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Gianna Horak was adopted from China as an infant—tiny, beautiful, and, her doctors feared, possibly deaf. Today, a 14-year-old singer with the Los Angeles Children's Chorus, Gianna is an accomplished young pianist, composer, and singer, having used her music training to help overcome an auditory processing problem that could have limited her ability to learn.
Her mother, Mindy Schirn, says that choral singing also provided a safe place where Gianna's differences—as an adoptee from a foreign country—could find expression, and ultimately, acceptance. Fitting in, she points out, is a huge issue for tween and early adolescent girls, regardless of their backgrounds.
"Singing allows me to express emotion," says Gianna. "When I sing, I feel soothed. It brings a calm feeling and I am amazed at the sounds I can make with my voice."
When young singers join a chorus, it can also be a journey into parts unknown for their parents. Kathy Goldstone was geared up to be a world-class soccer mom. Growing up, she was on the track and swim teams, and was good enough to win a swimming scholarship to college. So she was unprepared when her oldest daughter, Zoe, came home from fifth grade and announced she had gotten a solo in a school program.
"A solo? What? It shocked the heck out of me," Goldstone recalls. "She played violin, but I didn't know she could sing." Zoe attended a summer music camp run by the Charlotte Children's Choir and within a year she was a member of the Choir. In due course, sisters Emma and Claire followed in their big sister's footsteps. The year each girl was in a different level of the Choir and rehearsing at different times was a nearly constant stress-induced adrenalin rush. "Just getting everybody there...now that was a challenge," Goldstone says.
Stresses and Stretches
Having a child, or perhaps several, in a children's chorus is not for the faint of heart—it stretches and stresses the family in ways they never imagined.
Claudia Blumenstock recalls with some bemusement her son Jacob's first year singing with Bach Children's Chorus, a top children's singing group in Rochester, New York. "We had no idea what we were getting into," she says. "The first year, the group memorized some 48 songs in four different languages and performed some 25 times... That was hard."
But looking back, most chorus parents say they would change nothing and that they feel lucky. The benefits for their children are plain to see: growing confidence, enhanced musical knowledge and skill, an ability to work together in an accepting, nurturing community, opportunities to travel and learn about other cultures, close friendships, and more.
When Tanner Sigman entered the Appalachian Children's Chorus as a third grader, his mother Kim Sigman worried that he would find it too strict and strenuous. As it turned out, Tanner flourished, receiving a music education superior to what he would have gotten in his public school. Because of the Chorus, Tanner has had numerous opportunities to shine as a soloist, including finishing as one of four finalists in the West Virginia Symphony's Symphony Idol contest, a classical take off on the popular television program.
Colleen Grogan said that the Cincinnati Children's Choir became a lifeline for her daughter, Sarah, when the family moved back to town after a year's sabbatical away. "She made instant friends," says Grogan. "It was a huge boost for all of us. She was a lot happier. Therefore, we were a lot happier." The experience also helped Sarah discover her life's work. This fall, she enters college as a music education major.
Being part of a children's chorus opens up a new world for the family, too. When Liv Redpath joined Project Opera, the children's program of the Minnesota Opera, her entire family soon became facile with the great works of the repertoire. Not much of a stretch for her mother, Sigrid, who is a life-long musician, but for her father, it was a revelation. "He can pick up any Sunday paper now and he'll know a composer's name or the name of a work," Sigrid Redpath says. "He'll hear some piece and say to friends, 'Well that, of course, is from La Bohème.'"
Many children's choruses travel—both in North America and overseas—giving families an opportunity to experience new places and cultures. Jane Fouty has accompanied her daughter Kimberly on two tours with the Appalachian Children's Chorus—to the Czech Republic in 2004 and to Hawaii in 2007. In Hawaii, the Chorus participated in a festival that offered a complete immersion in Polynesian cultures. "We've been able to go places we would never have gone and meet so many different kinds of people," says Fouty.
What Parents Say
Chorus managers are well aware that being part of a children's chorus is an all-family enterprise and go to great lengths to spell out all the requirements of membership—with detailed parent manuals, orientation meetings, and a constant flow of communication.
"We could not exist without the support of our parents," says Lauren DeWitt, office manager of the Youth Choral Theater of Chicago. "Many of our families give generous financial contributions to our annual fund campaign. Parent volunteers show up early to concerts to set up risers, help chaperone the singers, sell tickets, usher, sell logowear, etc. We have an annual benefit that is largely run by a group of volunteers, from beginning to end."
Some choruses make it a point to get regular feedback from parents about ways to make their involvement more gratifying for their children and for the whole family. In 2007, some 44 parents answered a detailed survey about their experience with the Berks Classical Children's Chorus as part of a formal assessment the organization underwent to enhance their reach in the community. The Chorus has used the parents' comments to "tweak" some of their processes and policies, including streamlining registration and establishing informal gatherings to improve communication between parents and chorus managers.
Chorus America asked children and youth chorus parents around the country to tell us what they felt choruses could do to enrich the experience and ease the pressures on their families. We also gleaned from several children's chorus administrators their "best practices" for more productively engaging parents in the life of their organizations.
"Be clear about the commitment—both of time and money."
Choruses vary as to the commitment required of children and their families. Different levels of choirs within the same children's chorus may be less demanding than others. The Youth Choral Theater of Chicago, for example, requires its youngest choir to sing only four concerts a year. "We keep these concerts casual, very family-friendly, and they only last about an hour," says DeWitt. "Parents of the younger children really appreciate this—kids are home before bedtime and they can bring the entire family along."
In the top choirs within a children's chorus organization, the requirements grow, particularly if the choir is in demand for engagements beyond its own concert season. When Sarah Grogan moved into Bel Canto, the top choir of the Cincinnati Children's Choir, her parents had to think long and hard about the commitment required of them. "You need to know what it will do to the family schedule if your kids are in a group like Bel Canto," says Colleen Grogan, whose younger son Jeffrey also sings in CCC's treble choir. "It really does change the family focus. If parents are not absolutely committed to it and understand that commitment going in, then it is a difficult relationship for everyone."
The financial demands can be daunting for families, too. That is why many choruses offer financial assistance or flexible payment plans. In response to parent requests, the Berks Classical Children's Chorus recently established such a payment plan for spreading out tuition costs
"Understand that we have to make tough choices to keep balance in our family life."
Getting accepted into a chorus is a happy day for a child, but her or his parents often have to study the family schedule very carefully to make it work. If more than one child is in a chorus, the task of balancing activities is all the more difficult.
The Berks Classical Children's Chorus learned from its assessment that some parents and children were feeling too much pressure to place the Chorus at the top of their list of priorities. "Our singers are high achievers and want to do it all and to do it all well," says Dail Richie, executive director. "We need to understand that in order to recruit and retain singers we have to accept the fact that they have other things in their lives."
Some families go full bore at a full array of activities—often to everyone's detriment. But the wise ones make choices, as the Blumenstocks did when Jacob wanted to join the Chorus. He had to give something up.
Some choruses have instituted policies to ensure that they don't run afoul of school music commitments. The singers with the Cincinnati Children's Choir are required to participate in their school's choir or orchestra, and school performances take precedence over the Children's Choir rehearsals or performances. "If you are going to have a good relationship with your school and the teachers," says Grogan, "you have got to do that. We need that good relationship with the teacher because they are the ones who send us kids."
Children's choirs do well to cut parents some slack during the busiest times of the year. "We totally respect their time as a family and will not intrude on certain times of the year, like late December or late May," says Robyn Lana, managing artistic director of the Cincinnati Children's Choir. "When we know the Choir has had an unusually busy schedule, we will cancel a rehearsal or extend one so we can cancel another to help them save on parking and gas.
"Communicate early and often and by various means."
Children's choruses must convey to parents a massive amount information from rehearsal and performance times to details about uniforms and policies.
"Parents have a need for information," says Santini of the Bach Children's Chorus. "They need it to be as accurate and as up-to-date as possible and as soon as possible. The farther out we give them the schedule, the more likely they are to be able to work their other commitments around our schedule. Parents are busy and they need to plan."
While getting information early is important, Grogan urges choruses not to forget to repeat important information throughout the season. "Just because you say things in September doesn't mean that in January anyone will remember them," she says. She also encourages choruses to communicate in a variety of ways—email, snail mail, printed copies going home with kids, and follow-up phone calls. The Bach Children's Chorus uses its website, a weekly email memo, and an automated telephone mass calling service to keep in touch with its families.
"Help us learn the ropes."
Several parents said they appreciated their chorus's practice of teaming up new parents with the veterans. Blumenstock could have used that kind of help the first year her son was in the Bach Children's Chorus. Now she and other parents make it a point to reach out to new parents. "Sometimes I will have a new child and his parents come over and work with Jacob as he learns his music," Blumenstock says.
Grogan also makes herself available, in an informal way, to talk to parents about the ins and outs of chorus membership. "I have had lots of parents say, 'Tell me what it's like,' and I lay it out for them," she says. "They may hear it from choir management, but unless they hear it from other parents, they don't really get it."
"Make us feel a part of the chorus—but don't ask for more than we can give."
Most children's choruses host some kind of "get to know you" events for kids and parents prior to the beginning of the season. The Bach Children's Chorus has an all-day chorus camp before rehearsals start in the fall and invites parents to drop in during the day and attend a mini-concert at the end.
The Cincinnati Children's Choir offers activities, such as restaurant-of-the-month gatherings, where parents of choristers can meet and get to know each other. "And for those parents who give and give and give," says Lana, "we show our appreciation in special ways—lunch out with a staff member, a simple gift, or gatherings at my home for the regular helpers."
Parents are the main worker bees in most children's choruses. But with full-time jobs and other commitments, parents say there comes a time when "enough is enough." In its 2007 assessment, parents told the Berks Classical Children's Chorus that they were being asked to participate in too many fundraising activities during the season. The Chorus responded by cutting back to just two events a year.
"If there's a problem, tell us."
Goldstone says she wants to know what is going on with her child—both the good and the bad—and to handle it as a family. "The whole family unit is the consumer, not just the child," she says.
Blumenstock says being a part of an elite music group is tough for kids, especially the first year. Chorus managers need to be sensitive to each child individually, she says. "You want them to come back, so how do you help them get through those challenges, either by working with the parents or working with them to make it an easier transition?"
Some choruses appoint a parent to be a liaison to the other parents to handle any problems with kids. "You are really turning your child over," says Sigman. "That is one reason I volunteer a lot, but some parents can't. We have a liaison parent who is at every rehearsal, who keeps in touch with all the parents, and who you can discuss problems with."
The Cincinnati Children's Choir also appoints a parent liaison—a parent from the board who circulates among the parents and helps them feel that their voice is being heard and shared with the staff and board. "Honestly, just knowing they are heard eliminates many problems that might otherwise brew," says Lana.
"Don't assume that we understand music."
Most parents of children's choristers have some musical background themselves. But not all. Sports aficionado Goldstone said that entering the children's chorus world was like being dropped off at a bus station in a foreign land. "One time I was helping out at a rehearsal," Goldstone recalls, "and the director said, 'Kathy, can you come over and warm the kids up?' I looked at her and said, 'No, I don't play piano, I don't read music, I know nothing.'"
Goldstone wishes choruses offered some short courses on the basics of music theory. "Not all people who put their kids in choirs are musical themselves," she says. "It's a different language and it's harder to relate to your child or to the director if you have no idea what the language is."
Parents also need instruction about how to help their children learn the music. The Bach Children's Chorus uses DVDs to help their choristers learn their parts and devotes a rehearsal to showing kids and parents how the process works. "You need to have someone sitting in front of the DVD player saying, 'This is how you teach your kid the music,'" says Blumenstock. "This visual and aural learning is equally important for the parents as it is for the children."
Parents say they also could use more information about the process of putting a concert program together. Project Opera has begun to offer that kind of information—things like, why do we have six consecutive days of rehearsal followed by four performances?
"If you have never sung in a choir or performed in a musical ensemble," says Jamie Andrews, community education director of Project Opera, "how would you know all the steps involved? Giving parents good reasons makes them more willing to adjust their child's schedule to get them to all the rehearsals."
"Give us bragging rights."
Parents expressed this need in the assessment conducted by the Berks Classical Children's Chorus and it was echoed by other parents we spoke with. "Parents want to be able to talk about the wonderful things their child does with the chorus," says Ritchie. "Of course, the staff and board have always believed that what the singers are doing is wonderful, but we need to do a better job of explaining 'why' to parents and to singers."
Parents can better understand the 'why' if chorus managers explain the philosophy of the program. Earlier this year, Lana of the Cincinnati Children's Choir got an email from the father of a chorister. "His daughter is in our advanced choir and has some learning challenges," Lana says. "He said that it wasn't until he saw me do a presentation on the educational philosophies of our program—that it is child-focused and esteem building, that artistic excellence is a benefit of what we actually provide educationally—that he realized that the change he has seen in his daughter over the past year was because of her involvement in the choir."
This article is adapted from The Voice, Fall 2008.
