Recruitment through Web and FB
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    This may be of some interest to a few of you who are facing diminishing choral demographics:

    http://tccov.org/future-music-ministry/
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    Melo, what kind of reaction have you gotten?
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Just came onto web and FB this Monday, Greg. Hope springs...
    Thanked by 1gregp
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Greg, Charles,

    I'm not in recruitment, technically, but if I were, I wouldn't use Face(palm) to do it.

    Personal contact allows you to assess the qualities of the person before he shows up to rehearsal.

    Cheers,

    Chris
    Thanked by 1R J Stove
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Actually, Chris, whether from off the street, referral or now FB, our 'intake' always involves at least a preliminary interview, both for musical assessment as well as Safe Environment. If the person is a 'known' musical entity, there is still an audition for schola. A minimum amount of sight reading ability is necessary as well as vocal quality. (You might have read in another thread that we sight-read all of Heath's Bread of Heaven in one hour last night.)
    Ensemble requirements are less stringent. Never fear, I'm on it.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 964
    I will be very interested to hear the response you get... I think there are many talented singers sitting out in the congregation who simply don't want to give the time required to be part of the choir. It just isn't a priority for them...
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Charles,

    Fair enough. I suppose I have the visceral reaction against Face(palm) because I hear so many stories about the dreadful way people behave there. Indecorous is a mild way to describe it. I wouldn't go looking for vocations to the priesthood in a nightclub, either, for the same reason: there might be someone with a vocation in that building, but it's not the logical place to start looking.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,046
    Chris, there are a number of us here on Farcebook. Did you really want to paint with so broad a brush? I don't see more bad behavior than anywhere else on the Net, including this forum.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Chris, I'm well aware of how indecorous FB is. But I rather think that has more to do with where and with whom you visit. Actually, one of our parochial vicars demanded I start an FB account, as I too was dead set against doing social media outside of denizens such as MSF!
    But an anecdote. We were having a Pastoral Council meeting about building our proto cathedral in the upcoming years, and our pastor met with the Mega Assembly of God preacher across the street. When asked what were the most effective means of communication from his perspective, the preacher rattled off: 1. The pulpit and 2. FACEBOOK! Blew me away. Anyway, it really can't hurt, will keep everyone appraised.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Jeffrey,

    I don't intend to paint with a broad brush. Can good things happen on Face(palm)? I'm sure they can, but I haven't seen any of these good results. Are there intelligent people who (nevertheless) post on Face(palm)? Probably, since I know some otherwise intelligent people who (nevertheless) have Face(palm) accounts. I don't have a Face(palm) account, even though there is one in my name. That doesn't change my point: if one is looking for serious musicians, shouldn't one look where serious musicians congregate? If a requirement for singing in the choir is that one be a faithful Catholic, one would look in places where faithful Catholics gather as faithful Catholics. If one wants good musicians who are also faithful Catholics, ........

    As to whether I'm being judgmental about Face(palm): Charles describes it as indecorous. I merely said that it was an unlikely place to find what one seeks.


    Cheers,

    Chris
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Chris,

    The Facebook experience is generally what you make of it. The system tends to show you more of whatever you and your friends have already looked at, so if your friends are wise people and you join discussion groups with good Catholics talking about the good, the true, and the beautiful, the system will show similar material to you. It's just brilliant that way.

    On the other hand, if your interests were less noble, if your friends were not so discerning, then the system would show you unedifying material that your friends found interesting. If it happens, that can be a bother, but there are settings you can modify: "Don't show me material from this person", or "... from this website". And once you do that, it works, and you never again have to see how this or that friend of yours was conned by a fake news story, or spouted silly opinions based on thin air.

    And the material you post is only accessible to the people you select. It could be open to comment from the public, or just your friends, or just a subset of them. It never hurts to be conservative about these things.

    Anyway, just because you might see some criminal's Facebook page on TV news, and see that it's full of menacing photos and evil words, don't assume that your page would have similar content. Like the whole internet, FB has its cesspools, and its pleasant islands. If you had a Facebook page, it could be as cheery and positive as your forum writings.
    Thanked by 4marajoy Ben Jeffrey Quick SarahJ
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Bill,

    Thank you for that assessment of Facebook. I still don't intend to go anywhere near it, but I see that little islands of sanity and civility could exist.

    What do you make, though, of the much balley-hooed periodic privacy setting changes?
    Even based on what you said, you're being monitored so your interests can be intensified.

    Cheers,

    Chris
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,694
    This "internet" thing is full of shifty characters... I might just have to unplug my modem and go offline.... in fact, electricity seems kinda shifty too... I might just have to go back to candlelight....

    :)

    Also, those of you who do use the Facebook should "Like":
    http://www.facebook.com/cathedralchoirphoenix
    Thanked by 2Ben CHGiffen
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Matthew,

    I was struck, yesterday, at the bank, by how much a defeatist attitude exists:
    "Times change"; "we're using more technology now"; " you can do that online";

    I had suggested that if the bank wanted to help the depositors, it should hire more tellers, take down the bullet-proof glass, and improve the system so that a little plastic card didn't have the power to prevent a man getting access to his money.

    So, candlelight has real appeal. I own, and occasionally use, a non-electric typewriter.

    When tools are no longer tools, our society has crossed a bridge too far.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Anyway, to get back to Charles' recruiting message, it can't hurt. It'll probably be good to follow up every couple of months with some talk about whatever the choir is starting. It's an opportunity to invite new members: e.g., "The choir has openings for alto and tenor voices. If you're not sure of your vocal range, contact the music director for a ten-minute visit and assessment to find out."
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    I certainly didn't intend the thread to drift into social media impropriety. Chris, for the record, you first described FB as indecorous . It's a delicious adjective.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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