7/30/2023 0 Comments Many gifts one spirit allen pote![]() We performed downtown at Knox College where I teach and then did a series of performances at the church. That spring, I programmed a musical with the choir, and more kids were attracted to join. It became clear that the congregation highly valued the youth choir, and I caught a new vision of what might be possible with this group. The following year, the church embarked on a comprehensive visioning exercise. At the end of the first year, our number was up to seven. In the course of our meetings we became good friends, and they learned about sight-singing and vocal production. I spent the first year rehearsing teenage choristers in my office. We learned hymns and tried to figure out what they meant. We pulled texts apart, and I showed the choir how our music would function and interact with other parts of the service. From the beginning, I brought my own passion for meaningful worship to our rehearsals. ![]() I have also found other youth choir leaders wonderfully helpful and generous with ideas.Įven while I was feeling my way forward, however, I had a strong sense of what the choir’s focus ought to be. How does a choir director care for and encourage young male singers through this transition? I have since learned that much of the information that I learned the hard way is readily available from excellent organizations such as the Choristers Guild. The choir had more boys than girls, and many of them had changing voices. ![]() And it took me a while to get a feeling for the kinds of music that would engage teens. At first I thought that I should maintain the structures as I found them. Fortunately, with the encouragement of parishioners who became my close friends, I soon disabused myself of these notions.īut I faced other challenges. I’m not particularly young or good-looking, and I don’t find being “one of the gang” easy or comfortable. I assumed that successful youth choir leaders had to be young, good-looking, and popular with the kids. I came to Islington with no youth choir experience, full of apprehension about this part of the job. It was clear to me that I needed to provide the widest possible variety of music-making for this congregation. The warm, inclusive spirit and the compelling preaching at Islington immediately engaged me, and I resolved to build on these strengths. Their fairly traditional worship moved easily between formality and improvisation. When I arrived to take a position as minister of music seven years ago, I found Islington parishioners open and receptive to all kinds of music. The members of Islington United would say that music has always been an important part of the church’s life. ![]() In that time, the choir has grown from a tiny group of four fearless kids singing in unison to a four-part choir of about forty teens. This scene has repeated itself almost every Sunday morning for about seven years. The congregation at the 9:30 service responds to the choir’s leadership with enthusiasm. By 9:25, the Islington United Church Youth Choir (IUCYC) is on its way to the sanctuary, prepared to lead a full congregation in a hymn of praise. A parent checks attendance and solves last-minute problems. But they’re here, and as they warm up their voices and begin to sing, I’m reminded of newborn butterflies drying their wings and getting ready for flight. Most of them look sleepy many look as though they just stepped out of the shower. About forty teenagers have assembled in the choir rehearsal room at Islington United Church in west Toronto. ![]()
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