[HANASHIR:16092] RE: Starting a new Jewish Community Choir

[Meris Ruzow <meris...>]

I have ringers when I need them as well.  They are important to have
when necessary.  Also - make sure you assign a smart, organized person
the job of LIBRARIAN.  Someone you can talk to easily who functions well
independently who can copy music, order music, hand out at last minute,
etc.   
Meris Ruzow

Meris (at) nycap(dot)rr(dot)com


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org] On
Behalf Of Jacqueline Guttman
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2003 3:10 PM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:16090] RE: Starting a new Jewish Community Choir

Ros,

I endorse everything Carol said. If you do not make decisions, you will
waste loads of time trying to find consensus. It's fine to solicit
opinions,
but you should be the arbiter.

You may want to elect officers, who would then be responsible for
dealing
with much of the administrative stuff.

Regarding the person who feels you should audition, that's a
philosophical
issue. In my 20-voice choir, I have one person who, as my son says, is a
"duo-tone". However, she loves being there. For years she sat and never
opened her mouth. Then she moved her lips but no sound came out. She now
feels good enough to sing, which is great, except that she cannot sing
at
all. However, since her voice is not too loud, it is only an issue when
I
listen to that voice part alone. However, the others seems to do ok
despite
her -- pretty well, in fact. If our choir's mission is to lead our
congregation in song and prayer, who am I to deny anyone the joy of
doing
that? However, with a community choir, the perspective may be different.
Up
to you.

The other side of the coin, though, is that there are several good,
experienced choral singers in the congregation whom I'd LOVE to have in
the
choir. They won't join because it's tedious for them. I don't blame
them,
but the thing is, if we had them, the level of the choir would rise and
we'd
get more good people. I'm toying with the idea of having them as
occasional
in-house "ringers". One has agreed to do this. We'll see if that works.
Most
choir members are fine with it, but a few resent it (including the
duo-tone!). 

Best of luck.

Jackie Guttman

> From: Carol Boyd Leon <cbleon (at) hotmail(dot)com>
> Reply-To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2003 18:12:41 +0000
> To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject: [HANASHIR:16087] RE: Starting a new Jewish Community Choir
> 
> Roz, my choir experience is somewhat related as one of my Jewish youth
> choirs is a community choir and last year I founded an adult
> choir...although that one is affiliated with a Conservative synagogue.
As
> it hasn't been all that long since I went through those initial
> organizational meetings, here are some of my memories and insights:
> 
> As I recall, the major decision to be made at our first organizational
> meetings had to do with what kind of music we should sing.  Be
prepared --
> the people involved in getting your group started may be like mine
with
> diverse visions of what the choir should focus on musically.
Contemporary
> or traditional liturgical music, Israeli music, show tunes, etc. There
was
> no consensus.
> 
> So once they drafted me to direct the group, they left it up to me to
give
> it a focus and to choose all their music.  Of course, I'm open to
> suggestions, but I think it's important to have an overall vision of
what
> would serve the group best.  I also determined the rehearsal schedule,
> performance schedule and performance attire because, once again, there
were
> diverse ideas regarding each of these issues.  While I surveyed all
the
> potential members to find out their preferences, ultimately I had to
make
> the decisions.  I think it's difficult to determine these things by
> committee.
> 
> Honestly, coming up with the rehearsal day is likely to be the biggest
> roadblock you first come up against.  There may be someone who wants
to be
> involved but absolutely can't make it, say, on Tuesdays.  Be prepared
for
> how you'll handle that if it turns out Tuesday is the best day for
everyone
> else.  Are you willing to hold rehearsals on a day when you know from
the
> beginning that several members can never be there because you want to
make
> sure that everyone who is interested in joining can do so?  (I
ultimately
> went with once-a-week rehearsals, always the same day and time.)
> 
> Yes, the repertoire and teaching style need to take into account the
> abilities of the group.  You may find you've got several people who
can
> sightread music as well as several who can't read a note.  (My own
group is
> like that; it's got some people who sing in top-rate choirs and some
who are
> stretching musically to sing with this choir.)  You may like the idea
of
> 4-part harmony but end up with only 1 tenor and have to have the men
share
> one voice part.  You may need a cappella music for singing in the
Orthodox
> shul.  What will you do when the group sings in the Reform synagogue
to make
> it comfortable for the choir members?
> 
> This Friday, my Conservative adult choir will be singing throughout an
> entire Reform Shabbat service to help dedicate a new sanctuary for a
large
> retirement community.  There's a lot of give-and-take involved, but
it's all
> working out fine and there's plenty of learning going on.
> 
> The requirement of learning at home may not be a realistic one for a
> volunteer choir unless you provide learning tapes to aid those who
don't
> read music.
> 
> Do you really want choir members with stage fright?  Most choirs are
> performing groups.
> 
> Will you be able to afford a paid accompanist for every rehearsal?
Can you
> draft a volunteer rehearsal pianist?  If you're mainly singing a
cappella,
> perhaps you can get by with the director or another member
pinch-hitting at
> piano.
> 
> Also, what's comfortable for the choir members may not be comfortable
for
> the congregations at which they sing.  My choir enjoys instrumental
> accompaniment.  Their shu, however, only permits me to use a tuning
fork on
> Shabbat; even a pitch pipe is a problem there.
> 
> Where will your funding come from?  My group started with no budget
and had
> to scramble for donations, particularly the first year.  We make sure
to
> sing at events which help support our donors (Men's Club, Sisterhood,
etc).
> In fact, we've got a concert tonight at a Men's Club-sponsored event
whose
> goal is to raise money for youth programs.
> 
> Ultimately, all the hard work is worth it.  Several of the group's
members
> tell me our rehearsals are a high point of their week.  They've melded
> together to be a concerned and caring community that's a pleasure to
work
> with and they've grown musically, too.  I wish you the best of luck in
> getting your community choir off the ground because I know the
rewards,
> particularly for the group's own members, can be very great.
> 
> Now I'll go see if the snow has melted enough to let me drive to this
> evening's performance!
> 
> -- Carol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Carol Boyd Leon
> Songwriter/Cantorial Soloist/Music Educator
> E-mail:  CBLeon (at) hotmail(dot)com
> Phone:  703-250-0554
> Web page:  http://www.geocities.com/CBoydLeon
> 
> 
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Ros Schwartz <ros (at) hn(dot)dancinginthewind(dot)ca>
> Reply-To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject: [HANASHIR:16084] Starting a new Jewish Community Choir
> Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2003 11:41:14 -0500
> 
> There is an exciting initiative in our community, to start a Jewish
> Community Choir.  I'm setting the agenda for our first organizational
> meeting, and I would appreciate any comments/suggestions on
> {a) the content of the agenda - attached below - anything I should
change or
> add? and
> (b) any roadblocks/difficulties that I should anticipate, and
suggestions as
> to how to deal with them.
> 
> We have one Orthodox and one Reform congregation here (in Kingston,
Ontario,
> Canada) with a reasonably good relationship between them - a number of
> people (including me) belong to both synagogues, and this is
considered
> quite acceptable.  Also there are many non-affiliated Jews in the
community.
> So we plan to do this under the auspices of the Jewish Community
Council,
> so that membership is open to all.
> 
> Later, if this works out, I will likely be writing for your repertoire
> suggestions! :-)
> 
> Thanks for your help,
> 
> - Ros
> 
>
=======================================================================
> 
> Agenda for organizational meeting for Jewish Community Choir
> 
> Goals
> - have fun!
> - develop musical abilities
> - give back to the community by way of performances & songleading
> 
> Members
> - no prior training required;  no audition
> - commitment to attend rehearsals, learn music between rehearsals,
> attend performances (some people may not perform initially if stage
> fright ... but this would be an eventual goal for all)
> - find out individual experience - e.g. who has had voice training?
can
> read music? play an instrument? learn music easily by ear? help
others?
> - and adjust repertoire accordingly
> 
> Choir rehearsals:
> - where?
> - how often? (weekly / every 2 weeks)
> - what day? (could vary eg Thurs / Sun)
> - what time? (start & stop?)
> 
> Musical accompaniment
> - piano or keyboard essential at the beginning for learning 4 part
harmony
> 
> Rehearsal structure
> - warm-ups
> - "soul food" (brief inspirational reading)
> - study material - rounds, 4 part harmony pieces
> - announcements
> - fun material (easy unison "singalong" pieces)
> - options for music teaching: sheet music - purchase, borrow, or rent
> (not photocopy); lyric sheets; rote learning; charts; overhead
> projector; - at discretion of person teaching that particular song
> 
> Repertoire
> - Jewish music
> - world folk music
> 
> Musical leadership
> - director - harmony pieces
> - assistant director(s) - warmups, unison pieces, rounds
> - others?
> - section leaders to help out in smaller groups
> 
> Costs
> - sheet music
> - accompanist
> - rehearsal space
> - choir members to contribute as they can, no one to be excluded bec
> they can't pay
> 
> Performances
> - for the synagogues
> - for the community
> - could include solos, harmony arrangements, rounds, & unison pieces
for
> songleading
> - audition in April 2004 for the local "Revue" in December 2004
> 
> Need volunteers
> - to do admin work - contact people as needed, arrange venues,
publicity
> for meetings & concerts, manage finances, etc.
> - to do musical work - choose repertoire, order music, help choir
> members musically, etc.
> 
> Under the auspices of the Jewish Community Council - open to members
of
> either congregation & unaffiliated persons as well
> 
> Name for choir!
> Vision statement!
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
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> 

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------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+
Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network, http://shamash.org  
a service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an
online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/

To unsubscribe email listproc (at) shamash(dot)org and have your message read:
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