From Our Readers

Online Fundraising: Why It’s Growing at a Rapid Pace

October 6, 2018 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

This blog post was contributed by the staff at Edco, one of ACDA’s partners in online fundraising. In it they share information about their product.

Profile of a choir director:

This year I need to scrape together over $20,000 for travel expenses, new music, and uniforms/risers/music folders and I know about half of that is going to come from fundraising that I spearhead. I’m going to have to organize three or four fundraisers this year alone, just like I did last year and like I’m going to do next year. I just get so frustrated dealing with all the paperwork and keeping track of the money… and forget about trying to motivate my choir members to participate! It’s a huge challenge.

Well, I have to figure out how we’re going to raise all that money so… should we sell products? We did that last year, but that only reaches so far. I remember half my choir came to me saying that their out-of-town relatives wanted to help, but couldn’t buy the candy we were selling. Maybe we can host a restaurant night, but on top of everything else I have to do, I don’t have time to organize an event. I wish there was an easier way to fundraise.

Does this sound familiar? We surveyed the entire ACDA membership and learned a lot about choirs’ fundraising efforts and the above describes an average choir director’s experience. Seems overwhelming, right? Well, don’t worry. Edco can help you raise that $20,000.

Edco is an online fundraising platform designed for K12 education and engineered to address the most frustrating parts of fundraising. According to the survey, an overwhelming majority of choir directors are frustrated by dealing with paperwork/money and getting choir members to do their part. Edco addresses these issues by automatically keeping track of everything for you – funds raised, days left in the fundraiser, who donated, when, and which team member each donation was attributed to. We also provide tools (email templates, press release copy, etc.) and guides (Goal Setting: What You Need To Know, Maximize Your Earnings With Online Fundraising, and more) to jumpstart your fundraiser. And just imagine how relieved your choir members will be when they find out that they won’t be selling another product to their friends and family. Instead, all they need to do is spend a couple minutes creating an Edco account and uploading the names and emails of people who would be willing to donate directly to the choir. Fundraising online with Edco means you’re going to be spending less time organizing and running a fundraiser, and raise more money.

The continued use and growth of online fundraising is assured since people have discovered that it is less of a hassle than traditional fundraisers and yields better results. Our survey results indicate that about 20% of current non-users showed interest in online fundraising in the future. Projections show that usage of online fundraising will increase up to 46% – largely driven by the interest shown amongst non-users.

Choirs that don’t use Edco are leaving money on the table by not extending the reach of their campaign. You can set up your own Edco fundraiser in less than five minutes. Don’t be one of those choirs – use Edco.

Fall Tune-up, by Dr. Michael Murphy

September 29, 2018 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

The job of a choral music educator, while rewarding, is a complex one. Sometimes it seems that managing the choral music program has very little to do with music making and more to do with paperwork, parents, and politics. For many, time actually spent practicing the artistry of conducting represents a small percentage comparatively to other issues and deadlines perceived as more pressing.

Conducting with intent, with the goal to look like the music, can be an act of inspiration for your singers. As you renew your commitment to go beyond basic patterns to conducting artistry, note these six issues that get in the way of beautiful conducting and beautiful performances:

High conducting. High conducting encourages high, shallow breathing, and tension at the top of the vocal tract. Lower your arms so that your conducting and your preparation gesture/breath occur in front of the lower abdomen. A lowered gesture reinforces the idea of a supported tone that is connected to the breath.
Beginning a musical selection with more than one beat of preparation. This is what I call “getting ready to get ready”. Train yourself to provide all the necessary information with a single preparation beat. The preparatory beat should show quality of breath and character of the music (tempo, dynamics, articulation, energy, etc.).
Constantly conducting large. Remember, the smallest gesture that is clear and musical is the best gesture. Choirs become accustomed to large conducting and are desensitized to any meaning that it holds. An effective conductor has variety of large and small gestures at their disposal.
Unnecessary, unconscious, and constant subdivision. One of the most important jobs of a choral conductor is to teach and advocate for legato singing. To promote legato singing the gesture should display no “stops” or “bumps”. The legato gesture can be described and practiced with “rounded” beat patterns. Imagery such as pretending your hand as a paintbrush, painting even brush strokes on the wall or imagining that you are conducting underwater helps promote sustain in the legato gesture.
Constantly mouthing the words. Mouthing the words occasionally to remind developmental choirs the shape of vowels can be advantageous. However, constantly mouthing the words hinders the ability of a conductor to evaluate the rehearsal or performance. Mouthing the words can also be confusing to parts of the chorus that the conductor is not mouthing with. Furthermore, when mouthing the words the conductor is asking the singer to focus more on the mouth than the conductor’s hands.
The belief the choir needs you to show them everything. Remember, conducting in performances should remind your singers of musicality already ingrained. The belief that we have to show every cue, cut-off, consonant, vowel shape will make us, the conductor, look the opposite of the music; like a crazy, undisciplined lunatic on the podium. Just as a singer must conceal great skill with great artistry, the conductor should conceal great teaching skills with conducting artistry.

Michael Murphy is director of choral activities and associate professor of music at Stephen F. Austin State University where he conducts choral ensembles, teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in conducting, choral literature, and choral techniques, and administers the masters in choral conducting program.

Professionalism, by William Baker

September 8, 2018 by From Our Readers 1 Comment

On the day I turned 40 years old I was a professional church music director. I held an advanced degree from a state school with an average music department, and I had 23 years of experience. My salary and goodies package approached $100,000 a year.

On the day I turned 50 years old, I held a doctorate from a conservatory, and I had 33 years of experience. The total of my salary and goodies package from the church I served as music director was a $200 gift certificate presented on Christmas Eve.

Was I a professional church musician at age 40 and a non-professional at age 50? My choir at age 50 was markedly better and presented more challenging and diverse repertoire. My preparation for rehearsals was roughly the same, if anything more intense for the church at age 50 because the music was more interesting.

Every fall during the late 1970s, hundreds of singers on average would audition for the 200 places in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus directed by Robert Shaw. Many of those singers were newly minted masters of music from some of America’s finest music schools who, if chosen for Shaw’s chorus, would move to Atlanta upon graduation, wait tables for rent, food, and date money, and sing as a volunteer in the “greatest choral laboratory the world has known.” Amateur musician, professional waiter? Professional musician paying the bills waiting tables?

A couple of conversations this week set this carousel spinning in my head. I know a 9-year-old young man who sings in a very fine boy choir. The boy choir is in residence in a church that enjoys the men and boys choir tradition. He is paid $3 a service to participate in the liturgical choir. My first thought was, “How cool! What a great opportunity for a young man to sing fine church music and pick up some money along the way.” But, as time goes on I am gnawed by other thoughts, “What is the boy learning about art? . . . about God? . . . about service to God and to His creation?”

The other conversation was with a gentleman who was discussing how different communities value choral music. One community was dismissed as not being very supportive of the art: “A city that large and it doesn’t have even one paid-membership chorus?” The clear implication from the gentleman was that the chorus with paid singers is valued at one level, while the chorus of unpaid singers is valued at another.

A long standing Minnesota-based choral organization, unless something has changed, is comprised almost entirely of singers who hold music degrees, and/or are employed as music teachers, church musicians, vocal instructors. They volunteer their talents to the famous choir. So, an amateur chorus filled with professional musicians is a . . . what?

The aforementioned Robert Shaw once said (pardon my wincing), “music, like sex, is too precious to only be performed by professionals.” The great master is known as America’s most ardent advocate for the volunteer chorus, but he is also credited with creating the world’s most famous full-time professional chorus. The Robert Shaw Chorale from 1947 to1967 was an ensemble where singing in the chorus was the full-time-with-benefits employment of the members. A good thing? Absolutely!

Please do not surmise from any of the above discussion, or from the fact that most of my career has been built leading groups of volunteer singers, that I am not an advocate of choral groups with paid members. In fact, the opposite is true. My own organization, The William Baker Choral Foundation, has a design in our long-range-plan for a new ensemble where all singers will be paid.

What I find myself choking on is the idea that one form of choral group is better than another, or that one form of choral experience necessarily produces a better product. I think it is very true that some singers in ensembles of volunteers might bring the attitude: “You can’t impose all of that discipline on me. I am a volunteer!” On the other hand there are paid choral singers who will build no bonds of emotional investment with the singers around them, with the music, or with the audience. It is a gig. Sing your three rehearsals. Hit the dress. Rock the performance. Deposit the check. On to the next.

The other, and more important, issue that I choke on is the idea that a chorus is “professional” if singers are paid, and “community” if they are not.

I believe, rather, that the distinction of a “professional chorus” lies not in how checks are circulated, but in how dedicated the singers are to each other and to the choral sound, how well-trained they are before the audition and how well-led they are following the audition, how ambitious and diverse is the repertoire, and how excellent and consistent is the quality of the concert product. Our Choral Foundation’s Summer Singers choruses in several locations is my idea of a community chorus, dedicated certainly, but community in construction and purpose.

I consider our Festival Singers ensembles, and similar organizations around the country, to be a “professional-level volunteer chorus”–ensembles of both professional and non-professional musicians come together for the purpose of creating a professional experience and product. Oftentimes the sound of these groups is equal or stronger than many ensembles of all-paid singers. In fact, I believe there is a unity and expressiveness that becomes possible only because the singers are not paid. The motivation is the beauty, not the check.

I began with a personal note, and so I will end with one. I believe that the talents and training we all have are gifts freely given by He Who breathed life into our nostrils. We should never, ever, approach our art as an entitlement or our abilities as something we own. Rather, they are treasures entrusted for a time to our care.

Of all the jobs I have known, I despised none like I did the one with the big salary I had when I was about 40. By contrast I have never loved a job like the one I have now: making music at a professional level with dedicated volunteer singers.

May we each be professionals in our disciplines and commitment, but may we never be anything other than amateurs–quite literally, lovers–to our art, our audiences, our composers, and each other.

Conductor, author, and entrepreneur, William Baker is an Atlanta native who has called Kansas City home for over 20 years. Though a church musician for over four decades, Dr. Baker is best known as the founder and director of the semi-professional William Baker Festival Singers. He is also the head of the Choral Foundation (www.ChoralFoundation.org), which has created over a dozen choral ensembles in three states in addition to a broad range of continuing education programs.

Reflections on a Lifetime of Music Making – Peter Tiboris

December 18, 2016 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

I began looking back on my 60-plus years of music study and performance, which began in 1952 when I first took piano lessons from Mrs. Meyer at age 5, and then, two years later, when I became church organist at the St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (my father, a dentist, was the choir director). Why I began this exercise on this subject, I am not sure. What, after all, did I learn over a lifetime of thinking about, studying, preparing, and performing music?

I began writing down these “essentials” of my music world, which began in that Lake Michigan town and continued at the University of Wisconsin and later at the University of Illinois. For the next 10 years, I taught music at a piano studio and at public middle and high school, junior college, and university levels – all of which contributed to my decision in 1983 to move to NYC and create MidAmerica Productions and MidAm International; the move was prompted by my desire to find greater diversity and challenges than I had previously experienced.

Now, after 35 years in New York City and a thousand-plus concerts in NYC and worldwide as a conductor and presenter, I am writing about what I have learned as I have grown and evolved as a musician and conductor. Here are some of my thoughts…

KNOW THYSELF. Attributed to Socrates and inscribed on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece.Why is music important? Why is one a musician? Why did I feel this was the only road I wanted to take in my professional life?
BEFORE YOU CONDUCT, HAVE THE ENTIRE SCORE “IN YOUR EAR.” Know in advance what you are expecting to hear. You cannot rehearse or perform any work unless you “own it” prior to the first gesture.

UNDERSTAND WHAT MAKES FOR A GREAT WORK OF MUSIC.I learned that there are six important and critical aesthetic factors and they are: Unity, Complexity, Intensity, Proportion, Blend, and Balance (all attributed to American aesthetician Monroe Beardsley, 1915-1985). When these notions work together, there is a deep, unforgettable and satisfying feeling. A composer attempts to achieve these in a composition and a conductor attempts to bring these characteristics to light through his artists. This was the most important idea I learned while at the University of Illinois.

CHOOSE MUSIC TO PERFORM THAT IS WORTHY OF YOUR PRECIOUS TIME.

CONDUCT YOUR MUSIC, AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, FROM MEMORY. Doing so will free up your hearing. Looking at a score while you conduct cuts down dramatically on what you are hearing. As the great conductor Herbert von Karajan said, “There is nothing to look at except your performers, so listen with your eyes.”

LEARN THE BASICS OF LATIN, ITALIAN,GERMAN AND FRENCH. The vast majority of the most important western vocal music is in these four languages.

LEAD YOUR MUSIC PERFORMANCES, BUT LET THE COMPOSITION DICTATE YOUR GESTURES.

LEARN TO CONDUCT BY WATCHING AND LISTENING TO OTHER CONDUCTORS. I recommend familiarizing yourself with the Berlin Philharmonic’s digital concerts live, in archives and interviews. This became, for me, an invaluable tutoring source for all repertoire provided by the great orchestra and all their guest conductors going back to the 1930s. I highly recommend viewing, on YouTube, “The Art of Conducting:Great Conductors of the Past.”

DON’T OVER CONDUCT. Let the artists sing. Let them play. Conductors make no sound, but they can make music. Make gestures when you need to guide the interpretation, create the drama, and mold the tender moments.

EVERY TIME ONE CONDUCTS, IT IS AN AUDITION.

KNOW THE “FORM” OF THE WORK YOU ARE CONDUCTING. Form dictates everything and is dictated by the composer. The composer’s intentions are central to understanding and conveying a performance.

Finally, there is no greater collaboration between conductor and ensemble than when the performers WANT to perform for you. When that happens, there is no limit as to what the conductor can ask of his or her performers and magic is possible.

Peter Tiboris is the founder and general director of MidAmerica Productions, Inc. Venice, Italy
http://petertiboris.com/

For Singers: Don’t Relax, Worry

December 10, 2016 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

“If you’re nervous, that means you care and you want to give your best.” – Adriana Lima

Whether you’ve been singing since Beethoven figured out which end of the pen the ink went on or this is your first performance ever, concert night can (will) bring on the nerves. It’s natural; for months, you’ve been singing in a room with your friends feeling safe and secure and now you’re going to be standing up in front of hundreds of people in a great big room where everything is different. Yikes! Here are some of the things that you are CERTAIN are happening, but I promise, none of them are true (the nervous brain has a whole bag of dirty tricks to play):

– Everyone in the audience is looking directly at YOU.
– Every time you miss a note, even a little, everyone in the audience will hear it.
– Your voice has never sounded worse and you KNOW that if you sing loud it will sound like a mule that just got stung by a bee.
– There can’t possibly be enough oxygen in the room for everyone and you’re NOT getting YOUR SHARE.
– Everybody else looks calm and cool and collected and NOBODY ELSE IS NERVOUS and can’t they see what’s going on?
– You look down at your music and it feels like you’ve never sung that song before. Ever.

You’ll also notice that the lights are too bright, the audience looks fuzzy, your knees are a little rubbery, and there’s a really irritating drop of sweat making an agonizingly slow journey down the middle of your back. If you’re a really skittish person, you may feel like running into a dark corner and curling up into a fetal position; if you’re not, you’re still going to be mad at yourself for being such a wuss.

Well congratulations, you are officially a normal human being. I’ve been singing and directing in front of people for over 40 years and still get a minor case of the willies before every performance. Just like you (and everybody else), my hypothalamus tells my adrenal gland to wake up and get busy. The heart rate and respiration bump up a notch (which doesn’t help matters at all, really) and perceptions sharpen. Everything looks and sounds just a little funky (which also doesn’t help matters at all).

So here’s the good news: you were just handed a magic bullet to make this performance epic. Adrenaline makes you into a super-you and if you direct that superness (is that a word?), your nerves become a tool for good things to happen. So how do you do that?

– Narrow your focus on the conductor. She or he is your guide and you’ll feed on each other’s strength (if you don’t think she/he can see that energy in you, think again). Trust her/him to be that guide.
– Return that focus back to yourself from time to time. Find that calm, educated, well-prepared singer inside you and say hello.
– Control your breath. If nerves have cranked it up, turn it back down. You don’t really need all that extra air. Try taking a slow, deep breath and let it out gently. Relax your shoulders and your neck (you didn’t even notice they were clenched, did you?). Do a quick inventory and relax anything else that is unnecessarily tightened up (hint…your okole). (Note: for the non-Hawaiians out there, the okole is the part of your anatomy you sit on…)
– News flash: adrenaline is really fun. Why do you think people go bungee jumping? I launched myself into the air from 250’ up once with that big ol’ rubber band on my feet and the buzz lasted for three days. You just got a rocket booster, so use it. Direct that energy into focus, use that focus to concentrate on your singing, the quality of the dynamics, all of the nuances that your conductor has been teaching you. Harness that nervous energy. You’ll find it brings power. It will also help to bring on the one big thing:
– SMILE! Nobody knows if your smile is because you’re seconds away from screaming and running in circles or because you’re really happy. You can fool yourself into sliding over into the happy side of the house by showing some teeth.

Finally, some things to remember:

– Yes, you do know your music. Relax. When that first note rolls out of your throat you’ll slide right into that familiar place. That’s why you rehearse.
– Be aware of the people around you. You’ve been together for months, you’re more than a choir. You’re surrounded by friends with the same mission and you’re ALL cranked up a notch. Allow that umbrella of love and support to cover you along with them and sing as one voice.
– Guess what…the audience WANTS you to be awesome. They’re here to be entertained and moved and have given you the gift of their precious time. They’ll never notice a wrong note, they usually don’t know what the right ones are.
– Guess what…the audience is another magic bullet. Their energy is fun, too. Watch their faces as they applaud; smile and acknowledge them. You’ll find yourself feeding off their enjoyment and THAT is really cool.

After the last note fades you’ll feel all that tension slide to the floor, leaving a nice little endorphin buzz and an overall feeling of calm and happiness. You may even find yourself shedding an emotional tear. You’ll be surrounded by friends and family and smiling people you’ve never met, all of them thanking you for the gift you gave them.

The concert experience is where we all truly share in the joy of Music.

__________________________

Briggs Christie is a member and blogger for the Windward Choral Society in Kailua, O’ahu, HI. You can find the original post or more writings by Briggs here.

The Four Functions of a Church Choir

November 27, 2016 by From Our Readers 4 Comments

Since starting at my current church, the choir has rallied behind four “functions” of a church choir and has been central in helping the church become what song-enliveners affectionately call a “singing congregation.” As the director of a church choir I use four functions to explain why the church choir exists. Those priorities help determine the programmatic choices that our music ministry makes. The functions are in a specific priority order, but I also believe each function is equally important as they must be present to have a vital music ministry. The four functions are to lead and enliven the congregation’s song, to sing music that the congregation cannot, to serve as a small-group within the church for faith formation, and to sing beautiful and challenging music to glorify God and to edify the congregation.

1. The church choir leads and enlivens the congregation’s song

This may come as a surprise to some readers that the first and most important function of the church choir is to lead the congregation’s song. It is important, however, that this be the top priority. Let’s not forget that without a congregation, there could not be a church choir! The singing group would instead be a community choir. But why is it important that the congregation’s song be supported instead of just focusing on the church choir’s musical success? Choral musicians inherently know the answer. We become what we sing. When we take words and put them to music, it becomes part of who we are. Therefore, it becomes imperative that we put as much of the Word into the bodies of the congregation as possible. If the congregation can sing it but we don’t let them, we miss an opportunity to transform people’s lives in the most direct way possible. By giving the congregation new singing skills and confidence, we empower them for the rest of their lives to better embody God’s word through music.

Therefore, taking our cue from the great church musician John Ferguson, it is important to view the congregation as the “big choir,” and the church choir as the “little choir,” or as I like to think of it, my chamber group. I often utilize my choir as “section leaders,” positioning them around the congregation strategically to support the parts that I’m teaching for a congregational hymn or song. I have the choir stand in front of the congregation to lead them in rounds and canons. They become active leaders in building up the congregation’s song. By doing this, the congregation is prepared for discipleship through the soul-embracing power of song.

2. The church choir sings music that the congregation cannot

Let’s be real. There’s lots of great music that needs to be sung that just cannot reasonably be done by a congregation. Whether it’s too complex to be done by untrained musicians, or just too difficult to be done without extensive rehearsal, there’s a lot of music that cannot or should not be done by a congregation. That’s why this function is number two on the list. There are some texts set to challenging music that congregations need to hear, whether it’s because it is comforting in times of crises, praising in times of joy, or inspiring in times of apathy. By spending the time and effort to rehearse each week, the choir provides a great service to the congregation by opening up the amount of literature the congregation can be exposed to. Used appropriately, this has significant theological and musical implications, broadening the congregation’s experience of the divine.

3. The church choir serves as a small-group within the church for faith formation

I imagine that we all have stories about our choral groups taking care of each other or holding someone up in a time of need. When we sing together, a bond is created that unites us unlike any other activity. In a church setting, this function can be intentionally formed and nurtured. Because we meet together once a week to do work for the glory of God and benefit of neighbor, taking care of each other is no longer an option, it’s a responsibility. As the leader of this small-group, a church choir director’s job is no longer limited to musical direction, but also spiritual direction. This doesn’t mean you’re responsible for giving a sermon each week or listening to people’s confessions, but it does mean that you are charged with ensuring your group enacts the Word you sing week in and week out. A great example of this is the familiar Latin text “Ubi Caritas,” something that most church choirs have sung at one time or another:

“Where charity and love are, God is there. Christ’s love has gathered us into one. Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him. Let us fear, and let us love the living God. And may we love each other with a sincere heart.”

Because we sing this text often as a biblical witness to the congregation, I expect my singers to treat each other with “charity and love.” I expect them to act like “Christ’s love has gathered us into one.” What I find is that my expectations are almost always met because the majority of my singers have been singing their faith for decades and have already been formed by the church’s song. I also always hold myself to the same standard, striving to be an example of showing love and charity while seeking musical excellence. By expecting myself and my choir to act out what we sing, the choir naturally takes care of each other. I rarely have to ask for food to be brought or people to be prayed for because before I can bring it up someone from the group has already asked for it to be done by their fellow choir members. It’s a witness that is refreshing to see each and every year I direct.

4. The church choir sings beautiful and challenging music to praise God and edify the congregation

The music that we create should be beautiful and challenging. This is where the majority of our rehearsal time is taken up, because singing challenging music beautifully is difficult to do and takes lots of practice. It is important that when we sing we sing beautifully, because it touches people’s souls. The reason that we work so hard to create beautiful music together is so that we can glorify God and help people experience a holy moment. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it is important that our singing is not distracting and therefore prevent people from having a holy moment. I find that one of the best motivations for my choir when rehearsal is getting into the nitty-gritty, is to say something like, “This is a moment where we can touch someone and help them have a moment with God.” Reminding the choir that by changing these little musical details can make the difference in someone’s spiritual life goes a long way to power through tough rehearsal moments. It is important, however, that the first three priorities in this article are not forgotten when digging deeper and deeper into the rehearsal process to try and achieve our most beautiful sounds. A church choir’s job is not just to sing beautifully, but rather it is to minister to the congregation and to each other in a variety of ways, helping to change the world into a more loving and peaceful place.

By taking these four functions and letting them guide your program’s decision making, you ensure that the choir serves as a conduit of faith for both your congregation and choir members. By telling your choristers that this is what and why they do what they do, it gives them a framework to express the importance of the church choir and be an advocate for music ministry. Most importantly, I hope that these four functions can enliven your congregation’s singing through the faithful discipleship of your church choir members.

______________

Brian Hehn is Director of Music Ministry for Arapaho United Methodist Church in Richardson, TX, and serves on the Executive Board of The Hymn Society of the United States and Canada.