constructive and affirming energy to flow through your room once the activity is completed.  I call this activity Affirmations.  I end my fall retreat with this activity and then from time to time, I will end a rehearsal with this activity.  On retreat,...

choir but in their daily lives as well. The Color Personality Assessment is used to assist singers in understanding how their perspective affects relationships, how it affects communication and working with others. There are many personality assessments out there...

also consider planning a fall retreat with your singers.  Whether you plan a one-day get together or a weekend getaway, this one accomplishment can set your singers on the path to a successful year.  Now I don’t want you think that you can’t be successful...

story especially after an grueling rehearsal when the singers express frustration at my request to “give more of themselves to make the music come alive.”  This is a true story of a man with a disability who makes wonderful music all his life.  But what...

            The first activity is called Essence Circle.  Everyone sits in a circle and puts their name into a box in the middle of the circle.  The person that begins chooses a name to describe but does...

If you have officers or section leaders, allow them to meet with you to plan or if you want you can turn the planning completely over to the choir leadership.  Just make sure you give those singers your criteria for the party.  From experience, I have found...

forward to spending time with family and friends this summer. If you take your choir on tour, have fun making music.  Those of you that travel with your singers know and understand the camaraderie between singers that happens during tour.  It’s an important...

During our retreat, I break my choir into “families” and we use these families throughout the choir year.  I explain to the singers that they will join a choir family and how much fun it will be having choir brothers and sisters.  Before we break into...

Finding-Common-Bonds.pdf Importance and goals of a choir retreat; “How to” on planning your retreat; The different levels in building community: Level 1 – getting to know you Level 2 - in-depth discover exercise Level 3 – goal setting/commitment...

Relationships can be difficult to nurture and nourish if we only see students on Sunday mornings, afternoons, or Wednesday evenings. We, as directors/ministers, have to make time during the week to invest in relationships with students and ministry volunteers....

towards a level of trust within that community.  When placing students into small groups for Level 2 group building, I am more purposeful in choosing who belongs in each group.  I call them family groups and use those small family groups when participating...

activities get your singers moving around and interacting with each other.  Please join in the fun or if you decide only to observe, make sure you are on camera duty.  (Posting pictures from the retreat in your rehearsal room and on your web site/social...

     As I stated in a previous writing, I bring helpers/chaperones/section leaders with me to assist in facilitating the retreats. I believe singers sometimes have "director deafness" so I try to mix it up a bit by bringing in a...

    The “Nuts and Bolts” of a choir retreat - Planning 101  As you plan a retreat, it’s important you know the purpose of this retreat.  What is it you want singers to accomplish?    Do you want your singers -   *** to get a jump...

         I am a music educator born and raised in South Dakota.  (Now, I could have some fun and deviate for a bit to talk about all the South Dakota stereotypes that are out there but we can save that for another time… J For the past 34...