Barbershop through the back door

The Society has worked hard over the past few years to get young singers exposed to our hobby. Somewhat by accident, I've found a new entrance to our local schools through my bulletin.

Our chapter has its bulletin printed on a press and there always seems to be an overrun. My printer tells me it's easier and cheaper for them to print a few extras than to set up and print a couple more to fill an order.

His idea of a few is sometimes 30 or more extra! I've always felt guilty about throwing unread bulletins in the recycle pile every month and I wanted to find some use for them.

I found out that my English teacher wife does not teach English like they did when I was in school. Rather than use textbooks and handouts, she prefers to use real-life examples. She uses magazines and newspapers to teach kids about grammar and usage, as well as proofreading. Her yearbook and newspaper kids look at a variety of exchange papers from other schools for design ideas, too. After a little discussion, we decided that her classes could probably take apart our bulletin and look for errors or ideas just like any other publication. No matter how hard we work, there are always a few errors, aren't there?

There are several places Cynthia has found to use the bulletin. It's hard to convince kids to proofread their own work. They hand in papers with obvious errors - some that any spelling checker program should have caught.

Grammar and punctuation also seem to require a lot of training. Poring over someone else's work (my bulletin) is a way they can practice proofing. If there are enough copies of a single issue, the whole class can have a competition. ("Who can find six misuses of commas on page four, and give me the reasons?")

A newspaper or yearbook class can discuss the layout, fonts, photos and all the other things you'd be judged on in a PROBE contest. They could even do a group critique of your work, though you may not want to know!

Obviously, it helps to know, or be married to, someone connected with the school. When Cynthia moved to a new school, and was no longer teaching the same classes, I thought I'd lost the opportunity. She offered to share her lesson plans with a couple teachers at the new school, and they each agreed to give this a try. Most teachers look for new and interesting ways to present the subject matter. If you'd like to see those plans, contact me at pckrull@rconnect.com and we'll try to send them your way.

A couple things to note: Like any other representation of the Society, you want to put your best foot forward. Make sure you offer issues that show your chapter in a positive light. Do your work as an editor and make sure you've proofread and corrected before publication. Try to offer issues about the upbeat things in your chapter. This is another avenue for exposure.

I haven't recruited any new members from it, but I know that several classes of kids have been forced to read about the neat things going on in my chapter, and I have sold a couple show tickets. Maybe I've planted a seed.