Posted by Proud Parent, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on May 26, 2007 at 1:05 am

I loved this article and all the great photographs. Mr. Najar is an inspirational teacher who loves what he does. The students respond to him and his teaching methods and create beautiful music together. It's wonderful to read articles in the Weekly that portray a positive image of high school students.

Posted by Choir Student, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on May 26, 2007 at 10:40 am

I am glad that Mr. Najar has finally had a chance to recieve the appreciation that he deserves for all that he has done for paly and play choirs. I am very proud of our choir and all that we have achieved in the past year becuase of his help. Thank You, Mr. Najar.

Posted by Proud Parent, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on May 26, 2007 at 10:42 am

This is really a very nice description of the focus, art, love for music Mr. Najar develops in these students.

The pictures and video are so well done by Marjan Sadoughi (We hope to see many more "articles")

Posted by Theresa Carey, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on May 26, 2007 at 1:36 pm

What a fantastic tribute to a terrific program. It's been a great year to be involved with the choir -- I only wish my daughter had joined sooner than her senior year!

I had a great time chaperoning the choir's trip to the Heritage Festival and Disneyland at the end of March. It was a thrill to hear them perform, and to see them haul home a huge pile of trophies.

Here are a few (admittedly low-quality -- the video, not the performance!) videos of Paly choir performances up on YouTube. I apologize in advance for the clips from the Valentine's concert; somehow the digital camera's audio and video got out of sync after being uploaded to YouTube. They play fine on our home computer.

"La Vie Boheme" from the Valentine's concert: Web Link

Spectrum singers performing "The Lonely Goatherd" at the Valentine's concert: Web Link

The concert choir, featuring the tenor section, singing, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" at the Valentine's concert. Web Link

The combined choirs (80 singers!) sing "Betelehemu" at the end of the Madrigal Dinner, December 2006: Web Link

Part 2 of Betelehemu -- worth listening to for the great ending -- Web Link=.

I have some video of the Spring Concert on the camcorder but haven't converted them to digital files yet. Soon, I hope.

As mentioned earlier on Town Square, I think it would be fantastic if the Weekly started an "Artist of the Week" feature -- akin to the "Athlete of the Week" feature that is a long-running standard in the publication. I've been involved with high school athletics, and see that the artists put as much -- sometimes more -- passion and effort into their singing, dancing, painting, playing, performing as the athletes do.

Posted by Thankful Parent, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on May 28, 2007 at 12:32 pm

It is great that the program at Paly is receiving the credit it is due. My son is now a junior at one of the best voice and performing arts programs in the country (Chapman University) and his enthusiasm was kept alive during his high school years by Michael Najar's passion and commitment to growth. Thanks so much, Michael and good luck in the great years to come!!

Posted by Brita Segerhammar, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Nov 25, 2008 at 8:44 am

I graduaded in 1992 with my class I choose from Palo Alto High school but I was in The choir of 1991. and hoping they will be there saturday at one pm. because I have lose 130 pounds in four in half years. from Brita