The Pitch Pipe - October 2008 - (Page 11) One Hand for the Chorus; One Hand for Yourself A chorus can only succeed if its individual members succeed. And vice versa. leads to participation in chorus life. Members need to participate in chorus activities, whether they be rehearsals, performances, committees or fundraisers. Participation may require rearranging one’s schedule and/or budget. It may mean going the extra mile when asked. It may mean serving in a capacity that is outside your comfort zone. There is no way around the fact that being part of a chorus requires sacrifice on the part of each member. Lastly, each member’s loyalty to the chorus is critical. Each member needs to believe in her chorus and want the best for it. This means being a good ambassador for Sweet Adelines International. It means offering constructive criticism but not engaging in gossip, building each other up, and representing one’s chorus well. By being conscious of your commitment to, your participation in, and your loyalty to your chorus, you ensure its success. One Hand for Yourself While we are called to sacrifice for the sake of our chorus, we must be careful not to sell our souls. It is not easy to keep one hand for yourself in the midst of a busy chorus life. Chorus demands can come from many fronts: chorus leadership, peer pressure, and self-pressure. However, for you to be all you can be for your chorus, you need to look after yourself. To balance your commitment to chorus goals, you also need personal goals. Personal goals can be related to chorus life, such as improving your vocal skills or learning how to be a better leader. Personal goals can also be unrelated, such as improving your level of fitness, learning a new skill for work, or taking a vacation with your family. To balance participation in chorus activities, you need to balance your participation in other areas of your life. There are other demands on your time and money besides chorus. Family, friends, work, and yourself also need attention. There are times when we need to say, “No,” to chorus activities. This can be particularly hard in a small chorus where every member’s absence is more noticeable. By saying, “No,” we recognize that chorus is not the be-all and end-all in life. On the positive side, we may be giving someone else the opportunity to step up and fill the void. To balance chorus loyalty, we need to be loyal to ourselves. We need to believe in ourselves and want what is best for us. This means being open to constructive criticism. It means having an accurate view of yourself, both of your strengths and weaknesses, being willing to work on improving yourself but also not being afraid to excel. All Hands on Deck Maintaining a proper balance that allows both the chorus and individual members to succeed is not easy. If members sacrifice everything for the sake of the chorus, they get burned out or resentful and will often end up quitting. If members sacrifice nothing for the sake of the chorus the chorus will never move forward. If you have been in this organization long enough, you have probably seen the negative consequences of this law being violated. Hopefully you also have many positive examples of its proper application. This article has focused on the importance of each member keeping one hand for the chorus and one hand for herself. Chorus leadership also plays a role in making it easier or harder for members to strike that balance, but that is a topic for another day. When working correctly, Carol’s Law of Mutuality for Sweet Adelines can lead to an upward spiral of success for both choruses and individual members. References 1 Feisel, Lyle. “Lyle’s Law of Mutuality.” The Bent of Tau Beta Pi. Fall, 2007, pp. 14-15. (URL) http://tbp.org/pages/Publications/Bent/Lyle sLaws/F07Mutuality.pdf By Carol Kankelborg, Bridger Mountain Harmony, Region 24 One strength of our organization is the diversity of background and experience among our members. An article I came across in the Fall 2007 issue of The Bent, while written for engineers in the workplace, is very applicable to chorus life. The article, Lyle’s Law of Mutuality1 by Lyle Feisel, opens with an example from the author’s time in the navy when he was working the line handling party. This was a dangerous but important job on the ship. The boatswains mate would encourage the men, “Okay, boys. One hand for the ship. One hand for yourself.” By this he meant that each sailor had to both attend to his own safety while also attending to his duties for the ship. If these two goals were not kept in balance, there would be problems, either for the individual or the ship. The “law” which Feisel derives from this experience is very applicable to Sweet Adelines choruses. So, with apologies to Dr. Feisel, I give you Carol’s Law of Mutuality for Sweet Adelines: One Hand for the Chorus A chorus is more than the sum total of its members. Only when members are pulling in the same direction can the chorus move forward. This starts with a commitment to chorus goals. Musical goals may include learning one’s music, buying into the music plan of each song and performance package, or working on the skills the director is trying to build into the chorus. Administrative goals may include things like a strong leadership team or board, smoothly functioning committees or fundraising. Commitment to chorus goals naturally October 2008 11 http://tbp.org/pages/Publications/Bent/LylesLaws/F07Mutuality.pdf http://tbp.org/pages/Publications/Bent/LylesLaws/F07Mutuality.pdf
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