I just got back from my fall retreat with my top choir, and again I am faced with this inconsistency: Why do choirs go on retreat? Bands don’t. Orchestras certainly don’t.
I often receive a little grief from folks about the large expenditure of money. “Is this really necessary” and all that. My response is usually something like “Do you think I want to spend three days away from my family? Do you think I like to give away my entire weekend after working 14 hours days the first two weeks of school? Do you think I prefer spending a really big chunk of my budget on this and not on commissioning a piece, or bringing in a guest artist or going on tour, or whatever?” That usually ends the conversation.
Thing is, there is a pretty big benefit to retreat. Some might argue that it’s mostly in the minds of the singers, and not so much in the actual effect it has on the sound, but that is debatable.
The reason we go on retreat is trust. Singing is unique. It is a profoundly personal experience. We as singers know this. When you critique someone’s singing, you are, in some way, critiquing them; not like just their singing but them as a person. When a singer makes a mistake, there is no instrument sitting there between you and the mistake. It’s clear you made the mistake, and you need to fix it.
And so it is, that to sing in choir day after day, with people you don’t know, requires trust. And to take vocal risks in order to find your way to an informed and gratifying performance, it helps to know and trust those singers around you. Of course, this gets easier both with age, experience, and skill, but it is always an issue. Without trust, it is hard do this thing.
So for 18-21 year-olds, going on retreat, bonding socially, digging deep into new music, and sharing social time, we come to know and trust each other. I think it makes us better singers. We certainly enjoy being in the same room together for five days a week a little it more.
I guess this makes singers “weird” in a way. I guess I don’t care about that too much.
Marie Grass Amenta says