Page 15 - CT15-3

Spinning My Wheels!: Lamentations, Reflections, and Reset Plans of a Bewildered Choir Director

5) Creative extracurricular time

• A cappella group: Student ambassadors who can engage
with the school community. One of our groups made
beautiful singing telegram videos for Valentine’s Day last
year that received a lot of attention from the student body.

• Karaoke Club

• Choir-club exchanges. For example: Football/Dance/
Choir—maybe they can lead each other in warm-ups!

• Field trips to performances for rostered and non-rostered
students, especially at the beginning of the school year.

• Lead a club that is not music-related to build relationships
with another cross-section of students.

• Bring a buddy to choir! If they’ve never been to the choir
room, they may never come to the choir room. Welcome
visitors multiple times throughout the year and allow
them to feel the joy of ensemble singing, the loving spirit
of your classroom, and the comfort of another safe space
in the building.

Conclusion
If any of these ideas can help you plan the start of the
school year, or if you’ve tested other strategies that have
successfully pulled you closer to your enrollment goals,
please share with me at nmrivera1@cps.edu so I can stop
spinning my wheels!

*Note from the editor: consider submitting ideas, articles, or feedback to
chorteach@acda.org so we can continue to share with the larger choral
community!

NOTES

1 B. Searns, “Perception is reality in your marketing: Staffing
and recruiting,” Haley Marketing Group. (2021, June
21). Retrieved August 14, 2022, from https://www.
haleymarketing.com/2016/03/09/perception-reality-
marketing/

ChorTeach Volume 15 • Issue 3 15 Spring 2023