Tools of the Trade

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

A common struggle is getting every singer to have a pencil, but I am going to tell you something that WORKS. I tried everything - a cup of pencils for all to grab, hounding people, doing pencil checks. Still I found my singers to be inconsistent.

I finally had success by purchasing CHOIR-SPECIFIC PENCILS. Everyone got the SAME PENCIL, which was BLUE (our school color) and called the “Golden Bear” from Pencils.com. It was a solid pencil AND could not be purchased in local stores. It was unlikely that a singer who lost their pencil would be able to replace it. 

I told them that this was their CHOIR PENCIL and was only to be used in choir, for choir things. When asked to show their pencil, those who still had that BLUE “GOLDEN BEAR” pencil might get a prize (put away music first, a piece of candy, bragging rights, etc.). Those who forgot/lost the choir pencil still had to have a pencil, but got no prize. No pencil pride. 

Not only did students bring a pencil every day, there were students who kept their specific choir pencil all year long, over the Summer, and brought it back on day one of the next year!

Choir Bites Interactive Slides can enhance online/hybrid lesson plans or be used as supplemental assignments. Your singers’ awareness will rise as they engage with these simple, “sticky” concepts! Click here to learn more! 

We decide what is special and why. When we make a big deal about the TOOLS OF OUR TRADE, they mean more. They get used more. We take care of them. We are starting a new cycle of music prep, so now is the time to improve pencil habits. After all, music can’t get marked without a pencil.

P.S. - My top choir gets a different pencil: The Blackwing 602 (seen in pic) Some call it the greatest pencil ever. I use it to make an extended analogy about quality, and it works very well. You can read it here: http://bit.ly/2CNO6F5

P.P.S. - If you ever wished you could mark your music with pen rather than pencil, it is now a viable option! The Pilot Frixion is a pen that really, honest-and-for-true ERASES. No smearing, no mess. The ink turns invisible through a chemical reaction to the heat/friction of erasing.