Student OrgsGustavus Social Justice Choir

As a member of the Social Justice Choir one pledges to achieve their highest musical potential, aim to achieve new perspectives on social justice topics, serve the community, and create a positive environment for those making music around them.

Rehearsals are weekly from 11:30am-1:30pm on Sundays in FAM Room 106

Attendance policy: All absence must be communicated in advance. It is understood that people within the choir come from diverse backgrounds, majors, and experiences so it understood that upon the conductor’s approval those who cannot attend every rehearsal are still allowed to fully participate in the group.

Another element to attendance includes performances. All performances, unless through special permission of the conductor, are mandatory. In almost all cases a member who cannot perform in the concert cannot be a part of the ensemble as the performance is what we work towards. 

As the ensemble has grown over its short 2 years of existence upon the artistic director’s request there has been an expansion of the leadership time. The artistic director will be responsible for recruiting and deciding the appropriate people for said roles.

Artistic Director (1): Note this role and the Conductor can be the same person

The artistic director is responsible for recruiting members to apart of the ensemble, maintaining numbers and balance as requested by the conductor. The artistic director is also responsible for managing the website, any and all media presence, as well as any marketing done to promote the choir/choir performances. The artistic director is also responsible for managing an organization finances, as well as the ordering of music. The artistic director main responsibility is finding the new yearly social justice topic that the choir will perform about. Alongside that responsibility is the job of finding and organizing an outreach opportunity to give back to the community being performed about. The final responsibility of the artistic director is to manage rehearsal spaces, as well as find a concert venue, collaborative artists, and performance dates. 

Conductor (1): Note this role and the Artistic Director can be the same personIt is the conductor’s job to decide what music the ensemble will sing based on the yearly social justice topics. They will also manage the macro-rehearsal schedule and the micro-rehearsal schedule. They will make daily rehearsal plans, study all of the music, and collaborate with section leaders about ensemble needs for learning. 

Assistant Conductor(s) (1-2): This person cannot hold a section leader role, but my hold the assistance director roleThis person(s) will be assigned one to two pieces to conduct on the final concert. This person(s) will be selected upon the conductor and/or the artistic director’s request. The assistant conductor should study and prepare all music for large sectional rehearsal and is also responsible for running full group rehearsal if/when the Conductor cannot be there. 

Section Leaders (4): Piano skills are requiredThere will be one section leader per voice part in the ensemble (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass). The section leaders are responsible for being a liaison between the conductor and the section. They lead weekly sectionals teaching parts on the piano. They are also encouraged to create group bonding activities and build group moral through the more challenging parts of our journey with the music. They are also responsible for modeling ideal rehearsal behavior, musical preparedness, and the general demeanor of an outstanding member of the ensemble. The section leaders are selected upon request of the conductor and/or the artistic director.

Accompanist(s) (1-2): Advanced Piano skills/instrumental skills necessaryaccompanists are to support the ensemble with piano accompaniment (or the occasional instrumental accompaniment) for performances only. They are not expected to attend weekly rehearsal, only a few upon the request of the conductor close to the performance date. The conductor will provide the music for them, months in advance. They will also be given a tentative date when they would first be needed to accompany the choir. When they arrive for that first rehearsal with the group they are to be entirely learned on all of their music and ready to be flexible based on ensemble needs in the moment. Previous accompanying experience encouraged and preferred. Accompanists can be members of the choral ensemble and are encouraged to be. 

Each fall the ensemble with recruit NOT AUDITION members for the ensemble. The recruiting will be based on current ensemble placement in the choral department, passed experience, director/colleague recommendation, as well as meeting the diversity needs of the ensemble. The social justice choir MUST promote diversity within the ensemble, making sure that the ensemble achieves diversity in as many areas as possible for interested candidates. 

The social justice choir aims to create a diverse ensemble with 100% inclusivity off peoples with outstanding vocal talent. Every member should bring their diverse beliefs in the topics we perform on as a purpose to the ensemble is to create education experiences for those who may not have encountered the diverse experiences we are singing about. This is done in order to gain perspective for the performance, but also encourage the lifelong learning of, from, and about diverse peoples in order to broaden our individual horizons. All student of any gender, age, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, culture, or community, as welcome and encouraged to reach out if they are interested in being a potential member of the organization.