January 15, 2012, 9:45 AM

 

President Warren Johnson opened the Board meeting with prayer.

 

Warren complimented the Section Leaders on the excellent job they are doing to keep their sections well informed and encouraged. Roger said that no one has asked for his assistance with members who may be losing interest or are absent often. He is eager to help us with our sections, and asks that we keep him in touch.

 

Bill Wirant (Recruiting Leader) also wants to be informed when it appears members are waning in their interest to attend choir regularly. Recruiting is going well, as evidenced by our most recent new members: David Froman, Frank Miller, and Joe Maiden.

 

Ruth Talle, Soprano Section Leader, expressed her happiness that Lydia Backart is back singing with us (edited). We discussed the possibility of having a “buddy” who would take those individuals needing assistance to the elevator so they could avoid the stairs. Warren will work with Logistics Leader Carol Yuiska to try to come up with a way to handle this. (edited)

 

Michael Gusky, Tenor Section Leader, has purchased a Cyberbass tenor-part CD for the tenors as an aid in learning the “Schubert Mass in G” we are doing for the spring “in-service” concert. This will supplement the “tutti” CDs that Roger and Chris have provided for the choir. She regularly sends an email to her tenor section, encouraging regular attendance and fellowship. She asked that Roger please help her with some calls to try to improve attendance for the section. We have added one tenor (Ralph Sotello) to the tenor section, but he will be here only for the in-service concert. With Candace and Roy returning to sing with us again for the concert, she believes that we will have 11 or 12 tenors at that time.

 

Patti Johnson, Alto Section Leader, expressed delight at the alto section’s excellent attendance these past several weeks. She regularly sends out an email to the section which she calls “Owl Toe Tunes”. It is a communications tool to keep the section closely connected, praying for and praising each other. Most of the people who are absent have been good about letting her know so we can plan for their absence. The section is going through some seating rearrangements to optimize the voice projection of the section.

 

Jay Temple, Bass Section Leader, thanked Bill Wirant for his help in attracting some of the new members who have come to the section in recent weeks. He also asked for assistance from Roger in contacting one or two of the basses whose attendance has been spotty.

 

Warren reminded the Section Leaders to have new members fill out the “New Member Information Sheets” and return them to Warren so their info can be entered into our communications system. We need to make sure that all bases are covered in regards to new members (robe assignment, music assignment, etc.).

 

Chris Cook talked a bit about the classes he is teaching this winter. They offer a good opportunity for choir members to learn to read music better and also to improve their vocal skills. All members are encouraged to attend his classes.

 

Chris and Roger initiated an extended discussion about the pros and cons of having a “Spring Concert”, either this year or in future years. Such a Sunday-afternoon concert probably would require about nine weeks of rehearsal to prepare. The calendar date of Easter in a given year would be a factor affecting the date of the concert and the preparation time available. If Easter falls in April, the concert would likely have to be held in June.

 

Some ideas regarding the content of a such a Spring Concert were discussed, such as:  a combination of religious and secular music; a combination of “pops” and traditional music followed by an ice cream social; a potpourri of classical favorites from major works; and others. Warren and Chris will work to prepare a survey of choir members to decide if they would support the endeavor, which would in fact affect our Music Ministry planning for years to come.

 

Chris said that he wants to make the “in-service” concert, like what we are doing this year with the Schubert, a tradition for future years. So any Spring Concert would have to be in addition to the in-service concert.

 

Roger explained that, in his view, an “in-service” concert differs from a Sunday-afternoon concert in that the former is intended to nurture our own congregation. A Sunday-afternoon concert is mainly used to attract and introduce our church and Music Ministry to the community at large.

 

Next, the Board reviewed progress on the tasks in the Action Plan prepared last spring by the Choir Renewal Team. Warren noted that the Renewal Team work is clearly paying off in attracting new members. One of our newest basses, Frank Miller, told Warren that he happened to be in the church’s Welcome Center one day and picked up a copy of the Renewal Team’s new choir invitational flyer, “Do You Love to Sing?”, which was prepared by Patti and Chris. After reading it, he decided to give vent to his long-delayed desire to sing in a choir, and gave Warren a call! Also, Warren mentioned that new alto Vivian Umenei was attracted to the choir through contact with choir representatives at a recent graduation-night event for new church members.

 

Coverage of this periodic event is one of the tasks in the Action Plan. Another New Church Members’ class will be starting on January 25 and will run for six weeks. Bill Wirant assured us that he or someone else will be present on graduation night to represent the Chancel Choir.

 

With regard to the “Communications and Outreach” task, the public website Facebook is one of our recruiting tools. The choir Facebook page is being maintained by Patti, but has attracted only 25 “likes”. It was suggested that Le’ Kubow arrange to have the Facebook page displayed on the monitor in the choir room and show how it is used. We are also working on having our Facebook page linked to the RBCPC Facebook page. 

 

Another Action Plan task involved the use of courtyard tables for recruiting between services. This has not been done since last September. Task Leader Gary Coleman said that he and Bill Wirant will plan and host another courtyard recruiting event in the near future.

 

Bill spoke with Lisa Fredrichs, choral director at RB High School, about referring her alumni choir members to sing with us. Patti sent Lisa an electronic copy of the new choir flyer, which will be posted on their Facebook page. We also discussed the possibility of using Marti Martinez to help recruit former members from her music department to sing with us. Bill reminded us that we should all consider ourselves to be recruiters.

 

Roger still envisions a day when we can have an Alumni Festival Day at our church with invited local choirs for a Sunday-afternoon concert. This idea will be explored in the future.

 

We next discussed guidelines and practices for providing meals to choir members who are sick or recovering from surgery, or have had a death in the family, and are unable to handle the task by themselves. Chris said that, generally, food for a memorial service is handled by the family of the deceased. Sunshine Leader Jeanne Griffin and her assistants will try to assess each individual situation for the degree of need, and work to help those truly needing assistance. Jeanne will also prepare a brief policy statement for our review and later dissemination to the choir.

 

Carol Yuiska apologized for the seating complications we have encountered. There is a difference between the number of chairs in the choir loft versus the choir rehearsal room, which makes it difficult to keep our sections together and aligned as Roger is seeking to accomplish. We all agreed it is nice to have the “problem” of having too many people!

 

Lastly, Warren encouraged us to be more friendly and welcoming to all members of the choir, not just to the new members. We need to be particularly sensitive to those who return after a lengthy absence. These returning members may not know all that has transpired during their absence, and may need help in getting re-oriented again. Clearly, the Section Leaders need to set an example of loving concern for each member, and all of us need to have this friendly, nurturing spirit in our relationships with each other.

 

We ended our meeting with a prayer by Chaplain Karan Selezinka.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Patti Johnson

Secretary