If you are looking for a fresh way to begin your choral year this fall, consider a choir retreat. It will give you an opportunity to know your students well in a short time. You’ll have the opportunity to plan your choral year with student input. You’ll establish a style of communication necessary for group goal-setting and objective-planning. Completion of goal-setting, objectives, communication, and knowing your students, will add valuable rehearsal time to your schedule.
A retreat which has worked successfully in the annual John F. Kennedy High School Concert Choir Retreat, which is held the second weekend of each school year. There are several reasons for wanting students to participate in such an event. Many of the Kennedy students come from four junior highs and four underclass choirs before their membership in concert choir. Therefore, the students need to know and meet each other to facilitate those awkwardmoments which occur when students don’t know each other. Participation in this retreat gives each student the opportunity to share his ideas, opinions, and establishes him as an importantindividual with peer importance.
This retreat also gives each student a voice in decision making concerning the choir’s goals for the current year. With this input, peer control becomes obvious. Students have agreed on priorities, and will see that other students will contribute to the mutually selected goals. This makes a director’s job much easier.
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