Tanner Oglesby
SSAA Choirs R&R Chair
Building a Choral Community
When I first started teaching, I encountered some of the common issues we all face: lack of administrative support, classroom management challenges, student ownership and buy-in, poor funding, etc. At first, I took it personally. How could these students, parents, and administrators not understand the value of music education, especially performing ensembles? To me, choir was everything. To most students, parents, and administrators, it was just another class during the day, with a couple of performances each year. There was obvious potential for the program to be successful, but something was missing. Towards the end of my first year, I took some time to sit down and outline the “dream” choral program. Though everyone’s “dream” is unique, there are some common threads that link all successful choral programs, and I found that each of these threads start with building a community culture. After all, dreams that often come to fruition are dreams that are shared. I can’t emphasize this phase of the process enough. If you haven’t taken the time to write down some goals for your program, do it! If you don’t know where to start, ask your students. You may be inspired by their responses.
Once I had my ideal choral program outlined, I got to work. Every action, big and small, affects a community, and so much of what you already do can be modified to positively impact your long-term goals. In this article, I’ll share some ideas for community building in three areas: classroom community, school community, and community-at-large. As you explore these ideas, don’t feel the need to implement all of them in one school year. Start slowly, perfect your process, and then add on. Change takes time, but it’s worth the investment.
Classroom Community
1) Consider adding community features to your choir area. Thriving communities have programs in place to help those in need, and your choir space is no different. Having experienced poverty growing up, I have always been aware of the struggles some of my students face outside of school. One of the first steps I took towards a classroom
community was to create an S.O.S. station, and I’m so proud of how it has evolved over the years. S.O.S. stands for “Student Opportunity Station.” Every day in my class, students have the “opportunity” to be great by taking care of their basic needs. It started as pencils, tissues, and erasers, and now it has evolved to feminine products, hair ties, deodorant, cleaning wipes, disposable toothbrushes, etc. See “Community-at-Large” for ways you can fund this project.
2) “To save your brain space, put some procedures in place.” This quote changed my life. As teachers, our exhaustion level directly correlates to the amount of questions we answer each day. Kids will still have questions, but we can implement clear procedures so that we don’t have to think about every single answer. This also ensures that we’re keeping things fair and consistent.
3) Give your students the opportunity to create their own goals. You may decide to do program-wide goals or choir-specific goals. Either way, students will struggle to own what they don’t create themselves. Let them start with their own dreams!
4) Allow students to create their own procedures and accountability measures. This is the “how”. How are we going to achieve our goals? This will also make room for you to remain the positive force in the room instead of the policing force.
5) Model the behavior you would like from your own administrator/supervisor. I often hear complaints about administrators delivering mandates with no explanation or doing things just because that’s the way they’ve always been done. I completely agree that it’s frustrating, and it’s frustrating to our students when we do the same to them. Of course, the dynamics of a teacher-administrator relationship and teacher-student relationship are different, but all relationships are worthy of transparency, honesty, and vulnerability. When issues arise, solve them with your students instead of for them.
Once I had my ideal choral program outlined, I got to work. Every action, big and small, affects a community, and so much of what you already do can be modified to positively impact your long-term goals. In this article, I’ll share some ideas for community building in three areas: classroom community, school community, and community-at-large. As you explore these ideas, don’t feel the need to implement all of them in one school year. Start slowly, perfect your process, and then add on. Change takes time, but it’s worth the investment.
Classroom Community
1) Consider adding community features to your choir area. Thriving communities have programs in place to help those in need, and your choir space is no different. Having experienced poverty growing up, I have always been aware of the struggles some of my students face outside of school. One of the first steps I took towards a classroom
community was to create an S.O.S. station, and I’m so proud of how it has evolved over the years. S.O.S. stands for “Student Opportunity Station.” Every day in my class, students have the “opportunity” to be great by taking care of their basic needs. It started as pencils, tissues, and erasers, and now it has evolved to feminine products, hair ties, deodorant, cleaning wipes, disposable toothbrushes, etc. See “Community-at-Large” for ways you can fund this project.
2) “To save your brain space, put some procedures in place.” This quote changed my life. As teachers, our exhaustion level directly correlates to the amount of questions we answer each day. Kids will still have questions, but we can implement clear procedures so that we don’t have to think about every single answer. This also ensures that we’re keeping things fair and consistent.
3) Give your students the opportunity to create their own goals. You may decide to do program-wide goals or choir-specific goals. Either way, students will struggle to own what they don’t create themselves. Let them start with their own dreams!
4) Allow students to create their own procedures and accountability measures. This is the “how”. How are we going to achieve our goals? This will also make room for you to remain the positive force in the room instead of the policing force.
5) Model the behavior you would like from your own administrator/supervisor. I often hear complaints about administrators delivering mandates with no explanation or doing things just because that’s the way they’ve always been done. I completely agree that it’s frustrating, and it’s frustrating to our students when we do the same to them. Of course, the dynamics of a teacher-administrator relationship and teacher-student relationship are different, but all relationships are worthy of transparency, honesty, and vulnerability. When issues arise, solve them with your students instead of for them.
6) Be proactive instead of reactive. Though there are many scenarios in a choral setting where your proactive groundwork will save you heartache, let’s talk about everyone’s favorite activity… solo auditions! First, you have to outline the process that works for you; solo auditions will look a little different for everybody, depending on the age group and your preferred approach. I do solo auditions in front of the entire ensemble. Students will have to perform the solo in front of the ensemble and a full audience at the concert, so the audition process can be an effective way to simulate that situation. Before every solo audition, I facilitate a brief discussion with the group about etiquette in auditions. We all agree that it takes a great deal of bravery to audition, and we celebrate everyone who goes for it. We also understand that there will always be someone who doesn’t get the solo, and that’s okay. How we respond is important, though. Disappointment can be processed without tearing others down and hurting the team. These crucial conversations set the tone for conflict in your community. Yes, they take time, but they will save you time in the long run.
7) Find ways for student leaders to be incorporated into everyday routines. Students could lead stretches, a warmup, or even an aural dictation exercise, but this doesn’t have to be the only way you give students the opportunity to take ownership. Last year, we started a “choir crew”. Any student in the program can elect to join the “choir crew” Remind101, and I send out a message when I need help with tasks like setting up for a concert. They log their service hours, and we consider those hours when choosing some of our scholarship recipients for choir camp at the end of the year. This is a great way to recognize students who are taking ownership of the program and who exhibit positive character traits, regardless of their musical ability.
8) Incorporate fun! Fun looks different for everyone and it can be something small or something big. It doesn’t matter how talented your ensemble is; everybody wants to loosen up. It keeps our engines running smoothly. Fun could be as simple as a silly mirror-me dance during stretches at the beginning of class. It could also be as big as a choir bingo night or some other event. My co-director, Lisa Hatfield, and I coordinated with our booster club to reserve an auditorium at our local theater for our kids to see a private screening of the Wicked premiere. The kids are paying for their own tickets (it cost us nothing), but there is something about a private screening of a movie musical with choir kids that makes the situation unique and memorable! Don’t happen upon fun in your community; be intentional about it.
9) Be YOU. Do not try to reinvent who you are after watching that talented clinician at your state honor choir clinic. Borrow strategies, of course, but know who you are and own it. Bring “you” to your community every day. Real recognizes real, and kids respond to authenticity. So, who are you? What niche hobby do you like? Did your kid do something funny the night before? Teachers are inherently good storytellers, and your students connect with you when you share your stories. These moments aren’t a waste of time; they’re valuable social-emotional learning and classroom management tools.
School Community
1) Share your success! If your school has a newsletter, social media, morning announcements, etc., you can start by simply sharing your successes. These successes don’t have to be monumental or over the top–success for one program may look different than that of another. In addition to sharing things campus-wide, make sure to share successes with an administrator directly.
2) Use the language of an administrator when communicating with them. A huge part of advocacy is finding common language. Start with interchangeable phrases that make sense to non-musicians. As an example, instead of requesting funding for “sheet music,” request funding for “instructional supplies.” It’s not always that the administrator doesn’t know or care about what sheet music is. Sometimes, it’s simply that there isn’t a budget unit for “sheet music,” and the administrator needs to know that sheet music is our version of a textbook or instructional supplies. If you are wanting to request funding for a “big ticket item”, such as new risers, start with a brief proposal that includes a student-centered rationale and some pricing options. Administrators are busy people just like us, and from my experience, they respond best when they’re presented with well-thought-out options rather than complaints.
3) Wear your school motto, tagline, catchphrase, mission, and vision OUT! My district’s mission is “to create opportunities for personal and academic success.” I can assure you that exact phrase has been used in more than one proposal for funding or out-of-state travel. It illustrates that you understand how your choral program is an integral part of the bigger picture.
4) Send a personal note to your district and building-level administrators with your performance dates for the year. They may not show up at first, and you have to be okay with that, but be persistent. I believe in speaking love into places and people it may not yet exist. Thank them for their leadership and share a few “glows” for your program.
5) One year, after our state choral festival, I had my choir students nominate school professionals who they felt “saw” them and were invested in their choir endeavors. This could be teachers who attended concerts or even a counselor who consistently asked how performances went. Once we had a list of names, we went to those employees and asked them to sign their names on the back of our plaque, along with the names of choir students, in recognition of their support for the choir program. We even gave them “honorary choir member” certificates to display in their rooms. We need everybody. Teachers, counselors, custodians, you name it. Just like our classroom community, everyone plays a vital role in the success of the whole.
6) This past year, we started a faculty choir! As support for choir has grown, I’m honored to say that we have a high attendance rate from school employees at our concerts. Last year, our entire district admin office attended our spring concert. These colleagues would say, “I used to be in choir” or “I sing in my church choir,” and my gears started turning… What better way to display the importance of what we do than to have my colleagues experience it? We had a faculty choir of about 80 people perform at our back-to-school kickoff in front of about 1,000+ district employees. It was a hit and shared all over social media!
7) We are all incredibly busy, but if you can take on a teacher-leader role in your school
and sacrifice some of your time to be a part of the team; it goes a long way!
Community-at-Large
1) Take your students off campus to perform in the community! It can build support in tangible ways. We perform for our local Rotary Club each year, and I was once asked what they could do to help our choir students. I told them about our S.O.S. station, and members offered to help supply some items.
2) Start a parent organization or booster club that can help with organizing support for the choral program. Before starting our choir booster club, I noticed that parents of our marching band students were helping with so many things! I was fortunate enough to model our booster club off of our very successful band booster club. This included
bylaws that were agreed upon by parents, myself, and our building-level principal. Today, our booster club raises thousands of dollars in funds for voice lessons and choir camp scholarships, and they even sponsor choir families (anonymously) who may be experiencing food insecurity.
3) Reach out to businesses for support or sponsorship. This would be the perfect task for your booster club to do on an annual basis, but you could also take advantage of local business support by simply sending a letter to a few active local businesses detailing specific fundraising goals or needs for the year.
4) If you live in a community that places a heavy emphasis on sports, take your kids to athletic events to perform the national anthem. You could do this for your school athletic programs, but you could also do this for semi-pro or pro teams that may be near you. It’s a fun social event for your students and a great way to get them performing in the community.
Though these ideas are focused on building your individual community, don’t forget the value of your professional community! Being an active member of ACDA–attending conferences, utilizing resources, connecting with other choral directors–is such a validating and helpful experience. I can’t claim credit for everything in this article. These are just the things that stuck with me! I guarantee that any issue you can think of has been faced by another choral director who would be willing to help you through it. I, personally, don’t have all the answers, but I will always do my best to help a colleague. Please reach out if you have any questions.
