I often say to my students that they are all starters.
In the world of high school sports, there are starters and there are bench warmers. A popular no-cut team might have four players at every position…some of whom barely ever get to play in a game.
It’s meant, and is often taken, as a call to commitment. Each person in this ensemble is essential to the performance of the ensemble. There’s no one who can step in for you, so you’d better be there! It also underscores the value I place in each member of the ensemble – as a musician and as a person.
But there’s an unfortunate side effect to being “all starters.” It’s this: I can’t bench a singers as easily as a coach could bench a player. Because of the way that they depend on each other, benching a singer could have serious repercussions to the ensemble. I can only remember once doing it in 20+ years.
Because of that dynamic, the coaches with whom I share students have an advantage in swaying student decisions. They are permitted to balance practices as they deem appropriate. But sometimes a threat of benching (“If you aren’t at this practice, you won’t play”) compels students to chose the sport practice over the choir, because they know they can’t be benched in the choir.
How do you help students to make appropriate and fair decisions balancing their commitments while not resorting to threats or punishments?