The Assignment:
Name: Deborah C
Advisory #: 7
You will be observing your host throughout the day. There are 3 parts to this assignment:
Part 1- The Interview: Observe your host at work, at some point interview your host and record/make notes of the results
Part 2 – Reflection: After the day is finished, reflect upon your experience and answer the reflection questions
Part 3 – Post Your Assignment to Your Blog: Once your have completed Part 1 and Part 2 post it on your blog. Make sure you take pictures and/or videos to document your day, you can place them in your blog.
Name of your host: Deborah Inhee Choi
Relationship to you: Mom
The Interview: (ask your host these questions)
- What is your job title?
“Choir director & conductor.”
- What is your job description?
“I am the director & conductor of a choir, which means that I am responsible for all the day to day running’s of the choir as well as getting the choir ready for a small performance each week.”
- What are the duties and/or tasks you perform at your job?
“I organize the scheduling around the choir, communicate with the church regarding the administration part of my job, choose different music pieces that are suitable for the choir, teach the music pieces and also singing technique, attend some music conferences/gatherings, prepare the choir for weekly performances, and prepare my own performances when the church asks me to do so.”
4. What qualifications do you have for this job in the following areas:
a) training?
I trained under different directors and conductors for several years, also attending Master Classes to learn and fine tune my conducting skills. Also being a part of multiple choirs for a long time has helped me experience both sides of the choir and watching these talented mentors has helped me to become skillful at my job
b) education?
High school diploma, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music, specializing in Vocal Music.
c) experience?
Was a choir director & conductor for multiple different choirs in Korea before we immigrated to Canada. When we immigrated to Canada, I was hired as a choir director for a small church and then kept continuing from there. In total, I have around 25 years of experience.
d) skills and attributes (personal qualities)?
An outgoing personality who is also a leader so that they can be in charge and direct the choir. A patient personality is also preferred because this job includes many different people and a lot of organization. Also someone with a strong background in music and training in choir conducting is important. What are some of the things you like about the job?
“I like that this is a job I am passionate about and that it is a job where my education can directly be used. Also because my faith is important to me, I love that my job has a faith aspect to it and I can enjoy my work while also being a part of a community I strongly believe in.”
- What are some of the things you dislike about this job?
“Although I do love my job, sometimes the time commitment involved with this job can be a little draining. Because we are a choir, we need to practice but coordinating with everyone’s schedules to ensure that there is enough practice time becomes difficult. This means that I, as the director/conductor have to hold different practices for each of the parts of the choir which can be time consuming and a little hectic.”
- How do you anticipate this job changing in the next 5 years or so?
“The job will stay relatively the same as there will always be a group of people looking to be part of the choir. However, I think that as the years proceed, the number of people joining will increase and the skill level of the participants will increase. This will hopefully allow for more job opportunities with more people and also with the increased difficulty and number of people, hopefully, a more variety of songs can be chosen.”
Other question (s):
Would you consider this job too stressful for you?
“Sometimes the job does get stressful, however, because I am passionate about my work and I enjoy it, it doesn’t become too stressful for me.”
Student Reflections:
- Give three reasons why you would like this job (be specific):
- a) I like that I would get to work with other people and teach them what I know. I am very musical like my mom. I like to sing and I play several instruments and enjoy music. I love listening to different types and styles of music and have fun with it. My mom’s job as a choir conductor would get me to work with different people with different skill levels, and I would be helping them to improve. I enjoy working with other people and meeting new people as well, and as a choir conductor, you would have to work with many people, individually and as a group. As I work with these people, I would get to teach them and help them to improve with the skills that I have and the different techniques I learned.
- b) I like that the hours aren’t set hours and that they are flexible so that I can move the times around based off of my schedule. There are times when I am very busy, and in the future, I know I will be even busier, and I won’t have too much time to pick the music out for each week and work with everybody more than 2 times a week. With me being the conductor, I would be able to choose times that work for me change the times if needed. I would also be able to cancel or add more practices if needed and work around my schedule as well as everybody else’s. If one day didn’t work for me, I could change it or postpone it. I think I would greatly benefit from the flexible hours.
- c) I like that this job helps people find their passion in music. Some people like to listen to music, some people like to play instruments, and some people don’t like music at all. I love music, and as a choir conductor, you can get people that are new to music, or people that are very experienced in music. Either way, some may be very passionate, and other may not be passionate at all. When people enter your choir, you can help each person improve and find their passion for music. Practicing every week and performing every week can become tiring, but as you start to enjoy it more and more, you will realize that you are beginning to enjoy the music and the people around you. Some people will find a big passion in music too, and seeing the joy on people’s faces every week doing what they love is a very heart-warming image to see.
- 2. Give three reasons why you would not like this job (be specific):
- a) I would have to stand up in front of people to teach them, and also perform in front of other people. I am not a big fan of public speaking, and I’m not the best at it either. I have stage fright when I’m alone or in a small group of people and do not feel very comfortable talking or presenting to an audience on my own. As a choir conductor, you would have to speak to the choir members collectively all the time and give constructive criticism to help them improve, which I am also not good at as I often feel bad. I think I would find speaking in front of the choir frightening as I am not used to things like that. I would also have to perform in front of other people, and because I am the conductor, there would be times I would have to sing alone. Like I mentioned earlier, I have stage fright, so singing in front of an audience by myself or even with several other people, I would feel nervous and wouldn’t feel ready. I would lose my confidence sometimes and just feel like I want to get off the stage.
- b) I wouldn’t have as much time to myself because of all the practices and performances, and the amount of time to get everything ready. As a choir conductor, you have to plan all the performances and practices and prepare so much for each one. I mentioned above that this job has flexible hours, which is true, but I would lose a lot of my own free time because of the time it takes to get songs ready for each practice, and memorizing each song takes time too. The performances and practices would take up some time as they would be a bit longer, particularly performances. I enjoy having some time to myself to do things I do in my spare time, but with all the planning, I think I would lose a lot of that as I already wouldn’t have much time, and I wouldn’t have as much time to spend with my family.
- c) I would have to be very committed to this job and attend every practice and performance, as I would be the conductor. This may be hard if other plans come up or you want a break. Since you are leading the group as a conductor, I wouldn’t be able to take many breaks and I would have to be very committed, never missing practices or performances, being on time, never procrastinating. These are all things that take patience, and as a busy person, I would want to do other things too, but I would have to choose between my job and other things in my life. I wouldn’t be able to miss a practice or performance because I would be leading and conducting the choir, which is a necessity.
- Is this job for you? Why or why not?
Although I found this job really interesting and fun, I don’t think this job is quite for me. I am not the type of person to stand up in front of people or teach people. My mom is more musical than I am as well, and I don’t think a choir conductor suits me very well. There were aspects of it that were appealing to me, such as doing the thing I love frequently, every week, but as I looked more into the cons of this job, I noticed how this job wouldn’t be very realistic for me. The scheduling and the amount of performances and shows seem a little too much for me and attending every one and being committed is something I may have trouble with at times,
- Explain the value of the TYKTW experience in relation to your ideas about your post secondary (after high school) plans (education?, training?, travel?, work?).
Seeing my mom’s job has given me perspective of what the professional life is like, and although I’m not sure if I want to go into music, watching my mom be passionate about her job has made me want to be passionate about what I do. My works really hard at her job and enjoys doing it, no matter how stressful it may get. She remains passionate through trials and always seems so happy when doing what she loves. It makes me want to get a job after high school even more, but I know that in order to get a job I really want, I’m going to have to work hard go to university, just like my mom. I hope to be just as determined and passionate as my mom is about her work, but also learn new things in the process.
Blog Post:
Step 1: Go to your Blog
Step 2: Create a new POST
- Title: Take Your Kid To Work Day 2019
- Category: Extracurricular
- Tag: This varies by teacher:
- Aitken – TYKTW2019A
- Castonguay – TYKTW2019C
- Raghoobarsingh – TYKTW2019R
- Hewitt – TYKTW2019H
- Add Media: Add a picture or video of your work place Step 3: Add your assignment to the post by doing one of the following
- Copy and paste the assignment from a word document
- Type in all of the questions and answers
- Upload a PDF or a completed Word Document
Step 4: Click Publish