Johnny Appleseed District

Electives:  Extra Learning for Everyone

• Top Gun Entertainment – The five top-notch quartets present for their Top Gun coaching sessions on Saturday will entertain us Friday evening during the Opening Session. Don’t miss it!

• Coaching “Under Glass” – The Core will allow us to observe one of their Top Gun coaching sessions. See what a great quartet experiences when a coach works with them for an hour and a half. Q/A is available if time and structure allow.

• Speaking the Language of Motivation - Leadership is influencing others toward the completion of a task. How do you motivate others? It’s different for every person. This session focuses on understanding the various motivational values of people and using this understanding to help us all communicate better.

• Board Member at Large: Maybe the Most Important Board Position - Whether you serve in this capacity in a chapter or in the district, there is much more importance and responsibility to the position than you may think. Not only should you be the eyes and ears of concerns and needs, but also the “toolbox” of suggestions to always keep the group moving forward.

• Take a Bold Leap! - Maybe it’s time for your leadership team to consider stepping out of traditional approaches and comfort zones. Bigger thoughts don’t need to be scary thoughts. This session considers multiple alternative approaches to chapter/chorus structure and activities.

• Social Styles - Learn about the quadrants of behaviors, individual strengths, and how the quadrants focus on tasks and communication. Understand your own and others’ personal style and how they relate to learning preferences and dealing with stress.

• Leading Effective Meetings - Do you ever wonder why meetings don’t accomplish anything or why they seem to go off the rails? This session helps you 1) analyze how efficient and effective your meetings are and 2) learn and practice the seven characteristics of effective meetings.

• Strengthen Your Voice - This class takes singers at all levels and gives them tools (also at multiple levels) to improve range, strength, consistency, and timbre. 

• How to Be a Better Quartet Singer - In this class, we focus on the elements of quartet singing and ensemble relationships. For entry and intermediate-level singers who have not (yet) sung on the international stage in a quartet.

• Establishing and Executing a Recording Feedback Process for Your Chorus - This is easy to do and is critical for any chorus that wishes to improve and maximize rehearsal effectiveness and efficiency.

• Beginning Vocal Techniques - Learn the fundamentals of how sound is produced and transformed into quality results as we sing.

• Musical Illusions and Paradoxes - Optical illusions, OK, but what about audio illusions? This session includes audio examples that seem impossible. Participants will be exposed to new and different aspects of sound.

• Teach Your Chorus to Sight Read - Your singers will learn music faster if they know how to read music. This session will help leaders (and those who are novices to sight reading) understand the principles behind this skill you can take back to your ensembles.

• Vocal Craft Instead of Warm-Ups - What do we do with our “warm-up” time? How should that time be best used? What are the goals of the activities/exercises you choose to use? Learn how to better utilize “warm-up” time by actively engaging with singers to achieve more unity and vocal health.

• Introverts in Your Ensembles: Strategies for Including More Reserved Singers - Do you have those in your ensembles that don't seem to participate much? This session will bring to light the most healthy and inclusive ways we can cater instruction and activities to help our more introverted singers feel welcomed and understood.

• Imposter Syndrome: Conquering the Feelings of Inadequacy - Do you ever feel like everyone around you is a better musician than you are? Do you feel like you don't truly belong among the other great singers in your chorus? Maybe you're even the director. This session will present fascinating research on imposter syndrome and provide easy solutions to overcome it.

• Social Media 101 - Join us as we drill down on the basics of using social media as part of your chapter marketing efforts. We’ll talk about adding ‘followers,’ creating visitor engagement, and sustaining a flow of content with purpose and direction that generates results.

• Power of Harmony - This session focuses on a program that introduces music to incarcerated youth in juvenile correctional facilities. Discussion will include how chapters and their members can become involved as mentors, educators, and performers.   

• Youth Outreach - An information session on the AIC Outreach Program. We’ll explore ‘why and how’ to engage championship quartets for chapter shows and youth outreach. Learn how to regenerate, create revenue, and build community awareness.

• Bringing Your Songs to Life with Performance Techniques - You've learned the words and notes, but how do you make your song soar off the page? Learn how to make the message of the song your own and deliver it with emotion and storytelling. Utilize the lyrics in tandem with what the arranger has done for you throughout the song. Show your audience how you feel with the expression on your face and your body language. Soon you'll be entertaining everyone with a believable and authentic presentation of your music.

• Off Paper, Now What? - Somewhere between being off-paper and walking on stage, the “magic” happens with your songs. This course is a mixture of rehearsal techniques and craft and paying close attention to the score and the lyrics. The magic is in the creativity that happens during the entire artistic process.

• Recognizing and Overcoming Performance Nerves (Stage Fright) - The session will focus on recognizing what is happening in the moment that makes you anxious or nervous, regardless of audience or venue, and how to make these “butterflies” work for you.

• Impromptu Quartet Coaching – All of us love to sing tags and Pole Cats with others with whom we have never sung before. Have you ever wanted feedback on that? This session will allow participants to sing together and receive individualized and group coaching to maximize talents and quality sound production.

• Everyone Hears Overtones - We’ll use the physics of sound to show how and why technology can help back up the title of this session.

• Inside Performance Judging and Evaluations - We’ll watch quartets in videos and discuss the scores and what to work while coaching. You’ll have a chance to score and add your comments.

• Aspiring Directors Workshop (4 Consecutive Sessions) - Learn the fundamentals, techniques, strategies, problem-solving approaches, etc., before you are called upon to use them in real-life settings. This set of sessions is designed for anyone who has a remote inclination about getting into the directing “business.”