[Choir] UCM Choir Retreat invitation

[Richard Riley]

Thanks, Paula, for your comments. It was wonderful indeed to feel the
positive input from so many people. There was a great deal of thought that
went into our time together yesterday and, I think, a great deal of thought
that we could take away.

See you all one week from this Thursday, September 8, at 6:30!

Dick

P.S. The Music Committee will meet at 5:30.

On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 8:41 AM, Paula A.Gills via Choir <
choir at unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org> wrote:

> 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
>
> ------------------------------
> *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.
>
>
>
> Unitarian Church of Montpelier
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>
>
> Unitarian Church of Montpelier
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>
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