One of the best activities I have built into my advanced choir’s schedule is our Fall Retreat. It has proven enormously beneficial to the choir on many levels, most of which are extra-musical. The retreat gives the students a chance to get to know one another, develop section and ensemble identities, and discover the leaders within the group. It also lets them see you (the director) in a different light.
While there are many ways to put this kind of event together, I’d like to share what I do with my students. Understand that my premise for the retreat is my belief that a choir will be more successful if the members know and care for each other. Music is their common purpose, but they come from all different backgrounds and experiences. My primary focus for the weekend is building a TEAM, not just a choir. During this weekend, the crafts we create, the games we play, the activities we do are just as important as the music we make, because those things ultimately enable us to become a choir, not just a group of people who like to sing.
Our two-day retreat takes place in September. We leave school around noon on Friday, and drive about an hour away to a secluded campsite owned by a local mega-church. This location is perfect for us because it has separate (air-conditioned) bunkhouses for males and females, a large area for our rehearsals, and a cafeteria which provides our meals. The outdoor activities are many, from hiking and horseshoes, to boating and field sports. There are large shelters where we can do craft activities. Our schedule has a mixture of full choir rehearsals, sectional rehearsals, group games and activities. We do a campfire on Friday night where we talk about goals for the year and have inspirational words from some of the seniors. We follow that with a talent show, where some very unique and surprising talents emerge. Saturday is more of the same, with larger chunks of rehearsals, ultimately getting some of our music into a polished state. Sometimes we will do a short performance for other groups staying at the Retreat Center. We conclude in the late afternoon by recapping what we have learned, who we have met and what our favorite parts of the retreat have been.
Building section identities is a huge part of our retreat. We have a “spirit stick”, a 12″ piece of PVC pipe decorated in music notes and ribbons. This is a coveted prize which is presented to a section of the choir based on “spirit points.” The parents who chaperone the event can award or take away points for student behavior (both good and bad) and for winning various events or challenges throughout the weekend. While this may seem like a trivial reward, the product is amazing. I can’t explain it, but it is a huge motivational factor for the kids to participate passionately in all aspects of the retreat. The level of choir pride and section unity that has resulted is something I have not been able to create in the classroom.
In the name of choir spirit, each section creates some sort of theme or gimmick for the weekend. They carry it out through costumes, t-shirts and flags (the latter two are crafting projects). This year, my sopranos came in to class on retreat Friday wearing Viking Helmets with bright yellow braids hanging down. The year before, the tenor section made capes which they wore to each activity until they were drenched in a pop-up rain shower. The flags are always impressive. Each section is given a 4’x6’ piece of canvas on which to create their section flag. This is a great exercise in teamwork because the students have to come up with a theme or design and create their flag in less than an hour. Since they have come to expect this activity, some pre-planning sometimes occurs. My bass section this year wanted to establish their role as the foundation of the choir, so the section leader took pictures of each bass in a macho pose a few days before the retreat. They printed and cut out the pictures, then attached them to the canvas underneath rock-shaped letters spelling out CHOIR. The result was a visual representation of the basses supporting the choir. Needless to say, they won the flag making contest, although the Viking-themed soprano flag was a close second. The flags are taken back to school with us and displayed on the walls of the choir room for the rest of the year. Kids in other choirs see the flags which helps to spread the choir spirit throughout the department and fosters a desire to be a part of the A Cappella Choir.
Most of my kids would tell you that Choir Retreat is all about Kickball. We have a kickball tournament, section versus section, on the first day of retreat. Then on Saturday, the 1st round losers play each other and the 1st round winners play each other. The kickball champions have bragging rights the whole year and receive a lot of spirit points. I’m always amazed at how rough and tough some of the girls are —that quiet young lady who never speaks in class can sure talk trash on the kickball field, while wearing her Viking helmet!
I realize that much of what I have described sounds goofy and juvenile. The reality is that often we push so hard in class that we forget the value of play. I am as guilty of this as anyone. I take my music and my job very seriously, often too seriously. But through this retreat experience, I have learned that I get the equivalent of more than two weeks of daily rehearsals out of the 6-7 rehearsal hours during retreat, and with much less stress. And the extra-musical benefits are even greater. It may require a lot of planning, parent help and financial resources to pull this off, but there are many things I would give up with my choir before I would get rid of the retreat. It has become perhaps the most valuable event for the development of my choir.
Angela Hampton is choral director at Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, Indiana. She currently serves the Indiana Choral Directors Association as the Senior High School Repertoire and Standards Chairperson.
[Reprinted with permission from the Winter 2010 issue of ICDA Notations: the official newsletter of the Indiana Choral Directors Association ]
