Vocal Artists balance ensemble and solo singing through technique and artistry. Vocal Artists are committed to inclusion, collaboration, and centering the student perspective. Choirs, individual voice lessons and a rigorous music theory curriculum encourage the Vocal Artist to find their own voice.
18 credits required for Endorsement:
- Music Theory I
- Music Theory II
- Comparative Music or
- Music Composition
- Music Electives (4 credits)
- Choirs/Ensembles (8 credits)
Vocal Music Electives Include:
- Intro Ensemble
- Ensemble Explorations
- Modern Ensemble
- PiM Vocal Ensemble
- PiM Treble Voices
- Contemporary Voice and Ensemble
- PiM Singers
- Music and Technology II
- Advanced Placement Music Theory
- Piano
- Songwriting
- Careers
- Arts Internship
- Arts Collaborative
- Senior Capstone
This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.
~Leonard Bernstein
Instructors
Katie McKnight is in her 15th year teaching secondary choral and vocal music. At PiM she directs two choirs, teaches Music Theory, manages NO SHAME, and serves as the music director for all of the arts productions. Before teaching at PiM, Katie was the director of choirs at Jordan High School (MN) and Appleton East High School (WI). Katie received her Bachelor’s of Music degree in Choral/General Music Education with Piano Pedagogy Emphasis from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, WI and her Master of Arts Degree in Music Education from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. During her time in undergraduate studies she participated in choral conducting competitions at the regional and national level. She was the winner of the Wisconsin Choral Director’s Association Undergraduate Conducting Competition in 2010.
McKnight’s graduate research focused on her passion for contemporary a cappella and in 2019 published her thesis, “Contemporary A Cappella in the Secondary Classroom: A Curriculum Manual”. Over the last 15 years, Mrs. McKnight’s experience in contemporary a cappella arranging and directing has led her collegiate and high school a cappella groups to regional and national championships. As a published contemporary a cappella and choral music arranger, she is commissioned regularly for high school and collegiate ensembles and also works as a clinician throughout the midwest. In 2025 she received the Minnesota Music Educator’s Association “Wall of Honor” distinction. She has studied with Dmitri Novgorodsky, Catherine Kautsky, John Gates, Joanne Bozeman, Phillip Swan, Rick Bjella, Paul Nesheim, Stephen Sieck and Angela Kasper.
