<p>^^Yes, austenburnsred, I think you get what I’m saying. I’m not sure what your responsibilities are, at your school, as the President of the Varsity Choir. I’m not sure if that’s more of a Student Board position or a Student Musician position at your school. In my kids’ high school, the President of a musical ensemble was more of a student board position. It was an elected position. Being President meant holding meetings with the student representatives, planning and organizing concerts and social events with other elected student leaders, assisting the director with general leadership in matters of policy and logistics. Most of the music Student Board positions at my kids’ school required work and planning outside of class time. Class time was for preparing the music.</p>
<p>Student Musician positions, like section leaders, concert masters, drum majors, etc were appointed positions that required more interaction and involvement with the practice and performance of the music DURING the actual class time.</p>
<p>If your job as President is what it was at my kids’ school, you could still accomplish your presidential duties before and after school. In fact, the vast majority of the President’s duties in my kids’ school were accomplished outside of class-time anyway.</p>
<p>But if your job, as President, is more of a Musical position, requiring things such as leading sectionals, conducting the choir rehearsals in the director’s absence, keeping up with music folders, and leading your peers in more of a musical way, as opposed to an administrative way, then what I am suggesting probably won’t work. For that, your director and peers would probably need you to be in class.</p>
<p>My kids each had to juggle their schedules this way on a few occasions in order to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish in school. And yes, they always switched back into the class as soon as the scheduling conflict was over.</p>
<p>For instance, my kids’ music ensembles and our school’s 9-week PSAT prep course were scheduled at the same time. The PSAT course was by invitation only – for the top academic performers only. My kids wanted to accept their invitations, but all had leadership positions in their ensembles. They made deals with their directors that they would continue to learn their music on their own time, attend any out-of-class rehearsals, attend performances, and return to the ensemble class period as soon as the 9-week conflict was over.</p>
<p>This also came up with a semester-long language course that conflicted with the ensemble period. Same deal. That son returned to the ensemble the following semester but completed his administrative obligations during the first semester, continued to practice his music outside of class, and performed with his ensemble even though he wasn’t attending the class.</p>
<p>My kids were not the only kids to do this. There were a few kids each year in the various ensembles who did it for various reasons – class conflicts, tennis, a second music ensemble, football, etc. But ALL the kids I’ve known who were permitted to do it were students who were already recognized for their contributions as leaders and as musicians and who had already proven themselves to be super responsible. When there’s a scheduling conflict, the school’s music directors can lose out! At our school, the directors were willing to make compromises because they WANTED their most dedicated musicians and leaders to continue to contribute to the group. Without the compromise, they would lose these big contributors altogether for periods of time! </p>
<p>I think it’s safe to guess that you’re a big contributor to the group, or you wouldn’t be the Varsity Choir President. So, particularly if your duties are of the administrative sort as opposed to the musical sort, your choir director may be willing to compromise.</p>
<p>But you haven’t mentioned anything about your academic prowess. I would only recommend this if you are fully capable of keeping up with BOTH obligations and achieving high marks in both. </p>
<p>If you think your Calculus BC grade will suffer while you’re handling Varsity Choir President duties, then please ‘don’t try this at home!’ ;)</p>