Choir directors are real-life wizards.
Specifically, they give their students the gifts Dorothy and her friends sought from the Wizard of Oz.
Brains – choir offers students the chance to engage their whole brains in complex thinking about a range of issues.
Heart – the true expression of great poetry through song is an outstanding opportunity to develop empathy and compassion, and to learn to show them in public.
Courage – walking onstage and delivering a performance is a great ladder rung for future public speakers and leaders of all types. Strategies for performing without anxiety overcoming you are crucial, and developing them in a choral group setting is very effective.
Thank goodness we have so many choral wizards out there helping students. And I haven’t even mentioned the most important gift choral wizards give their students.
Home.
Dorothy sought home from the Wizard of Oz, and that is something choral directors give their students every day. A safe space to express yourself, a place to land softly amid the stress of the school day, and a place to come back to even after you graduate and head out into the world. The choir classroom is a home that choral wizards give to their students.
Brains, Heart, Courage, and Home. Thank you, choral wizards.