[Choir] UCM Choir Retreat invitation

[Paula A.Gills]

Thanks to all who made this choir gathering the best we have had in my memory. It reflected great care and consideration of who we now are and where we might go and was reflective of the visioning we should be doing in the context of the overall church vision. Ted was bubbling over with enthusiasm when we came home, and that is unusual for him these days. Having the small groups with dedicated time for folks to speak made it possible for him to contribute (he did not want to come earlier on if the discussion was going to be in all one large group--too hard for him to process). I feel that we have taken a positive step to greater group participation where we all consider who we are and what our music ministry in the church can be, for that is what we do. Thanks, in advance, to the members of the Music Committee who will be continuing this important work as synthesizers and goal setters. Paula 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Richard Riley via Choir" <choir at unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org> 
To: "Choir UCM" <choir at unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org> 
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2016 8:57:40 AM 
Subject: [Choir] UCM Choir Retreat invitation 

Note from Dick: the aspirations and structure of this Sunday's retreat is the result of MaryJean and Donia's thoughtful consideration of how to respond to your responses to the questionnaire distributed last Spring. Here's their invitation to you: 

Hello wonderful singers! 

We are so looking forward to being together again this Sunday! 

We understand that some people have expressed questions about how our mini-retreat will be organized, as well as some concerns that there won't be enough time to have a meaningful discussion, let alone come to anything concrete moving forward. These are certainly valid concerns! So we thought we'd send out this letter summarizing the agenda and how we see this retreat as part of an ongoing process in defining and developing our identity as a choir. 

First off, we see this retreat as an extension of the choir surveys we all completed last Spring. You all did a lot of the main work putting issues out on the table then. We went through all of the answers to try to discern and distill the central and most important threads, and have used these to hone questions which we will use for discussion and which are designed to help us move forward. 

We will be trying out a format for the discussion which we hope will generate mutual understanding and creative thinking, as well as using time effectively. In the weeks after the retreat, the music committee will meet to digest the results of our discussions and determine follow-up action plans. So even though it is a short time we will have together Sunday , it is one very important step in a process which WILL be ongoing, and we are confident that a lot of good ideas and solutions will be generated. 

The plan of the day is this: 
We will begin with some brief group singing, and follow this with some brief general remarks. 

The bulk of the time will be spent in discussion. We'll be breaking into 4 separate groups, which will each address these 3 questions: 

1. In what ways is church choir as "community" important to you? In what specific ways would you like to see this manifest? 

2. In what ways is the church choir as a musical ensemble important to you? In what ways would you like to see the choir encourage the craft of singing? 

3. In what ways can we encompass and serve with integrity these differing sets of needs? 

The facilitators for the small groups will be Dave Grundy, Gail Falk, Donia Prince, and Mary Jean McElvey. 

We will then reconvene as the entire group and the facilitators will report summaries of their group's discussion. 

If there is still time and inclination, we will do some more singing. Then eat and just enjoy each other's company!! 

A reminder that there will not be facilities for heating up food, so please plan your potluck offerings accordingly. 



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