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Choral Caffeine: Terrific Teacher Tech Tools

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Communicating non-musical information to choir members can be . . . well . . . let’s be nice and just say it’s a challenge.
 
Of course, the responsibility for following instructions and maintaining schedules rests squarely on the shoulders of the individual choir members.  But ultimately, it is the director who has to deal with the collateral damage caused when Little Jonny forgets to show up for the concert or neglects to have the proper document signed by his parent.
 
Joelle Norris knows this frustration – and she recommends some 21stcentury solutions to an age old problem: How do you get singers to listen to information regarding performance dates, departure times, wardrobe requirements, etc.?  (I wonder if Bach had such problems).  In her article, “Facebook, Email, and Twitter: How Tweet It Is!” (Choral Advocate, Fall 2009), Joelle outlines a variety of ways to use the technology that our students use as easily as they breathe to get various important details through to our lil’ darlin’s.  She discusses a variety of ways to capitalize on social media sites, from basic email, to Facebook & Twitter, and examines designs for websites that spread the information far faster and more efficiently than any hand-out ever could.
 
Try some of Joelle’s ideas, and just maybe Little Jonny will arrive on time.
 
(To access the full article, simply click the highlighted title. For additional articles on a dazzling array of choral topics, visit ChorTeach.)

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Comments

  1. I think the solutions might be to use all of these tools (as most probably do) and that the answer wouldn’t be found in one solution.  I would also add that there is distinction between the email/texting/twitter which has information “pushed” to the end-user and things like facebook and websites in which the end-user “pulls” the information they need.  We like to incorporate the appropriate technology where it is most efficient.  The “pull” concept is beneficial because it can begin to shift the responsibility to the end-user which can often be more efficient for both the informer and the informed.

  4. I agree with ALL the above comments…SO I send a mass text saying something like:  please check your email for an urgent message concerning concert dress (for example).  I get much better results when I text to check email!!  Seems silly to me but, OH WELL…sign of the times.  I also create a Facebook page for my groups and promise NOT to over use it!!  So my church choir (for ex.) has a Facebook page with their picture on it.  I encourage non-choir members to “friend” us as well.  We need ALL methods of communication to get the word out!!  Personally, I am not sure all this technology has simplified anything.  BUT these are the times we live in and mass mailings/phone calls are too expensive/time consuming so now we find ourselves texting/emailing/Facebooking/web paging/AND tweeting just not to leave someone out of the loop.  WHEW!!  Quick, someone invent an APP that sends our one message to ALL of the above mentioned methods with one click.  Whoever does that can retire to a tropical island and sip fruity drinks on the beach for the rest of their lives!!!

  5. texting is for conversation but nothing for being remembered later on….email is still used for something that is full of information and will need to be referred to at a later time

  6. Joelle’s got some great ideas, but we educators seem to be a bit behind the curve.  Young people today simply do not use email.  They Tweet and Facebook all right, but do it not in front of a computer screen if they have a choice.  Young people interact using mobile devices.  Rather than email, a mass texting tool is likely to be much more effective.  There are many to choose from and for those of us too attached to our computers, there is also a method to mass text using email. Right now on my Android phone are several apps with names like Go!Chat, Disco, FriendStream, ChompSMS, StartTalking – all of which allow me to instantly communicate with one or more people simultaneously.  An email goes to a mailbox and sits there until someone gets to a computer and opens up the mailbox.  And truely, many ae reading and responding to email via their mobiles.  Just a suggestion.  Email is old school.  Texting is it.

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