Facet Funds
Mack Endowment
Payroll Deduction or EFT
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Purchase or rent the video today! Supplemental workbook available! The FACET Choir was an idea that evolved from a discussion of the
1997 FACET Retreat planning committee about the traditional "Teaching
as Performance" session of the annual FACET Retreat. Prior
Retreats had featured a FACET choreographer who assembled the Retreat
participants into a chorus line and a sculptor who trained members
to use a potters wheel and perform a dramatic "raku" firing.
The 1997 Retreat planning committee wanted an interactive session that focused on the conference theme "In Search of Teaching Excellence," which would provide an opportunity to see a master teacher at work. Another goal of this interactive activity was to reverse the role of the FACET faculty and allow them to become students again, being "taught" something that was new and perhaps outside their own comfort zones. Many FACET members are known for their willingness to take new risks both in and outside of their classrooms. The challenge for 1997 was to think of an interactive activity that would truly be a transformative teaching and learning experience. A planning committee member mentioned IU Bloomington professor and FACET member Jim Mumford who directs the Afro-American Choral Ensemble at the I.U. School of Music . Jim had been heard to say that "If you can talk, I can teach you to sing," and thus, the idea of FACET Choir was born.
...still working hard. (4.9 MB) The second video segment shows this master teacher at work, drawing
out of the Choir members his vision of the way the song should sound,
and demonstrating how he elicits the best from his students. Although
the project was a collective activity, Jim selected some individual
members to perform solo segments, and overcome their apprehension,
stage fright, and reluctance to perform with the spotlight on them
alone. The third video segment, shown below, is the grand finale: the unplugging of the FACET Choir. The result was a truly moving and emotional experience for participants in and out of the Choir. 1997 will go down in FACET folklore as the year of the FACET Choir. The choir experience has been revisited in the 1998 and 1999 retreats. ...from the final performance (3.8 MB)
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