I think that sometimes I lose track of how many hats I have to wear in this job, and sometimes it all just blends together into a big nasty looking hat that is too heavy and doesn't fit anyway. Today I was focusing more on the choir director hat and read through some of my old textbooks. I stopped at a question on what the qualifications for a good choir director might be. Actually, it wasn't one of the questions, and it wasn't even in the chapter review! I just found that I was more interested in coming up with my own list of qualifications based on experience instead of answering any of the chapter review questions. Yeah, I like to answer chapter review questions out of my old college textbooks for fun... does that make me a wierdo?
Anyway, here are the list of 10 that I came up with, in order from least important to most important:
10) Piano performance skills
9) Conducting skills
8) Solid pedagogy
7) Leadership skills
6) Knowledge of repertoire
5) Good communicator
4) Interpersonal skills
3) Rehearsal planning
2) Knowledge of singing
1) Knowledge of music
Fortunately, I have an exceptional understanding of music. Unfortunately, I have a minimal knowledge of singing! I'm also proficient at rehearsal planning and have developing interpersonal skills [read: behavior management and relationships]. I have basic communication skills, but only a minimal knowledge of the repertoire. My leadership skills are proficient, and my understanding of pedagogy is also proficient. My conducting skills are proficient and my piano skills are developing.
Knowledge of singing:
I feel like this is one of my weakest areas besides knowledge of repertoire. Currently, I am using the book Teaching Kids to Sing (Phillips) to improve in this area. The book has helped a lot in setting up a better foundation, but I still need more practice to be able to grasp everything at once and see how it is all interconnected. My goal is to continue using this book this quarter, but instead of going through a single level of all 15 categories, I want to try to reach the highest level with each class in each category. In the high school choir, I might get to the fifth or sixth level, while the junior high choir might only reach the second or third level. During the first quarter, I taught the same level to every class, which made planning a lot easier. I know it will be more work, but I think that over the course of a few years it will be less work, because I will reach a better understanding sooner. I am also learning a lot just by doing. For example, figuring out how important it is to teach the "bad words" in choir like the "urr" sound.
Knowledge of repertoire:
This is probably the most difficult area for me because I just don't have the same experience in choir as I do in band. I didn't join choir until the end of high school, and by then I was already a proficient musician and didn't have to go through the same struggles that junior high and elementary choir singers go through. When I look at a piece of choir music, it is still difficult for me to discern whether or not my groups would be able to perform them. Obviously, the harder ones are easy to identify, but the gray area is that line of "a little too easy" and "a little too hard." I just don't have the experience to know what makes the difference by looking at the piece. I also don't have a very broad selection to choose from, maybe 30-40 standard songs that I know from teaching over the years. I would like to have hundreds to choose from! So what do I do besides continue to pick repertoire and hope it works? I think the most obvious solution is for me to start with various state festival lists and pick music from there first. I also think that the best place for me to start is at the current level of my choirs, which would be easy grade one music. Then, I suppose that it is a job of ordering single copies of a ton of different songs and singing through them to identify various difficulties. That might also be a good plan: start identifying the various factors that cause my choirs to succeed or fail as far as the arrangements go.
Summary:
In short, I do have the qualifications to be a choir director. There are some areas of weakness that I need to shore up, but as long as I continue to work on those two areas and several others - I will soon become not just a choir director, but a good choir director.
