101 Great Choir Ideas

by vernsanders on March 3, 2010

Every Wednesday is tip day. Each week’s tip may be about a different topic, but one of the recurring topics will be 101 Great Choir Ideas. Here’s this week’s tip.

  • Create a facebook page and/or group for the choir. Use the page to let people know what the choir is doing, and the group pages to communicate with, and among the choir members.

Leave a comment, win a prize. I’m going to give away a prize every week for the next little while, to someone who leaves a comment on my blog during that week. Please tell me how you are using facebook to communicate with and develop community among your choir members.

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Cheryl Groth March 3, 2010 at 4:04 pm

Facebook is a superb way to help your choir communicate with you and with each other. Furthermore, it builds a sense of teamwork in that they can suggest things that will help the organization as a whole, not just feeling a part of the decision-making process, but actually participating in it themselves.

A few years ago, however, just before the Facebook era, I directed a church choir in the rural South. As a transplanted Yankee, I needed to get up to speed with the culture as quickly as possible in order to build both trust and teamwork, I asked each member to share their favorite music and hymns, promising them that I would do my best to incorporate their favorites into the choir’s repertoire. I learned so much from them–and in return, we had one of the most enthusiastic groups around.

In addition, I enlisted the help of many non-musical members of the church to build scenery for musicals, do lighting and sound, and act in non-musical parts in holiday musicals. The end result: a supportive congregation which was much more willing to fork over funding for the music budget, even more importantly, a congregation which had a spirit of unity.

I can only imagine what a tool like Facebook would do for a choir. Not only could they share ideas with people in their own congregation, but also they could reach a much wider audience, people from other choirs and other organizations hungry for team-building ideas. With videos, sound files, and pictures–the potential is stunning.

Currently, I am a staff writer for a group of classical guitarists who have both a brick-and-mortar studio and an online division. We are just now launching our own Facebook pages for our organization. We, too, are excited to see what a Facebook presence will bring to the table in our corner of the music world.

vernsanders March 3, 2010 at 7:45 pm

Great ideas, Cheryl. Keep me posted on the new FB pages for the guitar organization. If you learn anything, I’d love to know about it for the new book.

blessings,

vs

John Jackson March 8, 2010 at 11:34 am

One of the great advantages of Facebook we’ve found is in the area of special projects such as overseas missions events. Instead of doing a list serve, we just put information on the Facebook page and our overseas friends can join in the conversation and offer updates and valuable counsel for preparation.

vernsanders March 8, 2010 at 4:08 pm

Great Idea, John. Thanks for the tip.

blessings,

vs

Carolyn March 9, 2010 at 8:46 am

Thanks for the practical idea. I will try the Facebook approach and encourage choir members to participate.

vernsanders March 10, 2010 at 10:22 am

let me know how it works for you.

vs

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