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Statement of Understanding
Our chorus has been struggling for some time now. We have had trouble retaining members, and especially recruiting and retaining talented singers who can help improve the overall quality of the singing in the chorus. Historically, a large part of the problem has been the lack of consistent leadership. Now that musical direction is no longer an issue, our chapter needs to develop a strategy to help us increase membership, improve our overall musical quality, and give our members a positive experience.
A Few Observations
Through the board member discussions, contact with people from Durango, talking to others the Farmington community, and meeting with members of the RMD leadership, we have identified several factors involved with our chapter's struggles:
- Membership Decline. The decline in membership has hurt the chapter exponentially. The fewer talented members we retain, the fewer talented people want to join. Many of the remaining membership have a love for barbershop, but are not strong singers. One director at COTS used the terms "singers" and "leaners" to describe the stronger musical talents vs. the hobbyists who love the style but don't necessarily possess a high level of singing talent. In this strategy paper, I will focus on recruiting singers, not leaners. This doesn't mean that leaners aren't welcome in the chorus—they certainly are. But I will propose some new requirements for members who want to perform (and possibly compete) with the chorus.
- Community Perceptions. For some reason—perhaps because of the chorus' decline and the historical lack of direction—our chorus carries a significant stigma within the community. This includes both potential singers and others who could be instrumental in aiding our recruiting efforts. Some of the people who have been working against the chorus include both high school and college musical personnel, some faith-based musical directors, and so on. This will be a difficult challenge as we begin recruiting new singers from the community.
- Durango Connections. Our ties with the Durango chorus present some specific challenges for us as a chapter. First, it means we are required to rehearse music that has been difficult to reconcile with our current talent base. Second, it ties our success to the success of the Durango organization and leadership. Third, it prevents us from charting our own course for our own chapter and chorus. On the other hand, we can directly benefit from our association with Durango in terms of dual members, shared resources, and general fellowship. We need to redefine our relationship to maximize the benefits and minimize the drawbacks.
- Rehearsal Space. Our current rehearsal venue presents additional problems for bringing in and retaining new members. For some reason, there are some negative feelings associated with the Community of Christ denomination for some members of the community, so we are automatically excluding certain people by meeting there. Second, the hall has poor acoustics and a seating arrangement that isn't conducive to rehearsing and listening. We need a different venue with better acoustics, and either choir seats or a place to put risers.
Time for Change
Based on the acknowledged problems, there are several possible solutions. Several of us have been discussing possible remedies, and the following is a distillation of what we believe needs to happen for our chapter not just to survive, but to succeed.
- Chorus Rebirth. Community perceptions and the current membership issues suggest that we could get a great deal of help by simply disbanding our current chorus (the Gaslight Chorus) and creating a new (as yet unnamed) chorus. We could create a new name that would more accurately describe our new musical direction. On the one hand, this would allow us to call attention to the fact that we are refocusing the group. This could help counteract some of the negative perceptions by some in the community because it would be perceived as a new group. Internally, this would give us a chance to create an entirely new culture within the chorus, as well as to implement a new mission, new philosophies, and new policies and procedures (such as creating new membership categories that include performing and non-performing members).
- Change of Venue. We need to find somewhere else to rehearse. Optimally, this would be somewhere on "neutral ground," that isn't tied into a particular religious denomination. But this is not the major requirement. We need a rehearsal space that will allow for better listening, more comfortable rehearsals, and especially, risers that will allow us to stand together instead of scattered out in a large semicircle. A new venue would also reinforce the "newness" of the reconstituted chorus.
- Alter the Durango Relationship. Our proximity to the Durango chapter suggests that both chapters can benefit from a continued relationship. However, since we have separate directors, separate boards, and separate (though slightly overlapping) memberships, we are heading in two different directions, musically speaking. We need to revamp this relationship to include an arrangement to perform at least twice a year on a combined ticket, in both Farmington and Durango, for a total of four annual combined concerts. For these performances, each chorus will perform from its own repertoire, with perhaps a couple of joint numbers to end the show. Dual chapter members will of course be free to perform with both groups, but they will have to rehearse with both groups.
- Charter Membership Blitz. With a new chorus and a new venue, we will need to create a program of intensive recruitment to fill out the chorus. A plan of attack is outlined below. Our goal will be a minimum of 20 regularly attending singers (not counting leaners) as a core to get the new chorus started, but I believe we can exceed that number if we follow the plan. The breakdown of the 20 should include 6 strong leads, 6 basses, 4 tenors, and 4 baritones.
- Establish New Membership Categories. Our new chorus, like the current organization, should be a non-audition chapter. However, we believe that our members and the chorus as a group would benefit from setting very minimal standards on who performs when the group sings publicly. We propose the establishment of two different membership categories. The first category, "Chapter Member," is open to anyone who wants to come and sing. The second category, "Performing Member," is open to any Chapter Member who can carry a part while performing 2 polecat songs in front of the group to the satisfaction of four board members. While some community performances will be open to all Chapter Members, more formal concerts (and, perhaps, contests) will be limited to Performing Members.
- Revamp Chorus Culture. One of the major reasons men get together to sing barbershop is for brotherhood. We believe there is a distinct lack of brotherhood in our chapter. Our members don't particularly like each other, mostly (we think) because they don't really know each other. One of the most successful things other chapters have done to foster friendships is to have regularly scheduled informal afterglows following rehearsal. We propose that, twice a month, we adjourn rehearsal to a local restaurant, coffee shop, pizza place, or tavern to do some quarteting, some tag singing, and to get to know each other better. This should be on the schedule so people know it's coming up, and everyone should be encouraged to attend. We theorize that the more fun our men have after rehearsal, the more often they'll come to sing at rehearsal.
We truly believe that implementing these changes will have a significant positive impact on barbershopping in Farmington. If we can do this successfully, we can lay the foundation for a chorus and quarteting experience that will rival some of the larger programs we have seen in our district. If we don't make these changes, our chorus will continue its decline—eventually dwindling away to extinction.
Recruiting Plan
We know that there are around 40,000 residents in San Juan County, in and around the cities of Farmington, Kirtland, Bloomfield, Aztec, and Shiprock. Any area of this size should be able to support a chorus of at least 50 members. In the past, advertising and other strategies have failed to produce significant results. We are proposing a plan of direct contact, leveraging the numerous church and social organizations in the area, to directly contact and personally invite musically inclined men in the San Juan region to join us in song.
There are almost 140 churches and congregations in the San Juan region. In addition, there are numerous organizations such as the Elks' Club, Lion's Club, and so on that can be tapped for members. Our plan is to use these connections within the community to find men on which to focus for recruitment.
The plan goes as follows:
- Compile a List of Organizations. In one or two brainstorming sessions, beginning with telephone directories and adding in personal contacts, we can come up with a master list of target organizations, complete with names of organizations, addresses, and main contact numbers.
- Get Each Organization's Musical Contact. By individually calling each organization, we can find out who the main musical contact is. Some may have an officially musical director, others may have someone who is an unofficial point of contact. (Others may be asked not to be contacted—we should expect this)
- Call Each Musical Contact. A member of the board will contact each musical contact person. By using a prepared message (a bulleted "script") we will explain that we are forming a new men's chorus and are looking for charter members. We will ask for names of four men in the organization that we could contact directly to invite them to join. (If the contact volunteers more than four, or less than four, we'll take as many as they give us.) We'll also ask if we could send someone to speak to their membership to talk about our chorus and what we plan to do.
- If Invited, Address Membership. If the opportunity is given, a board member will attend a membership meeting (church or auxiliary meeting) and talk about the new chorus. We will bring leave-behind leaflets with schedules, contacts, and the new rehearsal location.
- Invite Contacts to Attend Launch Meeting. A board member will call each contact that results from contacting these organizations. By using a prepared message (a bulleted "script") we will explain who we are, and extend a personal invitation to come to our launch meeting in January. If contact lets us, we will take a mailing address so we can send a reminder for the launch meeting. The calling board member will rate the contact's reaction on a scale of 1-5 to determine how much additional attention to give this contact.
- Send out Printed Reminder. At the end of December, we will send out a printed invitation/reminder to each of the contacts who volunteered an address. By this time our website will be launched, so we can encourage contacts to visit the website for more information about the group, where we will be rehearsing, and other information.
- Personal Reminder. The week before the launch meeting, a board member will personally call each interested contact to remind him about the launch meeting, and to offer transportation. We will also remind the contacts to visit our website for more information about the launch meeting and the organization.
- Conduct Launch Meeting. The launch meeting must be planned out to maximize the social and musical experience. Everyone will be greeted at the door, and given a name tag. We should have at least two quartets perform, and give new attendees lots of chances to sing. High-quality refreshments and a well-scripted pep talk will help create a positive experience. We'll hand out copies of music we plan to sing during the season, and read through some music as a group. Finally, we'll challenge these guys to come the next week as we begin regular rehearsals with the newly reborn chorus.
This may look like a lot of work, and it will be a lot of work. However, it should pay off huge dividends for the chorus. At a conservative estimate, we should probably be able to get at least 15-20 new, permanent, full-time members for the new chorus. Add that to the current 15-20 members in the San Juan chapter, and we can double our chapter size, infuse the group with new blood, and most of all, increase the level of musical talent in the Farmington membership.
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