In the beginning of each year I select a team of leaders from within the choir to serve as section leaders. These roles are filled with people of varying skill sets who promote and model strong musicianship, vocal technique, and community-building skills. Leaders in my Chorale are encouraged to reach out to the members of the choir who may not have a connection to anyone as they may be a new member.
We have instigated an “Adopt a Singer” campaign in our Chorale to create a way for inclusiveness to be a part of the choral experience. As a conductor I believe that we foster community through giving our singers the opportunity to not only make music together, but to also have time to share experiences that foster relationship within the ensemble. I have witnessed many of my colleagues do versions of this mentor campaign. Some create pairings within sections to build a team within the team (my alto two’s have a pose that they use for all pictures), others adopt someone from another choir in schools where there are numerous choirs. You can create a series of boxes for singers to leave notes for one another from one choir to another.
Dr. Eph Ehly, one of my mentors, would randomly select a day when we had a slip of paper on our chair and we were directed to write a positive or uplifting note to someone else in the choir, usually directed to the person beside us or behind us (you can be creative about how to design this). The slip of paper would simply say: [blank for a name], I appreciate that you bring [blank – leave this as a space for a phrase] to our community/rehearsal. You can print these out and have them ready to go on a day when morale is high, or when it needs a boost. I still remember how that made me feel, and it has been twenty years since the experience. It can be as simple as saying “you bring a smile” or as detailed as “you have the clearest consonants”!
There are many ways to build community and many of you have wonderful ideas on how to do just that! If you have an idea that has really worked for you leave a reply here and let’s build a place to share creative team-building ideas.
Pamela Goody says