For homeschoolers, finding professional-caliber choral instruction may require a little effort—or some do-it-yourself initiative! Hear from a mom involved with one choir that pursued that goal, today on Home School Heartbeat, with host Mike Farris.
Mike Farris:
Today my guest is Mitzi Coffman. Mitzi is a homeschooling mom and one of the administrators for Deo Gratias, which is a choir in Lincoln, Nebraska. Mitzi, thanks so much for joining me on the program!
Mitzi Coffman:
Thanks! I appreciate the opportunity.
Mike:
Mitzi, there may be some homeschool groups who would love to start a choir, but they really don’t have anybody talented or trained to do it. What should they do?
Mitzi:
Well, our choir founders grew up in families with rich musical heritage. They sang together with parts and harmony. They desired to give their children a musical education with depth and so they pointed them towards a professional director. But it would be important that our director have an active faith in God. We found it really beneficial to have a professional musician who can train voices technically, introduce varied music styles, composers, multiple languages, and historical information, just to begin with. But the director, not having administrative duties, can be entirely focused on music selection, teaching the students, and developing contacts for the choir in the community that they’re familiar with, and we aren’t.
Mike:
Mitzi, thanks so much for giving us great ideas on how to get started. I’m Mike Farris.
