We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachel Snyder. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachel below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

After 18 years of teaching choral music and show choir in public schools, I decided to leave the profession all together. I was burned out through covid, fighting for the performing arts in our county, having to navigate teaching online while sports got to prevail, being falsely accused of many things via media, parents, and eventually students. All while enduring the death of my father, healing trauma of my students from their previous experience, as well as my own. “Burn out” was an understatement.

In the eyes of the world I was considered successful. In the eyes of my family I was absent. I decided to leave and focus on my family, marriage, and mental health. No plans for income, we were fortunate that we were able to live our lifestyle off one source of income, so I could easily breathe and heal.

After the first year of being home, I got the itch to open my own show choir studio to train up our youth properly before entering competitive show choir in high school. I was excited to inspire students in music, while having complete autonomy on how it would be run. I partnered with a friend, Ryan Shapiro, and we opened The Show Choir Studio in 2023. We began with 50 students. We now have 150 and are hiring more staff for the fall.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia, PA. I took piano lessons growing up and I really enjoyed singing in my school chorus and summer musicals. When I entered middle school, I had a DYNAMIC choir teacher, Lois Stick, and was so inspired by her that I knew when I was 12 that I wanted to do that when I grew up. I moved a lot, and in high school I was in choir, chamber choir, and starred in the musicals. I went on to attend Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA where I gained a B.S in Music Education. As mentioned before, it was then 18 years of teaching chorus and show choir in public schools before I ventured out on my own.

The Studio I own has 4 ensembles: A children’s choir (Echo Chamber), for grades K-3, an elementary show choir (Sound Wave) for grades 3-6, a junior high show choir (Surround Sound) for grades 6-9, and an auditioned treble show choir (Sounds Like Treble) for girls in grades 8 and up. The ensembles all rehearse once a week and have a few extra sessions sprinkled throughout their season. Each season lasts 15 weeks, with a show at the end. We put on a Winter and Spring show, which is always themed. We also host a week-long show choir camp in the summer.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think my message to this question would be for the parents. Parents today have this underlying call that their child has to be involved in everything. They’ve become modern-day taxis, where they are spending dinner in the car, and their kids get burned out going from one activity to the next. If parents have children that love the arts, let them thrive there. Trust me, I grew up in sports. I grew up in camps. I did it all. I understand the benefits of them all. However this past season our studio received countless emails about how our program “changed their student’s life” and “gave them so much more confidence”, but in the same sentence mentioned not being able to return because of “other activities” that conflict with our schedule…

If the arts are what is changing your student’s life and developing confidence, then keep them in the arts. Especially something like show choir, where they are getting all aspects of performing: singing, dancing, acting, stage presence, problem-solving, team work, athleticism, you name it. Allow your student to pursue one thing at a time. It will be easier on you, on them, and they will THRIVE in that area as opposed to being average in many things. And I understand most of my students will not go on to pursue music. But they will go on to be members of society, and if they can do that with confidence, empathy, and connection to emotion through art, well then I’m excited for society’s future.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission for my studio is 3 fold:

1. To create productive members of society who believe in striving for excellence, working hard, connecting through art, remaining humble, and show empathy. Our studio promotes all of these qualities through our training process, as well as through our performances. Kids today are growing up on screens, so being in an ensemble like this forces them to learn how to express emotion in a healthy and productive way. It gives them an outlet to move, to be creative, and to interact with other like-minded kids. It gives them a platform to perform their skills live in front of peers and adults. I truly believe this studio will help them with their own personal journey into adulthood.

2. To provide a fun, structured, professional and kid-friendly outlet for youth who love the arts. In our area, show choir is auditioned and begins in high school. Some kids don’t even get to experience it until 10th or 11th grade, if at all. Our studio allows students of all ages to experience this art, and also trains them to be even better performers should they want to pursue it in high school.

3. To leave a legacy to my own children. With my oldest potentially wanting to study business, and my younger two wanting to pursue the arts professionally, this studio gives them a home and a way to carry on the business of inspiring others. My own kids could run this studio someday and keep the dream alive, and it gives them a sense of security to use their skills to earn a living. This studio provides a life for my future generations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theshowchoirstudio.com
• Instagram: @rachelsnydercoaching. @theshowchoirstudio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093952614109
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheShowChoirStudio