Recruiting, Retaining, and Sustaining: How to Grow and Nurture a Ward Choir

So, how do these fantastic choir programs happen? Is it something in the water? Does it have to do with who’s in the Ward? Not at all. Good choir programs are built, and a person with the right building skills will have a strong choir program no matter where they are called to serve.

Consider Hilltop United Methodist Church, where I served as an assistant choir director in graduate school. The main choir was 80 members strong. NONE of the members had studied music in college. In fact, a large percentage of them were working class people who learned how to sing at church. They performed difficult music every week and sounded great. Within the choir were four other vocal groups that rehearsed on their own and performed regularly. I was in charge of the youth choir and bell choirs, but had a lot of trouble growing my program. At the time, I wondered how the same congregation that supported such a large main choir could have such a small youth and bell choir. Now I understand that the success of a program lies in the director’s ability to recruit, retain, and sustain.

Recruiting: How to make people want to sing in the choir

Simply put, most people will do what they want to do. The idea behind recruiting, therefore, is to make people want to sing for you. It’s a scary thing to come to choir for the first time, especially for a person who is insecure about his voice. How can you encourage people to take this risk?

Building a Core:Callings

You have to start somewhere, and if there isn’t a core choir to begin with, the "insecure" won’t be anxious to come. Prayerfully select 4-12 people divided equally between the parts, and ask the Bishop to call them to the Ward Choir. Let these people know exactly the role they will be playing in building the choir, and then involve them. It is a good idea to give them roles such as choir president, secretary, section leader, and the like, and then to create for them an active role. The sooner it becomes THEIR choir, the sooner the choir will grow.

Friendshipping

Have informal choir (or even section) get-togethers. Invite non-choir member friends, then allow them to become a part of the group without the pressure of joining the choir. You don’t even have to point out the fact that you’re all choir members. If the person doesn’t consider joining, the good impression will be spread among that person’s network of friends nonetheless.

I gained two ward choir members once through home teaching: When my home teachers asked "Is there anything we can do for you?", I told them that I needed male voices in the choir in order to get it off the ground. One of my home teachers and his wife accepted the call and became faithfuls thereafter. We’re still friends, though thousands of miles apart.

Prepare music for special occasions: Sing at baptisms, firesides, fathers-and-son’s outings, birthday parties, whatever. Go Christmas Caroling in the old tradition, where each caroled household along the way joins the caroling troupe. Invite choir members to do special musical numbers with non-choir members in order to build musical relationships. Combine with a Protestant or Catholic choir for a shared evening concert, or sing for each other’s worship service (with approval from the bishop). Service builds friendships, which grow choirs.

"Not Quite Ready For Prime Time" Singers, Hymnbook Choirs, and Other Music Education Tools

One of Hilltop United Methodist Choir’s secrets was the "not Quite Ready For Prime Time" singers. Imagine having a ward choir as good as many college choirs. What kind of fool novice would want to join? In order to remedy this problem, the director ran a summer singing school of sorts. He used the hymnbook and taught novices how to sing parts, follow a musical line, sing correctly, and how to have a good time singing together. That choir typically had 15-30 members. They knew they wouldn’t be performing, and they knew that other attendees would be novices, so there was less to intimidate them.

An LDS option is to offer such a class during the Sunday School block. Since the hymns are sermons, the gospel message can still be taught while increasing the ranks of musical literates in the ward.

Dr. David Power, Professor of Vocal Music at the U of U, came up with the idea of the Hymnbook Choir. Once a month, the Hymnbook Choir performs: A popular hymn is chosen from the hymnal, and anyone in the congregation may come up impromptu to sing it. Since bishopric members, those with stake callings, and those with sticky kid issues often love to sing in spite of their inability to come to choir practice, the hymnbook choir often swells to 50 or more menbers strong.

The enterprising choir director may even arrange to give free voice lessons (or have a choir member teach them) in exchange for choir activity. Consider High School-aged singers especially, who may need voice training in order to compete for college scholarships.

Incentives

Hilltop United Methodist Choir had a great choir budget, and were able to provide fresh donuts and juice every Sunday morning. Mormons souldn’t have trouble, however with choir goodies on a budget! I can attest that several men in the Woodbridge Ward (Virginia) that come to choir mainly for Sr. Binette’s double caramel chocolate brownies! She brings them every week, bless her. In the Eagle Gate 2nd Ward, choir members anticipated the "birthday candy bar". Other incentives are attendance awards, bring-a-friend bonuses, and section of the month spotlights.

Surveys

At the U of U, surveys were our primary recruiting tool. We would go into large lib-ed classes and survey every person like so: Name,phone number, voice part, have you sung in a choir before?, would you like to be contacted about the choral offerings at this school, etc. I conducted a survey in a student ward by including it in the program, then collected them at the ends of the aisles before dismissing for Sunday school. I learned a lot about the ward, and gained a few new choir members.

Retaining: Making Choir Productive, Predictable, and Worthwhile

People stop attending ward choir because the experience has either become less worthwhile to them, or because they find it uncomfortable. In order to retain choir members, the director needs to have comfortable, predictable methods that keep singers engaged and that produce results. This sounds like a tall order, but it isn’t as hard as it sounds.

In order to be predictable, a director simply needs routines and traditions. For example, a conductor might always begin rehearsal on time, with vocal warm ups, and always end with a favorite hymn. He might approach new music in similar ways each time, or have expected one-liners for certain situations (my High School band director, when having difficulty stopping the band, used to cite a WB cartoon where Yosemite Sam tells an errant camel: "When I say Woah…" Another director would humorously raise one eyebrow whenever the music got really sour.

When asking the choir to do something new, tell them what to expect from their efforts, then confirm when the desired effect has been achieved. This way, the choir is led from success to success and confidence grows.

In order to keep singers engaged and produce results, a director needs a solid rehearsal plan. Know each vocal part. Know which parts will be tricky for your choir, how you intend to teach the piece, how the music will be phrased (ie where does the music, and therefore the choir, breathe?), and have goals. Since a good rehearsal will include 3-5 separate pieces, know what elements of each piece you can touch in 10-15 minutes. Be realistic, and remember: in order for the choir to feel like a success, they have to be able to reach the goals you set for them, and they have to know that they reached them for you.

Preparing for rehearsal is a tedious task, but it pays tremendous dividends! Also, with time you will develop patterns of rehearsing that will greatly reduce your preparation time. The well-planned rehearsal has a much greater chance of being enjoyable and productive, which will make people want to come again.

Sustaining

Ultimately, a choir exists to add spiritual substsance to a worship service. If this goal is lost sight of, choir becomes a meaningless auxillary. To sustain a choir, invite the spirit into rehearsals. Pray before and after practice. Let the message of the music play a role in rehearsals as well. The Lord called his people Zion because they were of one heart and one voice and dwelt in righteousness. A choir should be able to achieve these criteria in order to become of one voice.

In order to add spiritual import to performances, coordinate with the bishop: Match the musical messages to the topics of talks, or focus on a stake, regional, or churchwide collective goal. A side-effect of this kind of coordination is the choir becoming an indespensable part of meetings, rather than a nice addition.

In order to add spiritual import to rehearsals, share with the choir how the music ties in with the upcoming meeting, etc. Express your spiritual-musical goals for the piece, such as: "Through this piece, we want the ward to remember they’re not alone in adversity."

Finally, you become a sustaining force as the director. The scriptures say "let no man be your leader except he be a man of God". There are few social experiences more intimate than singing, and you are asking your choir to unite in expressing tender, private emotions. You MUST be humble, confident, and in tune. The choir will only open up to higher expressions when they trust you. Pour out your soul over your choir. The Lord has called you to this calling, and he will bless you and qualify you for it, of course! Otherwise, he might have called someone else.

Conclusion

Hard work though it may be, a diligent director, armed with tools needed to recruit, retain, and sustain, will have a successful choir program.

Please share your ideas for and experiences with this topic: e-mail wardchoir.com

At [email protected] Subject: Recruiting Ideas

Feature Article: Recruiting

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