It can be quite frustrating when we have prepared for months, have a perfect balance, exact riser alignment and then students don’t show up to the concert. Sometimes we are provided with advanced notice and other times we find out the day of, or they just don’t even show up. It’s so easy to get angry when this happens! We need to ensure this doesn’t become an epidemic. Using the 5 “E’s” we can turn these situations around:
explain, empathize, excuse (or not), educate, and evaluate
The first goal is to prevent these situations from occurring as frequently as possible. Next, we need to find a way to address these concert absentees in a way that is most beneficial for their success within our program. If our goal is to punish the missing students (and their parents), we will have missed a valuable teaching opportunity.
Most absences are avoidable. If we prepare appropriately from the first day of school, we will minimize the number of potential situations that may occur. This comes from clarity on our part: a clear explanation on why the concert is important, and a clear plan as to ensure that the student and their parents are aware the concert is a requirement.
Once we’ve made a concerted effort to prevent students from missing the concert, we still have to deal with absentee situations, as some may still arise. When these situations do occur, we need to:
Most students want to come to the concert, but other situations have gotten in the way. Students could get sick right after school and be unable to attend. Their parents could be taking them away on vacation just before a vacation and as a result miss the concert. They could have a family engagement totally out of their control, a extra-curricular or religious event that conflicts. They could have totally forgotten. In most cases, whether we are informed beforehand (family vacation, conflicting engagement) last minute (illness), or after the fact (absentmindedness), we must still remember these students most likely didn’t want to blow off the concert. Our most effective response is to separate any potential penalty from our ability to connect with the student and understand the emotions behind their action. Our gut response should be of understanding. We must envision how it must feel if we missed the concert that we worked hard to prepare for.
Sort through and separate the reasons why they aren’t attending/didn’t attend the concert. We need to look at each situation with individuality. From there, we need to evaluate the validity of their excuses, academically speaking. Here are some excuses that may come up. There are students who know in advance that they cannot attend. Their reasons may or may not be acceptable. A) Parent’s Planned a Conflicting event – Frequently, the unacceptable reasons stem from parent choice. One example would be parents taking their child away just before the vacation due to 1/2 price airfare, and therefore missing the concert. A situation such as this may not be avoidable at the time it is presented and it’s important to realize it isn’t the student who created this conflict.B) School-Related/Extra-Curricular Event – Sometimes students have conflicts such as an athletic event. My hierarchy of importance states that a concert (academic) takes priority over a game (extra-curricular), but sometimes there is an exception. If a student has been selected for an all-county or all-state competition, it’s sheer accomplishment might excuse the student from the concert. The same could be said about a state or national competition in an extra-curricular club. The same could be said about a religious retreat. C) Last minute concert absence – Inevitably, a student can get really sick. I’ve had my most dedicated, anchor students miss the final concert of their senior year. These things happen. If they are sick, they are probably pretty upset that they missed the concert. D) The no-show – This is when students forget, or couldn’t get a ride, etc. It could also be a parent choice to avoid the concert. These excuses are the ones that may deserve penalization*, depending on the circumstance. * in any of most excuses listed above, there will be an “alternative concert assignment”; a penalization will create a deduction from the total possible score on the alternative
assignments, discussed later.
Students who have participated in rehearsals for several months and then missed the concert, truly miss out on the culminating experience. This is why it is super important that they are included in a class discussion that focuses on the many aspects of concert that they missed. Ryan Guth, the Choir Ninja from Choir Nation, presents a wonderful podcast on how to have a great post-concert discussion. We are the facilitators, and should be helping the students to dig deeply into all aspects of the experience. By having an engaging discussion, the students who missed the concert will become embedded in the overall concert experience. This is far more important than just watching a video of the performance
Students who missed the major concert missed the equivalent of a unit test. While I have been known to excuse students who are sick, I tend to provide an alternative concert assignment for students who missed the concert for parent-controlled reasons, no-shows, and additional school-related/religious-related conflicts. This assignment is not a punishment; it is an opportunity for a student who missed our concert to learn from watching and assessing a similar performance. When we give an assignment such as researching the history of one composer, it does not connect to the choral experience that they missed. Should we believe the backstory of the composer is truly important, we should be teaching this in class to all students, not the few that missed the concert. If we structure an alternative concert assignment correctly, students will find value in their assignment, the entire class (as well as the director) can benefit, and students will be excited about attending their next performance, rather than be fearful of the repercussions for missing it.
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From my experience, the most effective Alternative Concert Assignment is one where a student who missed their student is expected to attend a concert at a local school that features the age-appropriate equivalent ensemble; to be clear, if this student were to attended that other school, they could be in that same ensemble they are watching. They are given a series of 10-20 questions that will help to guide their experience with specific things to observe and focus on. I have found that students enjoy this assignment, as it gives them the opportunity to express their opinions.
The goal is not to test them; it is to teach them to become more aware of the flow of a concert, so they will become move observant in our ensemble. In many cases, the students will want to discuss what they experienced with our choir; with the guided questions that are provided for them, they have a lens through which that can share. I highly encourage you to download a copy of the Alternative Concert Assignment.
In the end, we want those students who missed the concert to still feel part of our choir; the choir shares such a special bond by performing together, and we need to do our best to keep them engaged, especially when they have been left out!
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