iosThe larger our ensembles or more active our seasons, the more we find ourselves needing to get messages out to our groups quickly. Whether it’s a rehearsal indication or performance note, or an adjustment to meeting times and places, the ability to easily mass communicate to your ensembles helps you manage your groups effectively. How do you do this beyond copying-and-pasting several dozen e-mail addresses, or forwarding old group e-mails just to salvage the addresses? Depending on whether you want to use e-mails or text messaging, there are a handful of tools which can help you quickly disseminate your message and get back to the music.
The School Giveth, The School Taketh Away
Those conductors working in school settings (K-12 or Higher Ed) may have an advantage in this capacity: if your school has a Learning Management System/Course Managment System (such as Blackboard, Canvas, Edmodo or Schoology), you may have group messaging built-in. Similarly, if your school gives all students e-mail addresses, you may have groups set up in your e-mail which make it easier to manage. On the flipside, K-12 schools often have policies regarding appropriate and inappropriate digital contact, including whether or not you can use text messaging with students. Especially with young students, e-mail may not be particularly prompt the way it is for adults– in my experience, middle school students may not check their e-mails for days at a time unless they’re in the habit. Be sure to check with your organization for any relevant policies here, as well as your students if you’re concerned about how effective digital communication strategies will be.
The staple of the modern communication, e-mail is still our default for communicating with groups. Many of us have a love/hate relationship with our e-mail, particularly when it comes to group communications, as it often breaks down when multiple people try and carry on a conversation. Furthermore, it’s really easy to have e-mails slip through the cracks amongst the amount of spam and mailing lists many of us end up receiving. For one-shot communications, or for having a system that you’re pretty sure most people have access to, e-mail can help you push info out to your musicians. Make it a little easier to manage for you with two steps:
- Set up a group in your address book for each ensemble. If you do a lot of subgroup communications (to individual sections, for example), set up those as well. It’s time-consuming to do once, but setting up groups makes it easier to send the mass mails out, and leads directly to…
- Create a folder and rules in your inbox for each group. I you sent an e-mail to 80 musicians expecting any response, your inbox is about to become a monster for the next couple of days. Set up a folder for each group, and configure a rule so that any message coming from a member of that group bypasses your inbox and goes straight to that folder. The folder will still show you that you have unread messages, so you’ll notice that you have reading to do, but other messages in your inbox won’t get drowned out. The procedures for doing this vary by e-mail service or program (Gmail, for example, calls groups “circles” now in keeping with Google+).
Discussion Boards/Groups
If you have frequent communications, communications which lead to group conversations, or send out files for people to access, there are better tools than e-mail. Use of discussion boards or groups lets people sees threaded conversations to keep track of a conversation unfolding over time (think the forums at ChoralNet as an example), and can prevent files from either getting deleted when they are needed down the road or having to clog up/live in someone’s inbox. Most discussion groups or boards also send notes to people through e-mail (there we are again!) when there’s activity, so you don’t have to worry as much about whether or not your message is being seen. Google Groups is a useful place to start with discussion boards, particularly as many people already have Google Accounts which they can use with these.
Text Messaging/Messaging Apps
On the other hand, if all you need a service for is to send out quick updates, announcements or notices, your communication may better fit text messaging. There are some considerations when using text messaging– don’t assume, for example, that all your members have unlimited text messages. People may be paying (albeit a couple of pennies a piece) for each of those updates, and especially in cases where the singer isn’t the one paying the bill (such as students), that may be a point of contention. If you want to use text messaging, though, you have some options available. One particularly intriguing concept for Apple users is sending text messages from your iPad or Mac through your iPhone using Apple’s new Continuity system. You may have seen the commercials advertising the ability to make calls from an iPad or Mac through your iPhone– the concept applies to messaging as well.
Remind is a service which allows teachers to text message students and parents easily. This has an added benefit that keeps the phone numbers hidden and private, which often satisfies school or parent concerns about safe communication (and keeps teacher numbers protected as well). GroupMe is an app which creates groups that can either use text messages or GroupMe’s own apps to have group chats or communications. WhatsApp is one of the largest specialized communication apps in the world. Each of these are great ways to have efficient targeted communication, but they require all your members to set up accounts or download apps (although you can send GroupMe directly to a text message eliminating that need if you choose). Balance the number and type of communications you send with the time required to get everyone set up.
One Size Fits…?
More important than what tool you use is the thought process of choosing a communcation strategy which fits your needs. While e-mail works for the occasional blast, some tweaks to your setup might make it more manageable on your end. For those of use who communicate with our groups often or share materials on a regular basis, e-mail is a crude tool, and other strategies make communication more efficient. Do you have a communication strategy or tips on how you manage communicating with your groups? Share below!
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