This unsung hero of the choral program deserves a round of applause.
I’ve written before about the value of good graphic design tools for choir directors. Many other tools are rightly recognized: pianos, pitch pipes, recording tools; even Spotify or Apple Music for sharing example recordings.
But what of the poor Spreadsheet. The spreadsheet sneaks into literally every aspect of the choir director’s life – rosters, auditions, attire organization, choral library organization, practice logs, and countless other functions.
That’s why taking a little time to learn a few extra functions and formulas can be so beneficial. Saving time in spreadsheet organization can pay tremendous dividends long-term. It’s worth taking a few minutes to get some advanced tricks established.
For example, I keep a master list of Rockford Aces alumni since the founding of the group in 2008. I have a column for each year and mark the years a student sang in the group. I have two special columns – one that counts the number of years, using this formula: “=counta(F21:21)”, which counts every column marked to the right. That tells me how many years a student sang in the group. Then, on the far left, I concatenate a whole bunch of information using this formula: “=concatenate(C21, ” “, D21, ” (“, E21, “)”), which gives me something like “John Smith (3)”, which will go on our perpetual plaque. It’s a complex formula, but learning to use it saves me so much effort each year, multiplied by the sheer number of spreadsheets I work with.
Every time I have to manipulate a spreadsheet in some way, I force myself to ask, “Can I write a formula to have the sheet do it for me?” Doing the research in that moment can feel wasteful, but it’s the opposite – it saves me long-term, again and again.