This story-sharing timeline offers a guide for how to plan and share singer stories that are specifically tailored to the partner school.
This is one of the most important components to the success of the RHYTHM assemblies and takes the most amount of time. During each assembly we have 1-2 singers step forward and share their own personal story condensed into a 3-5 minute story that has been workshopped and rehearsed so it has a focused direction and theme. I am intentional about selecting singers that share similarities to the students we are serving, whether that be race, religion, gender identity. There is a power to having a singer who was raised in a Latino, Catholic, machismo family talk to a room of high school boys who are currently living that experience to talk about how hard it was to navigate their identity up against all the pressures of their culture and religion. I recommend looking at the demographics of the students in your community to guide your decision on which singers will have the biggest impact when talking to the students.
| Dates | Meeting Prep | Agenda | Assignment for Next Meeting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Aug 8 – 12 | Come to the meeting ready to start sharing your story. No need to write out a story yet. | You will just talk and tell us your story. | Write out a draft of your first story. Include as much detail as you can. There’s no page limit, just get it all out on the page. Email to Mitch 12 hrs before Week 2 Meeting |
| Week 2 | Aug 15 – 19 | Finish your first draft. No page minimum/maximum, the more the better! Email to Mitch at least 12 hrs before the week 2 meeting. | We will begin to fine tune your story and hone in on an overarching theme. | Pair down your story based on the feedback from the workshopping this week. Come to the next meeting with a revised and more concise script. |
| Week 3 | Aug 22 – 26 | Email Mitch your revised script at least 24 hrs before your week 3 meeting | We will continue to work on your delivery, emotion, and content. | Revise and rehearse |
| Week 4 | Sept 5 – 9 | Email Mitch your revised script at least 24 hrs before your week 4 meeting | We will solidify your story and run it a few times until you are feeling proud and confident of what you’ve created! | Revise and rehearse! |
| Week 5 | Sept 12 – 16 | Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! | You will get to premiere your story at the Chorus Conversation call in preparation for our upcoming RHYTHM assemblies! | Our next step will be to get a quality video recording of your story that we can show at RHYTHM assemblies if/when you are not able to attend. |