Choral Caffeine: Sonic Magic

Has your objectivity gone ‘bye-‘bye?

 

Sometimes, we get to this point in the choral season and are so tired and frazzled that we are unable to see the value of our craft through the fetid smoke caused by whining divas, attacking helicopter parents, and less-than-supportive administrators.

 

Try never to forget that our art is sonic magic!  Underscoring that today is Travis Rogers, with his article “Those Unexpected Surprises” (California Cantat, Winter 2010), in which he lists several of the sparkling moments that make our craft so delicious.  Here’s one:

 

At a Christmas gig at a local country club for a holiday dinner which groups from our school have performed at for twenty years running, having the audience applaud the longest, loudest, and most sincerely on a new setting of Ave Maria, and the few moments of silence that came between that final chord and the beginning of that applause. As par for holiday performances, we had “expected” the longest, loudest response to be on a fast, familiar Christmas carol or a novelty arrangement of “Jingle Bells” or “Carol of the Bells.” The look in the singers’ eyes as they performed this piece on a cold winter’s night in early December as the song played out was only matched by the warmth of everyone’s hearts in the room as ALL (singers AND listeners) were touched by this wonderful new setting of a centuries-old  text.

 

Joy & Peace to you all, friends . . .

 

(For additional articles on a dazzling array of choral topics, visit ChorTeach.)