Big Wins with Little Singers, with Anna Dore

Choir Ninja, with Ryan Guth

At the end of this episode, Ryan Guth makes an important announcement about Choir Ninja.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in your job, like you couldn’t make your reality match your vision, this episode is for you. Anna Dore talks about what she, as an elementary choir and band director, learned from the Choir Ninja podcast that helped her transform first her attitude and then her program. She has brought an inspiring creative approach to fully engaging her students with their music. Her students have responded, and their parents and Anna’s administration have noticed.

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Show Notes:

• Overcoming professional frustration
• • Choir Ninja Podcast
  • Grad School
  • Program Changes to push my own creativity and vision:
  • Grant for new risers--Flip Forms; allowed for more movement and dancing in my performances
  • Themed concerts tied to character education (inspired by Stevie’s episode “Sell Out Your Concerts”.
  • Cross-curricular collaboration: tie the theme into general education class work; essays, projects, etc. Display student work at the concert.
  • Extra Performance Elements for higher audience engagement:
  • • Choreography
    • Narrators
    • Solos
  • Digital Program using Google Slides (inspired by Ryan’s episode “Programs with Impact”)
• Theme Ideas:
• • “History Has Its Eyes on You”:
  • • “Journey to the Past” from Anastasia
    • “Seize the Day’ from Newsies
    • “My Shot” from Hamilton
    • “I Was Here” by Lady Antebellum
  • “Pursue Your Dreams” #Passion #Persistence #Pride
  • • “Try Everything” from Zootopia
    • “Climb Every Mountain” from Sound of Music
    • “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman
    • “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman
  • “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”
  • • “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin
    • “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story
    • “I Wanna Be Like You” from Jungle Book
    • “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Tarzan
• Result:
• • High engagement from my students
  • High audience engagement and positive audience feedback
  • Very positive administrative feedback and support

Bio:

Anna Dore is an elementary choir director, band director, and general music teacher at Woodside Elementary School in River Vale, New Jersey. She received her bachelor’s degree in music education from Grove City College in 2012 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in music education from Montclair State University. She lives in Hawthorne, New Jersey with her husband, Ryan.

Resources/links Mentioned:

• Woodside Elementary School
• Choir Nation group on Facebook

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