Building Community within the Ensemble

Presented by Christopher Loftin

Time: tuesday june 29, 11:30-12:30 eastern daylight time

In a world that has been forever altered by COVID 19, virtual teaching, and social injustice, choir directors are expected to wear even more hats that ever before. However, our first responsibility is the students in our choral programs and the students that we would like to be in our choral programs. Recruitment and retentions strategies are more important than ever so that when we can sing in person without any physical barriers such as masks, we can also sing without any emotional barriers. “Building the Community within the Ensemble” focuses on practical, proven tips and tricks from a veteran choral music educator that you can implement in your ensembles today. This session will encourage directors to look holistically at the program as well as look at each individual singer. There is no better time that now to find ways to encourage personal student responsibility, student engagement, and student leadership. In this session, directors will be able to define what community means for their ensemble, identify what is building or hurting their ensemble’s community and identity, and provide an action plan with specific, targeted items to implement into the program instantly.

By the end of the session today, students will be able to:

1) Define community and what it means for your ensemble.

2) Identify implications of community and lack of community.

3) Identify a couple of strategies that you can implement or help implement to build community in your ensemble.