students join the chorale?

A: We send a letter to all of the schools with audition dates and ask teachers to share with the students who are eligible. Then the students audition. It’s a basic audition. They sing ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘America’ a cappella to see if they can sing in one key. Then they sing ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’ against the piano. We check their range, easy sight-reading and sing-backs to see how their tonal memory works. Sometimes, we play chords to see if they can sing the highest note in the chord or the middle note to see how the ear works. If those things are in place, we can teach them the rest.

Q: How do you select the repertoire?

A: I select music that is interesting and challenging for the students. We like to do poetry. We are doing a Walt Whitman text, “A Child Said,” pieces with inspirational text. We try to do different styles, variety of time periods, languages and text that is worthy.

Q: Why did you select David Brunner’s piece for the chorale?

A: When I took them to sing in a choral festival at Riverside Church in New York City, he was one of the three people we worked with. I like how he interacted with the students. It’s been a really positive experience.

We’ve done several pieces in the past. One of them has a Portuguese text. It’s very rhythmic. No matter what age, they like it because it’s exciting. He writes beautiful lyrical lines. The piece we are doing, because of the nature of the poetry, it’s very lyrical.

Q: What keeps you going?

A: I have a lot of help. I have a board and a parent coordinator. We have someone look after the uniforms, someone who does the publicity. The group has stayed alive because the children are so talented and the parents are so dedicated.