♫ ♫ ♫ Has your community been talking about starting its own choir, perhaps as a service project? If your community is small, have you considered a cluster-wide choir? Are you aware of the differences between an informal sing-along group and a choir? Have you wondered what it would take to establish, maintain and develop your local chorus, provide it with music, and with opportunities for performance? Author Kathryn Tahiri is a composer, choral and orchestral conductor, performer, educator, and former director of the Bahá'í Temple Choir and the Fifth Street Choir in Evanston, Illinois. Co-author Ludwig Tuman is a composer, pianist and choir director. Both have had years of experience in creating and building choirs. They have collaborated in writing this simple, direct and highly practical booklet to help local communities understand the "nine steps" to raise and nurture their own choral groups. As it turns out, there is more to establishing a local choir than "meets the ear"! This booklet was formerly available for purchase through the publisher, Celestial Navigation. As a public service, the authors have now decided to make it available at no cost, in an on-line format. (See link below.) Copyright remains, however, with Celestial Navigation. Printing a copy entitles the recipient to use it only for personal study and non-commercial purposes, and the authors trust you to give due acknowledgment if you forward, quote, or post the booklet or parts of it elsewhere.
To view or print Nine Steps, click here (You can return to this page while printing. Document is in PDF format. It can be viewed with a PDF Reader, which, if needed, can be downloaded at no charge here.)
Excerpt from the Introduction to Nine Steps: "Singing in a choir is one of life's most joyful and rewarding experiences. It builds friendships and a sense of community. It immerses us in a shared artistic experience that lifts our spirits, while subtly teaching us about many spiritual truths. To have such an activity is a major social and spiritual asset. This booklet is designed to help communities gain this asset by going through the practical steps needed to establish and manage their own choir..." "Many communities think they want to raise a choir when, in reality, what they want to do is have an individual or a small group to lead regular sing-alongs at their gatherings. While there are many similarities and much overlap, in terms of Western culture, there is a great difference between the two endeavors. Making music together is a great community-building tool. It brings hearts together in unified effort and mindset, and especially when one sings, one's whole body and intellect is brought into the effort. During sing-alongs, participants sing whatever part they want, high, low, in between, make it up as they go along, loud and strong, or do not sing at all; the idea is to have an enjoyable experience and forge bonds of friendship. A choral experience, on the other hand, requires personal and group discipline on the part of the participants. Vocal parts are meticulously delineated and fit together in delicate balance, with great effort made toward artistic merit, and in the spirit of providing an uplifting service for the audience. "Both sing-alongs and choirs have great merit, and the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but they differ in thrust and purpose, and their requirements are different in terms of official support, leadership, membership, and logistical feasibility. Sing-alongs, informal by definition, can be hosted anywhere, and can be led by any strong singer or instrumentalist, and participation will change from event to event. On the other hand, while a choir may make presentations with an air of either formality or informality, hundreds of person-hours' worth of formalized effort are behind each presentation. This requires satisfactory space for rehearsals; the leadership of someone capable in terms of knowledge, skill, experience, and temperament; and dedicated, regular attendance by the participants."
Copyright © Celestial Navigation 2001
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 Members of the Dawn of Carmel Choir in Democratic Republic of Congo, 2003. Photographer: Violetta Zein  Director, Van Gilmer, singing with members of the Bahá'í Gospel Choir in Germany during 2004. Photographer: Vic Voytek  Some members of the Melody of Carmel choir in the Philippines, 2004.  Performers at the French Baha'i Centenary celebration of the founding of the Baha'i Faith in Paris, France, 1998. Photographer: Mojgan Sami  New Era Bahá'í School choir performing at the 10th anniversary of the Bahá'í House of Worship in New Delhi, India, in 1996. The photographs on this web page are from the Bahá'í Media Bank; their use is for inspirational purposes only, and is not intended to imply that the individuals or groups portrayed endorse the booklet being offered. Five photos above: © Bahá'í International Community http://media.bahai.org
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