choral The Times They Are A-Changin’
Using Connections to Promote Sustainability in Your Choral Program Lynn Seidl, WMEA State Chair, Choral
Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam,
And admit that the waters around you have grown,
And accept it that soon you’ l l be drenched to the bone,
If your time to you is worth savin’ then you better start swimmin’,
Or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin’.
Being a child of the 60s, the lyrics of this 1964 Bob Dylan classic seem to sum up the current climate in education. In my 35
years of teaching I don’t think I have ever witnessed so many rapid-fire changes, new initiatives and political involvement in the education world in which we live and work. The waters around us have indeed grown and in many cases have gotten very turbulent. If your choral program is worth saving and maintaining (and all choral programs are worth it) then learn- ing to “swim” is what you’ll need to do. If you need some help with your swimming strokes I would suggest that you work on your connections.
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SIMPLIFIED CONCERTO
Connect With Administration and Coworkers To get your choral program noticed and connected you must get out of your room and meet the custodians, administrative assistants, hallway and study hall monitors and your coworkers. In addition, the prin- cipal, assistant principals, district admin- istrator and school board members should be your allies. They are all your advocates and worth knowing. A smile and friendly greeting goes a long way and a negative attitude will brand you (and additionally, your choral program) in a heartbeat. The “you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar” adage applies here.
Additionally, eating lunch at your desk (or worse yet, skipping lunch) and taking your lunch time to work with that quartet one more time might help them, but doesn’t help your total program. Get to the teach- ers’ lunch area and communicate with your fellow educators in a positive way. If the lounge area is a negative zone then do your best to change the subject and be the positive change that it needs. We all have enough stress in our lives with which to deal, without making our mealtime something worth a handful of antacids. If the air really needs to be cleared have it in a faculty meeting where brainstorming can happen and administration is aware of the
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needs and concerns of the staff. Grousing about it over a meal is not a good use of food or relationships.
When wondering how best to reach the upper echelons of the school structure, in particular, the district administrator and the school board, the connection to parents comes in handy.
Connect With Community and Parents Having a parent support group can help in so many little ways and in the overall, large scope of a choral program. Organiz- ing fundraisers, uniforms, concert ushers and assisting on field trips is only the tip of the iceberg for parent assistance. Many of you have parent groups that run effectively with an elected board and assigned com- mittee chairs. When our WMEA mentor- ing project is rolled out later this year, this will be an area that has mentors for those of you who need some help on getting a parent group started for your program.
In the larger scheme of things, parents of your students are the impetus that sustains your program, both in enrollment and fi- nancial support. When parents talk, school boards listen. It takes a phone call or a stop in the aisle of a the local grocery store to get the attention of a school board, which will in turn get the attention of the district administrator.
Hearing that your choirs just put on a great concert, or attended a Veteran’s Day pro- gram and sang a moving performance is the type of attention you like to see your program get. Sometimes “tooting your own horn” is awkward and having parents do it for you is preferable. I have been at- tending most of my district school board meetings for several years as a teachers’ union representative and when school board members share positive comments
April 2014
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