High School Choir Teacher Wins Top Grammy Music Educator Award

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — Tesoro High School's Keith Hancock -- or "Mr. H." as his students call him -- was selected as the Grammy Music Educator of the Year for 2017 it was announced on Wednesday.

CBS This Morning shared the news at just after 8 a.m.

"Through choir he brings life into context," Michelle Miller said of the teacher who has been at the helm of the Tesoro High School choir since 2002.

Tesoro High School choir has performed around the world, and won multiple awards. Now, Hancock joins the rare few recipients of the Grammy Music Educator Award.

"Chosen from more than 3300 nominees, Hancock is the creative force behind the Tesoro High School choir," Miller said. "He has translated songs sung in 26 different languages so that his students understand what is behind the music."

"We take the text, and I find a way for students to connect the music to their own lives," he said.

He discovered choir as a teen.

"This profession called me, it was something I had to do," he told Miller in the CBS interview.

With 225 students in five curricular choirs and four extra-curricular ensembles, he also teaches a commercial music class where students learn audio and MIDI recording techniques. Real world applications for the music that he loves. But it is Hancock's life lessons, beyond just choir, that his students remember.

"Hancock's Laws" a list of life's lessons he shares with his students include living your life with passion, and don't put anything on your credit card you can't pay off in a month.

Both Hancock and his school will receive $10,000. Later this year, he will be seated with some of the world's most famous music's stars on their biggest night: the Grammy Awards, 2017.

"I went into teaching thinking it was all about the music, but it is just an avenue to teach them how to live the rest of their lives," Hancock said.

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