Bruffy in Rehearsal

More choir directors seem to be blogging these days!

This year’s guest conductor was Charles Bruffy. Mr. Bruffy is the artistic director of the Phoenix Chorale, the Kansas City Chorale and the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. Oh, and he has a church gig. In the first 30 seconds of our first rehearsal, I knew I was going to enjoy this! Over the course of two days, we had seven rehearsals with Mr. Bruffy, ranging in length from 60 minutes (the standard was 50) to 20 minutes (just before ‘curtain’). The second evening of Re-Treat we performed a program of 8 pieces. None of them were perfect, but most of them were sung well and meaningfully. The others were .. fun, at least.

 

The big take-away for me, for my work, was Bruffy’s intense concentration on the clear articulation of individual words. The texts really jumped off the page. I am eager to get going in our own rehearsals and implement especially the diction lessons. As a choir in worship, what we are privileged to sing is so important – I really want us to improve in the way that comes across each time we sing. I have a feeling it will be a tough go at first. We will sing things we already know, and slip into our comfortable habits with them. When we learn new pieces, working diction will feel like learning slower. But I hope that we can establish the concepts quickly, and learn to apply them consistently to music familiar and new. It will take some time! And patience on both sides of the podium. And consistency on my side of the podium.

 

A few quick quotes that my choir will no doubt hear early in the next season. As Charles said right up front, “plagiarize … and interpret ideas as if they are your own.” So, who knows where some of the following originated. But here are a few from this summer’s Directors Chorus:

• “Get a return on your investment.” In other words, if you worked so hard to get this thing right, here, why squander that time and energy by not applying it everywhere?
• “Make it a game, to get things right the first time.” Why are singers apparently so content to muddle through in sight-reading?
• “Listen louder than you sing.” This I’ve heard any number of times, and I always can use it.
• “Vibrato is a beautiful thing, until it draws attention to itself. And/or causes intonation problems. D – all of the above.” Enough said.