Choral Caffeine: Great Moments

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1. Ronald Richard Duquette says

   December 21, 2011 at 7:22 am

   In reading Travis’s article, the last “unexpected surprise” he described was being literally chased down by an audience member who asked him, “What is your vision for this choir?” and he gave an answer which she rejected as being, essentially, too pat.  Well, good for Travis that he acknowledged that we have to be thinking constantly about what and why we do what we do and avoiding the pat answer as a result…but the same has to be true of our audiences, boards, and other supporters.  I sometimes wonder if the marvels that happen on a Sunday at church or a Saturday night in performance aren’t taken seriously for granted by all those good folks out there who, to be blunt, are the reason we do what we do.  And sometimes they too fall into the habit of “pat-ness” – of (not) thinking about what they ask us in order to justify our existences.  I would challenge each and every one of us, as we go through the nuttiness of this time of year (especially the church musicians) to challenge our congregations and audiences to think hard – yes, wood-burning hard – about why THEY are there, and what THEY expect from us, and whether their usual expectations aren’t too “pat.”  A lot of times in this great country we expect to have things handed to us on a silver plate – no effort, just what we’re due, etc.  Audiences/congregations should have to work every bit as hard as we do – yes, I do believe that.  The problem is we can’t address ourselves to the audience directly.  So how can we do this?  Program imaginatively, creatively, profoundly, unexpectedly.  One positive comment Travis made about a performance of a new setting of “Ave Maria” that someone else commented on the reverse side recently is this incredible idea that if you don’t immediately begin to applaud at the end of a piece of music (if in concert), somehow appreciation hasn’t been shown.  Somehow we have to communicate to our audiences (much more so than congregations) that immediate applause isn’t always the best thing…sometimes just letting a piece “ring” to the end of its sound is so much more meaningful, and suggests that yes, the audience is actually working on absorbing the music they’ve just heard.  I wonder if sometimes, in performing sacred works, we too forget that it is a prayer FIRST – think about what happens in church when we come to the end of a prayer:  if the priest/minister is really in tune with the rhythm of a liturgy, he/she will pause before the concluding “Amen!”  Isn’t that what silence at the end of any piece of music, but especially a sacred work, is?  A non-verbal “amen”?

    

   As a sidebar, I took my two choirs recently to the retirement community where my mother lives here in Northern Virginia to present a service of lessons & carols.  As I was prepping the room, I heard one of the residents who had gotten hold of the program comment (I was going to write “complain”) that there weren’t any Christmas carols.  I couldn’t help myself; I shot back, “That’s because this is an Advent program, not a Christmas program.”  There were all sorts of groups coming into that facility that same week that undoubtedly covered the Christmas aspect of what’s happening at this time of year.  This woman’s comment is an example of what I mean when I say we need to challenge our communities, worshiping and performing, to think harder about what’s going on.  This is why I take my groups to do the unexpected liturgical support – Advent, Lent, Pentecost (yes, Pentecost – the great “forgotten” feast in the church’s calendar!), because this is what people should be thinking and reflecting more profoundly upon.  I know very well we can’t all do this, but we should seize every opportunity presented to us to get folks to go beyond their expectations.

    

   Sorry for the rant; it just sparked so many thoughts….

    

   Dominus vobiscum!

    

   Ron

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