Page 12 - voices-2021-08

THOUGHTS FROM THE DIRECTOR’S STAND
The Importance of Mentorship
Thinking back
to my article in
last month’s issue of Voices!
and similarities between my
ministry as a church music leader and my service
as your District 7 Director, I would like to explore
another similarity between the two—the need
for mentorship.
First, how does mentorship work in my
church choir? We have one chief director who,
in collaboration with our pastor, makes all the
artistic decisions regarding our musical settings
and how they are to be sung. He is a trained
professional musician and choral music director
12 ONE COMMUNITY
Eldred Brown, DTM - District Director
who
directs
other vocal
ensembles
throughout the
Portland community. His
position is not an elected
position, so he has been our
choir director for over 20
years and will be our choir
director until he retires in another 20 years
or so. It is through his recognition of my
musical skills that he invited me to take
on more responsibility for assisting him in the
leadership of our choir, all under his tutelage
and supervision.
This working relationship naturally puts me
in a position to seek his mentorship as I assist him
in his work. In Toastmasters, mentorship usually
focuses on helping protégés develop their own
speaking/leadership styles and their own vision
for their growth, where they want to go and what
they want to be. There’s often less emphasis on
the specific tactics one can use for the completion
of a specific project objective, which falls more
under the definition of coaching. In church
music, mentorship includes more discussion