Advertise on ChoralNet
Top 10 Myths of Choral SingingDate: March 15, 2010
Good morning colleagues:
As part of my recruiting drive for my church choirs, I'm compiling a "Top 10" list of things people say to rationalize not participating in choir. I made it as far as four and got stuck (you'd think coming up with 10 would be easy!). I think I'd like to open the topic to the ChoralNet community. Have you ever done anything like this? I'd like to know what you've done in the hopes that I can incorporate it into my own plans. Many thanks for your replies.
Cheers,
Dan McGarvey
Replies (12): Threaded | Chronological
Janice Roger on March 15, 2010 12:07pm
Daniel -
Would love to know what your four are.
Here are a few I would use:
1. Rehearsals are the same night I play (golf, tennis, bridge . . . .)
2. I haven't sung in a long time
3. I don't read music
4. I don't want to give up a night every week.
5. I'm already overcommitted.
6. I can't sit that long because of a back/knee/neck problem
7. I'm too tired at the end of the day.
8. I'm a solo singer and don't want to alter my technique
Hope this is helpful - I'll look forward to what others say.
Janice Roger
on March 15, 2010 1:21pm
Some real examples:
Other singers criticize my singing and as a result I don't feel confident.
Lack of discipline in the rehearsals.
No support for building people up into short solo work.
No appreciation for my efforts.
Don't feel camaraderie with choir members (though they clearly feel it with each other).
Another one (not mine, but I've heard it from several people):
Rehearsals move too fast, requiring too much music-reading ability.
__Sharon Pedersen
on March 15, 2010 1:56pm
Hey Dan
What are your top four so as not to double up?
on March 16, 2010 8:30am
My four were these:
I don\'t have the time to sing in the choir every week.
I\'m not as talented as the people in the choir.
I don\'t know anyone in the choir.
I don\'t like all of the music you sing; I wish you\\\\\\\'d do something I liked.
The others I\'ve gotten here are very helpful and I\'ve started using some of them. Thank you!
Cheers,
Dan
on March 16, 2010 9:35am
Your got me riffing on this yesterday and then ChoralNet crashed so I will have to reconstruct. All of these have been used on me. Really.
The choir room is too hot/too cold
I don\'t drive in the dark
I don\'t drive at dusk
The music you sing is not my taste--it\'s too hard/easy/classical/comtemporary/old fashioned/praise team-ish
I liked the man director better than you (from a woman)
I\'m retired and don\'t want to be tied down
My job is demanding and I don\'t want to be tied down
My kids are young and need me
My kids are out of the house and I like my freedom
It\'s too cold to be out at night
The weather\'s too nice and the only time I can get in a few rounds/sets of golf/tennis
I don\'t sing well early in the morning
I like to sleep in on Sunday mornings---could we sing later?
You have plenty of sopranos/altos/tenors/bassess--you don\'t need another one
I don\'t like the people---I\'ll sing if they quit (I am not kidding you--this person wanted me to get rid of the rest of the choir!)
I\'ll join if you give me a solo every week (from a woman who did not have solo voice)
I\'d be the youngest/oldest person in the choir
I like my freedom around the holidays
I don\'t read music
I read music and the choir would hold me back
Do we have to rehearse EVERY week?
You get the idea. I think this is a great recruiting idea, Dan. These sound so silly when written down but when said with a straight face, these folks are serious. It was a wonder I ever had a good church choir, but I did. The trick is to appeal to folks who want to sing. Period. All the excuses are just ways of "saving face" IMHO, so they don\'t have to committ. Good luck and use as many of mine as you want.
Marie
on March 17, 2010 1:30pm
Why do you think these reasons are silly? What would you take as a non-silly reason from someone? By definition, people turning you down don't want to commit to singing in the choir, and they must have reasons for it. As an example, I'm looking for a second choir to join right now, because I've just joined one and I love it so much that I want even more time singing. One possible choir is the choir about which I have the reasons I gave in my post earlier. If they could convince me that those conditions that drove me nuts before no longer pertain, then I'd happily rejoin. Otherwise, no, I'm looking elsewhere. Point is, I don't experience my reasons as excuses, I experience them as reasons.
on March 18, 2010 10:01am
Sharon,
I think it is important to realize in a church choir it is not just about the singing. It is a huge committment, one of the reasons I'm sure Dan posted his query. How do we encourage the better singers in our congregations to give up a large portion of their time? The adult choirs of most churches in my area sing about 9 months out of the year. I had a core group of about 10-12 people I could count on for most of the 9 months, and often to do solos during the summer when the choir wasn't scheduled. I had another group of "snow birds" (we're in the Midwest) that sang with us until just before Advent and then, just before Easter. I had another group who would join us for larger works--the cantatas or our Banner Sunday right before Reformation Sunday. I'm sure others have similar situtions. The dilemma is (for Dan, and really for most of us) how do we enlarge our core group so we don't have to always depend on just a few? It would actually work to the core group's advantage, since they could go to Parents Weekend at their kid's college instead of worrying if the choir has enough altos!
I do think many of the reasons I gave are silly--and which, I might add have been used on me in a church music career that has spanned about 30+ years--because they don't want to sing and need a reason, any reason, when I approached them. I was always amazed that someone could tell me, with a straight face, they didn't want to sing in the choir because of the temperature of the choir room , especially since we never rehearsed in the choir room (it was in the basement and damp and....)but it the sanctuary!
During the last few days, there has been an item in the news about reasons people gave to their bosses about why they were late to work. Most gave reasons, of course, involving traffic. Some were quite, um, creative. One of my favorites was "my deorderant was frozen on the window sill and I had to wait until it defrosted to get ready." Sounds pretty silly to me and yet, that was a real reason someone gave to their boss.
I do agree many choirs---especially those who have been singing together LITERALLY forever--have a certain "clique-ishness". My job was to make the choir environment welcoming to all. My church choirs had a social time scheduled in to rehearsal times. We tried for once a month, at the end of rehearsal--with food. At one of my churches, I held a pot luck/rehearsal the day before Palm Sunday so we could bond before we had to sing seven services in seven days. That was one of my better ideas because we knew we had to hunker down for "Heck Week" and eating together really helped us come together.
My advice to you is to let the director know why you are not eager to sing with them. He/She may not be aware how the group comes across to singers. All the reasons you gave may not be able to corrected but some may be.
I couldn't do anything about the time of the Sunday Worship Service and if that's the time the choir sang, I guess that's as good a reason as any for not joining the choir.
Marie
on March 16, 2010 10:44am
We actually started something in our chorus where we have some of our officers and other committee members stand, introduce themselves, and give some of the reasons they enjoy singing and/or joining the chorus. It can sometimes be very hard to actually get through a 2 hour evening practice and then learn about many of your fellow singers.
on March 19, 2010 6:46am
I really like this idea, Katie. Although to enlarge the "core group" I think time should be found in a service so tht those hesitant souls may find something to latch on to that drove anther to join the choir. Adults have always had jobs/homes/family/children to contend with when it came to persuing hobbies outside the home. We the choir directors must find ways to make choir just as important so it too may have a place in others' lives.
on March 22, 2010 7:45am
"I only sing solo - so low you can't hear me."
"I only sing tenor - ten or eleven feet into the woods."
Yes, we've all heard them, but these are some of the real reasons given to me by older church members that eventually came to sing for me. I just return it with some other witty joke or anecdote (if I'm lucky enough to come up with one off the cuff).
Jeff
on March 23, 2010 1:21pm
As a middle/high school teacher one of the ones I hear a lot is just plain " I can't sing." My favorite responses to that are-
1." who told you that?" (They usually say "myself.")
2. " That's ok if you can't sing....it's my job to teach you how to do that.
It works. I have a varied mix of kids in my choir including a large percentage of the high school football team.
Jen Raphaelson
 Community tags: CWU Music Education - Choral
|
Help support ChoralNet by buying via these links
|
