It's Really Hard to Get Even Moderate Results

"Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer. And then you'll notice you've got their strict attention."
         -from the movie Se7en

As choral conductors, we rely on other people to realize our visions. We are, to some extent, dependent on our choristers, our boards, and our audiences. The flip side of this, though, is our inherent responsibility as choral leaders to motivate people. We must constantly seek to engage and to evoke enthusiastic commitment from people; in short, we must strive to inspire others.

How do we accomplish this? There's an almost infinite variety of ways that we can inspire people. However, in this post, we'd like to focus on the value of persistent, focused dialogue with others.

In our efforts to promote and recruit for our endeavors, it's easy to fall into the trap of "free publicity". Libraries, schools and well-meaning colleagues will happily hand out fliers on our behalf. But do these paths of little resistance actually lead to success?

The answer is: rarely. We've found that in order to see real results in this area, we must engage in personal one-on-one dialogue with at least several key people (if not hundreds of potential customers). When we set out to motivate others, whether it's to attend a performance or join an ensemble, we tend to underestimate how much work is required to secure the commitment of even one person.

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KRISHAN: When I held my first full-time church job, the Pastor and I decided to introduce a series of choral events. The parish had never really hosted concerts, although the space was acoustically ideal for choral performance (an intimate setting comprised of nothing but hard surfaces). For our first choral concert, showcasing an excellent local chamber choir, we ran an ad in the parish bulletin for several weeks, posted tasteful fliers around the church grounds, and augmented our publicity efforts with an announcement from the Pastor at the end of Mass. The result of our modest publicity effort was disappointing: less than 40 people showed up for the performance. The church could easily accommodate a few hundred, and we had hoped for at least 150. This was an early lesson to me. I learned from this experience that, in order to get people to show up, it take more- much more- than just putting the info out there.


KIRSTEN: I learned this lesson in 2014, the year that Krishan and I founded the SACRA/PROFANA Summer Choral Intensive Program.  I had big plans for that summer - my ultimate goal was 100 students, 25 of each voice part. I wrote out my plans and began working very hard. I contacted every choral teacher in the area and made over 25 school visits to announce the new program, speaking to over 700 high school singers in total. I gave each student a detailed brochure of the program with a registration packet, and collected e-mail addresses so that I could follow up with more information. I created a rotating schedule, whereby every 5 days I sent reminder emails to specific choirs, urging their members to register. As a very driven and goal-oriented individual, I wanted all of my ducks in a row in order to achieve my goal of 100 registered students in 2014.

In 2014, 76 students registered for SCI. Even when I thought I was going full force, I was unable to reach my goal. 76 is certainly a respectable amount of students, and it turned out to be a great summer- but 76 was not the original goal I had expected. Reaping the benefits of what I had sown wouldn't even come in 2015, when we had 97 students registered - closer to the goal, but not quite there yet. After several meetings, thousands of email conversations, and pulling as many teeth as possible, I still achieved a moderate result relative to my goal.

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Every product under the sun relies on focused, sustained marketing to engage its audience. Why should choral music be any different? Most of the time, we know that we have an incredible, perhaps even life-changing product to offer. Our marketing efforts should reflect that knowledge, and we mustn't be averse to engaging directly and persistently with individuals. While it certainly requires less effort to write ads and hand out flyers, engaging in personal dialogue leads to exponential success.