Choreographer’s Top 10 List
1) Stick to your guns when teaching a new plan to the chorus. Don’t give up because it doesn’t happen 100% right after you teach it.
2) Be willing to CHALLENGE your chorus to grow visually. What wowed on the barbershop stage even 5 years ago doesn’t necessarily wow them now.
3) Teach your chorus about hand positions. I.E. Jazz Hands – Blade Hands, etc. – It DOES matter. “Just get your hand up there” Does not work.
4) Be prepared to teach to different types of learners. In every barbershop chorus there are people who operate from the right brain and the left. Speak with clear directions, have demonstrators on hand, AND provide written instructions. This gives lots of different types of people the chance to learn in a way that is comfortable for them.
5) Get a CD made of each song that has a choreo plan. Put the song on there 3-4 times in a row. When running early choreography review sessions, play the song through 4 times while providing demonstration for each run through. THEN answer questions. Then run it 4 times again. The repetition does a world of good.
6) Have specific times for questions. If you just leave it as an open forum at all times, you’ll spend too much time talking and not enough time practicing your choreography.
7) Even when YOU are tired or have had a bad day, if you are one of the visual leaders in your chorus, it is up to YOU to provide a good example.
8) Even when you are frustrated, always think of something positive to say. Sometimes, as a person that feels the visual commitment to the barbershop style of music so naturally, we forget that some people really are trying even if it may not seem that they are doing enough. BE POSITIVE.
9) It is OK to steal from other groups that you have seen. Other barbershop groups, other performance arts, etc. Just modify something that you like to fit your group. Watch videos of everything from school plays to Cirque Du Soleil and see if there are concepts that will transfer to the barbershop stage. ** Although if you are taking from another barbershop group, I highly advise that you don’t just use and entire routine. A) It is rude, and B) They will have designed it to work for their performers and it might not be a good fit for yours.
10) Last but not least, SMILE…..enjoy this wonderful opportunity to teach others how to expressively perform this amazing art form we call barbershop.