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There
Can't Be Music if There's No Community
Sid Davis
| That’s
a big statement, I know, but I believe it to be true and it’s
never more evident than in youth choirs. Young people won’t
show up with ‘singing in a church choir’ at the top of
their list. Primarily they are there to be with their friends. Think
about it: if there’s a function or an event, what’s the
first thing they want to know? Who’s going to be there? I enjoyed
much more success with young singers once I realized that and began
to capitalize on it. Get them there, then give them success as singers.
How to do that? Get them away from the church over an extended period of time (long weekend?) and have fun. Do a lot of singing, but do even more group activity that’s just for fun – volleyball, swimming, softball, a dance, a talent show. Combine that with a meaningful communion service put together by the older singers, and you’ve got a recipe for success. Let the singers see you be willing to risk on the volleyball court or the softball field and they in turn, will risk for you in the choir room. I believe that for young people (and frankly, for all of us) community means a place that is safe. A place where a young singer isn’t afraid to be themselves and where they know they can be successful. The talent show, for example, is a perfect opportunity them to support each other. I had a director tell me once that his group was bad about being rude to each other as they got up to do their thing in the talent show. Well-chosen words and an intentional plan for building the community from the ground up can take care of that. I once had a young soprano, a senior, who was ‘off-the-charts’ smart. Her grades were amazing and she could buy and sell me in the intelligence department any day. Unfortunately, however, humor was not her strong suit and as bad luck would have it, a stand-up comedy routine was what she chose for her act in the talent show. As her ‘routine’ unfolded, bad joke after bad joke was offered – jokes that could only be described as ‘groaners.’ But the other singers? They whooped and hollered and whistled – you would have thought that she was Leno. The support was SO great that when she reached the end of her painful routine she said, “You guys are so great! I’ve got more!” And you know what that was? Music to my ears. |