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Feb/March 2006 InCider Press Page 3 |
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One is exposed to different views and new ideas at our Central States District COTS (Chapter Operations Training Seminar). Last November’s COTS was no different. The instructor of the class, which I attended for vice presidents of marketing and public relations, was Lee Roth, VP Membership, Mid-Atlantic District - Hunterdon County NJ chapter. He has served nearly every leadership position in his chapter. There has been an exchange of information and ideas by those of us in PROBE (Public Relations Officers and Bulletin Editors), an informal organization within the Society. This past week someone in PROBE had heard about Lee Roth’s comments about ‘hobbies, amateurs and fundraising.’ These comments and ideas were shared by Lee in the COTS class. His chapter applies for grants, and his ideas came from the experience he has had in his chapter. I thought we might like to read his comments and have something to discuss among ourselves. You may agree, disagree or are you may be neutral. The following is FYI. HOBBIES, AMATEURS, AND FUNDRAISING by Lee Roth, VP Membership, Barbershop singers are fond of referring to singing as their ‘hobby’ or referring to themselves as ‘amateur singers.’ There are about 800 chapters of barbershop singers in the country. My guess is that about 80 or so of these chapters are populated with men who have a sincere interest in singing as well as they can. They engage in competition, they study, they practice, and they put a lot of time into their barbershop activity. Others like to enjoy barbershop singing, but with various levels of commitment, ranging from some contest participation to social & family performing. “Each of these groups have different goals and funding needs. Some do well on the dues and an annual show for themselves and their friends. Others seek a larger budget that will cover the cost of coaching, learning tapes, and support for their educational and improvement programs. “The top ten percent come close to being obsessed with improvement. They regularly screen new singers and have self-recording and audition programs in place to continuously improve the quality of their members' personal singing. When this top group refers to themselves as engaging in a ‘hobby,’ or allow themselves to be called ‘amateurs,’ they may do a disservice to their funding opportunities. Grant givers do not fund hobbies nor do they seek to support amateurs. Take a minute to look at the words used. Amateur “The dictionary says that an amateur is ‘Somebody who does or takes part in something for pleasure rather than for pay.’ and ‘Somebody who loves or is greatly interested in something.’ I take pleasure in singing with the chorus and with my quartet. I work hard to improve my singing. I invest a lot of time in the activity. I spend money on obtaining help in my effort to improve. “But my dictionary also says that an amateur is "Somebody who has only limited skill in, or knowledge of, an activity." I'm afraid that grant givers latch on to this alternate definition and put all who sing barbershop music into this category and don't consider the ability of the amateur (Tiger Woods was once an amateur golfer). Hobby “We also have a tendency to refer to our activity as a hobby. As long as the definition in mind is an activity engaged in for pleasure and relaxation during spare time,’ then we are probably engaged in a hobby. “Many of our hard-working top singers get paid. Are they no longer amateurs? Our chorus and quartets are paid for major public performances to support our cost structure. The better a group sings the more they are considered to be worth. So are they engaged in a hobby? Are they professionals or amateurs? Perhaps until grant givers and other supporters of the arts understand that we are serious about what we do, we should drop the words ‘hobby’ and ‘amateur’ from our barbershop vocabulary and tell people that we are members of an arts organization. Rather than calling ourselves amateurs and hobbyists, we should refer to ourselves as artists and performers.“ Harvey Kiser VP, Marketing and Public Relations |
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Would you label our chapter a performing arts organization? |