Remixing the Algorithm: TikTok for Choirs

ChorTeach is ACDA’s quarterly online publication, designed for those who work with singers of all levels but specifically K-12 and community choirs. A full annotated ChorTeach index is available online at acda.org/publications/chorteach. Over 160 articles are organized into seventeen categories. For more information, email  or visit acda.org/chorteach. Following is an excerpt from an article in the Summer 2023 issue titled “Remixing the Algorithm: TikTok for Choirs” by Colleen McNickle.
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When you think of the social media application TikTok, it is likely your mind goes to the dance trends we see our students trying in our choir rooms during lunch time—or silly dog videos, cooking videos, makeup tutorials, or any number of similar short videos. This is certainly how I had classified TikTok in my mind, and this is why I stayed off the app for the longest time. However, in the summer of 2021, friends and family started sending me almost daily TikTok videos to watch, forcing me to download the app in order to keep up with their references and feedback requests. At this point, I came to find that while there were quite a few silly cat videos and dancing trends, my friends and family were sending me far more videos of choir rehearsals, voice lessons, student performances, and choir performances. This was how I discovered #choirtiktok.

What is Choir TikTok?
TikTok, the short-form video-sharing app that draws the attention of hundreds of millions of users (including many of our choir members and audiences), allows users to create and share short videos on any topic. Choir TikTok is the collection of videos for and by the community of choir TikTok-ers. It includes videos from a variety of elementary and secondary music teachers, and professional and amateur musicians and choirs. Additionally, it showcases student and teacher rehearsals and performances, teaching tips, recruitment videos, and trends.

Search “choir” in the app, and your screen will be populated with dozens of elementary, middle, high school, college & university, community, and professional choirs. You might also come across small vocal ensembles, composers, choir singers, voice therapists, voice teachers, and producers and performers of all kinds. Broaden your search to “music teachers,” and you will find band and orchestra teachers, K-12 teachers, piano teachers, music therapists, theater companies, music historians, music theorists, sound engineers, and more.

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*Visit acda.org/chorteach for the full article. Choose the Summer 2023 issue.