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Effective youth choir leaders stay in touch with choir members each week. They look for unique ways to contact students. Young people appreciate this ministry and will spread the word. Purposeful youth choirs are rare in most communities. When one exists it usually attracts the attention of the whole community.

Senior Adult Choirs

Senior adult choirs are organized to appeal to mature adults and give them an opportunity to sing with a group of their peers. Many people who sing in these groups also sing in the regular adult choir of their church; however, many older adults, who are not able to maintain the pace of the regular adult choir, will sing in the Senior Choir.

In order to appeal to older adults, it is important to understand them. Many younger people fail to realize that older adults are as varied as any other group. Don't be guilty of lumping all older people into a stereotype! Many older adults are eager to travel and get involved in ministry and other activities. They love to be around people and want to be active. Others have health concerns or are recovering from losses, such as the death of a spouse, and are somewhat reclusive. Some are able to be involved but are not comfortable with being gone overnight. Others are frail and need special attention from the church; they are not able to offer ministry to others. In order to have a choir that appeals to older adults, the choir must appeal to a target group of older adults. If the choir appeals to the active group, it may lose the less active crowd; however, it is possible to appeal to each with different activities within the group and allow the more active older adults to minister to the others.

Older adults respond well to direct mail. Some studies have shown that 70% of people over 65 read the daily newspaper and all of their mail each day! Mail sent to older adults should be easily read, direct, and sure to answer their immediate questions. Older adults will appreciate a yearly calendar outlining their activities. When this is provided, they will often plan personal trips, visits, or other events around the choir schedule.

Once a senior adult choir is begun and active, it will be self-perpetuating and, with the director's help, the members themselves will promote the choir. They will look for other older adults who have time and interest. Many senior adult choirs are ecumenical groups involving adults from many faith backgrounds.

Senior adult choirs should be encouraged to participate in ministry projects throughout the year. These should include varied activities beyond periodic trips to nursing homes.

Instrumental Groups

Instrumental groups provide a different challenge because they require previous knowledge and skill and they require instruments.

It is often possible to discover instrumentalists through a churchwide talent survey; however, all instrumentalists should be auditioned before accepting them into a group. Everyone who played in high school or college may not be an acceptable player today. When poor players are allowed to join an instrumental group, you may eventually lose your good players! An instrumentalist's lack of skills becomes immediately apparent, and most instrumentalists are not as patient as singers with developing skills in the rehearsal. In the instrumentalists' world, players are expected to practice outside the rehearsal; rehearsals are for the purpose of creating ensemble, not for learning notes and rhythms! Nothing will destroy an ensemble more quickly than a few players who are considerably less skilled than the rest of the group.

Instrumentalists tend to be networkers and usually know who the other players are in the church and the community. Many of them are professional musicians and/or they play in a community group. They will be the best promoters of the group.

To recruit quality players, get to know people who play in the community band/orchestra, local symphony players, music educators, and high school players. High school music educators are eager for their students to play in other groups. They will often give you suggestions of good students to contact.

Instrumental groups should provide regular worship leadership. Their leadership in worship will signal to the rest of the congregation their unique contribution to the church and community.

Handbells

Like instrumentalists, handbell ringers need to have previous musical experience. They must read music well. Since handbells are a specialized group, they usually recruit best through networking. A broad appeal for handbell ringers, except for a beginning group, is rarely effective. Good handbell directors are always open to someone who reads rhythms well and has previous musical experience, particularly those who play another instrument. Handbell ringers should always be thoroughly auditioned.

In addition to musical skills, handbell ringers must have a high level of commitment. Handbell groups cannot rehearse effectively with a player missing. If a player must be absent, he/she must always enlist a substitute ringer from an approved list provided by the director. Good handbell ringers are team players. Because of the smaller size of the group, good handbell groups become intimate and work best with others who recognize and affirm the unique qualities of such an experience.

Publicity Checklist (in the Church)

Mark Thallander offers the following checklist for use in promoting the music ministry within the church:

Orders of Worship

Programs

Brochures and Flyers

Bulletin Inserts

Pulpit Announcements

Posters

Direct Mail

Newsletters

Church Newspapers

Bulletin Boards

Denominational Newsletters and Mailings

Web Site1

Music Ministry and Other Programs

No ministry in the church stands alone. Each is interdependent and must have the others to function effectively. Music ministry is a part of the broad ministry of the church and must be viewed and coordinated accordingly. When other ministers are involved, the need for coordination is particularly critical. Conflicts among ministers often begin through misunderstandings concerning priorities, calendaring, and scheduling. Soon these issues escalate into power struggles over which ministry is most important. Conflicts such as these can be avoided with healthy discussions concerning philosophy of ministry and by observing processes and procedures regarding scheduling and calendaring. Ideally, all major events in the church should have total support by all ministers.