Getting men into a mixed choral group

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Permalink Reply by Jim Rey R. Baloloy on November 3, 2008 at 9:00pm

Hi!

I have the same problem with my choir here in the Philippines. It really is hard to find men who want to commit. Usually my soprano singers are twice the number of my bass singers. Since my group is school based, I use good advertising as a tool for recruiting new singers. Posters don't really have an impact these days so we look for more creative ways to find singers such as text messaging. It takes time but somehow it works. =)

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Permalink Reply by Leo peter Gonzalez on May 19, 2009 at 10:49am

hmmmm....i have the same problem....but through my experience i would just like to share to you some factors:

1. Rehearsal time and venue is a factor most especially for family men
2. Some times i encourage their husbands or boyfriends to join in and train them hehehe
3. I also use a variety of repertoire to get them interested. This worked already for two of my choirs. A few of the men in
one choir got drawn because i started teaching the choir songs from the beatles hehehe. In my other choir, I got to recruit one tenor just cause i taught Shone Fremde by Fanny Hensel and i got to recruit a bass because of the negro spirituals that we sang.
4. In most cases, men are afraid to sing in a choir because they're afraid they might lack the experience and know how so what i try to do is to reach out to them personally and encourage them. There was a time when i had to bring sinful food and entice them to attend wahaahhah...Sinful because theyre fatty wahahaaha... In one of my company choirs, i even joked about a "Drinking Rehearsal" but of course I didn't push through with it.hahahaaha
5. To be honest about things, sometimes, men see it as a machismo issue here in the Philippines. Some men here think that its "gay" to sing in a choir. But there are a lot of men who do sing in choirs here in the Philippines...
6. I agree with Jim Rey that getting men to sing need personal attention like "text messaging" them personally...sometimes even pulling them to the rehearsal once in a while because for some, all they need to do is to sit in just one rehearsal....sometimes they're just too afraid to even knock at the rehearsal room so maybe the doors should be wide open or the venue is very accessible...i even encourage "sit in" singers...Sometimes i also ask some to be a critic just so that guy would set his foot on the rehearsal floor. hehehe

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Permalink Reply by Peter Willson on August 27, 2009 at 2:08am

Jim Rey R. Baloloy said:

Hi!

I have the same problem with my choir here in the Philippines. It really is hard to find men who want to commit. Usually my soprano singers are twice the number of my bass singers. Since my group is school based, I use good advertising as a tool for recruiting new singers. Posters don't really have an impact these days so we look for more creative ways to find singers such as text messaging. It takes time but somehow it works. =)

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Permalink Reply by Peter Willson on August 27, 2009 at 2:09am

Thanks for that advice sounds like a good idea

Leo peter Gonzalez said:

hmmmm....i have the same problem....but through my experience i would just like to share to you some factors:

1. Rehearsal time and venue is a factor most especially for family men
2. Some times i encourage their husbands or boyfriends to join in and train them hehehe
3. I also use a variety of repertoire to get them interested. This worked already for two of my choirs. A few of the men in
one choir got drawn because i started teaching the choir songs from the beatles hehehe. In my other choir, I got to recruit one tenor just cause i taught Shone Fremde by Fanny Hensel and i got to recruit a bass because of the negro spirituals that we sang.
4. In most cases, men are afraid to sing in a choir because they're afraid they might lack the experience and know how so what i try to do is to reach out to them personally and encourage them. There was a time when i had to bring sinful food and entice them to attend wahaahhah...Sinful because theyre fatty wahahaaha... In one of my company choirs, i even joked about a "Drinking Rehearsal" but of course I didn't push through with it.hahahaaha
5. To be honest about things, sometimes, men see it as a machismo issue here in the Philippines. Some men here think that its "gay" to sing in a choir. But there are a lot of men who do sing in choirs here in the Philippines...
6. I agree with Jim Rey that getting men to sing need personal attention like "text messaging" them personally...sometimes even pulling them to the rehearsal once in a while because for some, all they need to do is to sit in just one rehearsal....sometimes they're just too afraid to even knock at the rehearsal room so maybe the doors should be wide open or the venue is very accessible...i even encourage "sit in" singers...Sometimes i also ask some to be a critic just so that guy would set his foot on the rehearsal floor. hehehe

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Permalink Reply by Peter Willson on August 27, 2009 at 2:11am

Great ideas! Will try to get these into our schedule

Peter Willson said:

Thanks for that advice sounds like a good idea

Leo peter Gonzalez said:

hmmmm....i have the same problem....but through my experience i would just like to share to you some factors:

1. Rehearsal time and venue is a factor most especially for family men
2. Some times i encourage their husbands or boyfriends to join in and train them hehehe
3. I also use a variety of repertoire to get them interested. This worked already for two of my choirs. A few of the men in
one choir got drawn because i started teaching the choir songs from the beatles hehehe. In my other choir, I got to recruit one tenor just cause i taught Shone Fremde by Fanny Hensel and i got to recruit a bass because of the negro spirituals that we sang.
4. In most cases, men are afraid to sing in a choir because they're afraid they might lack the experience and know how so what i try to do is to reach out to them personally and encourage them. There was a time when i had to bring sinful food and entice them to attend wahaahhah...Sinful because theyre fatty wahahaaha... In one of my company choirs, i even joked about a "Drinking Rehearsal" but of course I didn't push through with it.hahahaaha
5. To be honest about things, sometimes, men see it as a machismo issue here in the Philippines. Some men here think that its "gay" to sing in a choir. But there are a lot of men who do sing in choirs here in the Philippines...
6. I agree with Jim Rey that getting men to sing need personal attention like "text messaging" them personally...sometimes even pulling them to the rehearsal once in a while because for some, all they need to do is to sit in just one rehearsal....sometimes they're just too afraid to even knock at the rehearsal room so maybe the doors should be wide open or the venue is very accessible...i even encourage "sit in" singers...Sometimes i also ask some to be a critic just so that guy would set his foot on the rehearsal floor. hehehe

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