Project Grant

Through this project: Singers will have had the opportunity to work directly with living composers and performers who live in their region (Sherburne County) to better understand the process of music making from a unique perspective. Singers will have grown in their understanding and knowledge in such skills as improvisation, building harmonies, and arranging. The audience will have heard a more intimate style of singing than they typically would in a choral concert, from a group that is neither another choir or instrumental group (our past collaborations). The singers and audience will have heard and appreciated connections between traditional choral music, original compositions, and popular music in performance.; Singers will have the opportunity to work directly with living composers and performers, to gain a better understanding of music-making, improvisation, building harmony and arranging. The audience will have heard a more intimate style of singing. We plan to pre-assess and post-assess singers on skills, knowledge, and understanding based on the finalized curriculum with Nation. Our typical audience survey will include questions specifically on Nation's performance, and connections they may have drawn with the music they performed and typical YCCM concerts. Directors and staff will meet to review the sessions and the concert. The first step will be directors asking specific questions of each other regarding the sessions that were presented and reviewing singer surveys. Directors will work through some of the approaches and processes Nation used in their sessions with YCCM and how they can effectively be used as skill-builders in our regular rehearsal process. That will be followed by reviewing concert surveys, and holding our routine all-staff ?After Concert Review.? In that review, we will examine how the project aligned with our objectives, what was successful, and what learnings we can take away from the experience.; We will utilize pre- and post- session surveys with singers, post-concert surveys for our audience, and utilize our After Concert Review with our staff.