UNISON - WA ACDA's Online Newsletter
Articles and news
February 10, 2011
District Vertical Concerts: A Great Recruiting Tool
by Josh Viles – Repertoire and Standards Chair for Men’s Choirs
I
t seems that every year that passes makes our jobs busier. We all know that it is important to find the time to visit our feeder elementary and middle schools and talk up our programs. Better still, is the chance to bring our choirs to those schools and let them perform.
These performances are powerful tools in getting younger kids excited about their future in choir at their local high school. The problem is who has the time? An even better question would be who has the money for a bus and a substitute to travel to these various locations?
A vertical concert is a possible solution to this problem. Vertical concerts not only allow you to recruit and perform for your feeder schools, they will also be a special event for your community and a possible platform for advocacy. 
Our vertical concerts are set up by high school service areas. Each of these service areas includes five elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school.
The concert consists of a performance from a massed fifth grade choir, made up of students from the general music classes at the elementary schools, the middle school’s most advanced ensemble, and both a training choir and an advanced choir from the high school.
These concerts always close with a finale with all of the students performing one piece as a huge, massed choir. The literature for this is usually something simple to accommodate the various voice levels, but sophisticated enough to keep the older kids engaged (think a two part Down by the Sally Gardens or Simple Gifts.)
This format allows for the fifth graders to see and hear exactly what exciting opportunities await them in middle and high school. It also gives the eighth graders a chance to get excited about high school and can often change minds that were “on the fence” about joining choir.
Recruiting aside, this format also allows you to really sell your music program, K-12! Think of the impression this would make on district level administrators and local politicians to see huge numbers of students participating in choir at all levels. This is made even stronger in our district as the band and orchestra programs do this as well.
It also gives you a platform for advocacy, fundraising, and community education. More importantly, it will get your community excited about your choir program and ignite a huge sense of pride!
Parents love to see their kids involved in healthy, high quality, and well organized activities. The many benefits of doing a vertical concert really justify the work that goes into it.
T
his may seem like a huge undertaking, but some good communication and esprit des corps with your elementary and middle school teachers makes this an easy, and yes, fun process.
The following is how we have divided this up over the last few years, of course you could re-jig this to fit your needs. The elementary teachers select the finale music. If it is not something in our library (which it usually is) they are responsible for pooling the money to purchase copies for everyone.
The elementary teachers also take care of accompanist duties, by either providing it themselves, or hiring the necessary staff.
The middle school takes care of the site management by reserving the space, filling out the district paper work, and arranging for movement of risers and custodians.
The high school runs the massed rehearsals, acts as the master of ceremonies, and provides the program.
It may take some practice, but running an event this large is truly made much easier by dividing up the duties.
I would like to leave you with a personal experience I had at one of these events. I brought my Men’s Ensemble to one event and they performed the “Hunter’s Chorus” from Der Freischutz and a lovely setting of O Mistress Mine arr. By Neil Ginsberg. Naturally, they were a hit and the audience loved them. However, the really powerful moment came a little later as we were cleaning up. A handful of 5th grade boys came up to me and said, in so many words; “we used to not like music class so much, but now we want to stay in choir so we can be in the Man Choir in high school…..that was awesome!”
I took down all of their names and told them I would be checking in on them in middle school and looked forward to working with them.
The full effect of the vertical concert was felt when each of those boys walked into my Concert Choir the first day of their freshman year. They stayed with it, and they do indeed sing in my Men’s Choir as we speak!
This really is a powerful format that will make your recruiting life a lot easier and more joyful. It is also a fantastic way to show your community how strong vocal music is and what a difference it makes in the lives of our children. I encourage you to attempt a Vertical Concert in your district. If you have any questions or want to learn more, please feel free to contact me, my information is below. Have a great rest of the year!
Josh Viles
Director of Choirs
Hazen High School
(425) 204-4258
josh.viles@rentonschools.us