Micro-interactions: Small Changes=Big Gains

One of my ongoing quests is to find ways to help facilitate community in choirs without sacrificing time in service to the music. My dream is to never have to abandon one for the other. One of the best ways I’ve found to accomplish that goal is through what I call “micro-interactions.”

Basically, we’re talking about a verbal prompt to the choir that asks them to interact with another choir member in a way that requires them to simultaneously recognize both the musical and interpersonal nature of choir. Let’s look at a simple example. After breaking down a section of music, say from letter A to letter C, it’s time to put the pieces back together again. Before singing the whole section, I might say: “We’re going to sing from letter A to letter C. Take a few seconds and turn to someone next to you and tell them one goal you have for this.”

In the next 5-10 seconds, which is almost no time at all, everyone in the choir has to

1. Self-asses their ability to sing from A to C (a practice which includes audiation, retention, and self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses)
2. Make a decision about how they can best serve the music
3. Make eye contact with another member of the choir (how often to we actually do this?)
4. Be vulnerable enough to share a goal
5. Be open enough to receive someone else’s vulnerable sharing

Then we sing from A to C. At this point, we have already accomplished an awful lot. In addition to the specifics above, we’ve created an opportunity for singers to take ownership of their choices and of the musical process. They simultaneously become aware that successful performance of the music is bigger than just them.

The follow-up prompt lets us double down on our investment: “Take a few seconds to tell the person you shared your goal with how they did with their goal.” Wait! I was supposed to listen critically to SOMEONE ELSE while I was singing?!? They may have been so focused on their own goal that they forgot about the other person’s goal. If they need to, I have them sing the section again focusing on listening to the other person in order to give feedback (I was going to have them sing it more than once anyway to solidify the process of putting the parts back together, so no loss!). After doing this in a few rehearsals, their awareness of other singers in the choir will skyrocket. Additionally, this second micro-interaction reinforces the interpersonal relationship we created earlier, because each singer now has to

1. Asses the performance of another singer in the group
2. Make a decision about how best to serve that singer through thoughtful phrasing of feedback
3. Make eye contact with another member of the choir
4. Be vulnerable enough to give peer feedback
5. Be open enough to accept peer feedback

With a total extra investment of 10 to 20 seconds, the choir has achieved all of these things and more, and never had to divorce serving each other from serving the music.

There are lots of ways to use micro-interactions in rehearsal: share a challenge; share your favorite part; use one word to describe the emotion of this section. Anything that can be communicated quickly that challenges the singers to also self-assess is fair game.

Have you tried something similar? Please share any thoughts or experiences below!