Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2011-01-27 14:42
LOL, Craig!
I DO think good discipline is achievable without Draconian methods, even among adults! As you say, it is often a matter of establishing the standards at the outset, and getting group buy-in. MOST group members want what's best for the group. Even in America.
I had a member of an adult choir who felt she was completely within her rights to chew gum, continually chat, and conduct a personal show-and-tell during rehearsal whenever she wasn't being actively asked to sing. The last straw for me was one evening when she passed around a vacation photo album for folks to look at WHILE the group was singing.
I suppose I should have stopped the rehearsal and called a break for everyone to look at the photos. That actually might have been a good way to make my point, because the other singers would have been annoyed at the loss of rehearsal time, and the message would have been sent, and not just by me.
But what I did was to direct a comment to the row where the perp was sitting, asking for their attention. The perp responded, "But we're just VOLUNTEERS! We need to have fun!"
To which I answered, "Just what, exactly, was it that you volunteered to do? It seems to me that you volunteered to help lead the congregation's music . . etc. etc. . . . and if that's not fun for you, then perhaps you need to reconsider your choice of ministry."
Well, that got her to shut up, but she hated me from then on. Wish I could have handled that better!
Susan
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