Choral Potpourri: An Original

      “I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.” Coco Chanel

At ACDA Central, I had the most interesting and delightful conversations with a young choral director, Hannah*. We both have founded choruses unique for our communities and have much in common because of it. Issues arise over territory when you begin something new, even if it is different from everything else. Someone always believes you are trying to infringe on the established when you are simply trying to do something new. It makes for interesting Choral Ethics dilemmas.

Hannah lives in a medium-sized city and directs an urban children’s chorus which she founded over a year ago. Her chorus is growing, by ten or so singers, every time a new concert session begins.  She tells me she feels like the New Kid in Town but more than that, one of the established children’s choirs is making her feel like a usurper.

Hannah tells me she was told she could not continue using her chorus name which is registered with the state (researched before she could get a service mark and was approved) because it is “too close” to the Big Chorus’s name. Of course, this was done informally and they were just trying to be “helpful.” There are all sorts of misconceptions as to what Hannah’s purpose is and no matter how much she tries to explain the differences—her chorus is based in the city and the other group is based in the suburbs, her group is more diverse, the other, not so much—the more they don’t seem to “hear” her. While not overtly undermining her, the director of that other group is discouraging to her personally and to the concept of her chorus. And Hannah has heard from others in the choral community he talks of her group in a disparaging way. I told Hannah never to say a bad word about that director or his chorus and always behave supportive of his mission in public. Be above reproach and keep doing what she is doing, and don’t pay attention to the Big Group’s nonsense. Her chorus is growing, so she must be doing something right!

My experience in own situation was similar to Hannah’s. Exactly ten years ago, I founded a chamber choir. The journey to my Midwest Motet Society has several twists and turns and, in truth, did not turn out the way I thought it would.  I had just left a stressful church job, kept my community children’s choir directorship but realized I also needed to be around adults as well to be happy professionally. I began voices lessons with a new teacher and looked around for a community chorus to sing with.

The three choruses in my community are perfectly wonderful, directed by lovely, talented people and yet, they were not for me.  Two of them are non-auditioned and HUGE. One of them is auditioned and fairly big.  All three of them sing standard choral repertoire but not the type of repertoire I really wanted to sing. I wanted to sing repertoire written for small ensembles; partsongs and madrigals and motets. But I could not find a group doing what I wanted to do within a reasonable drive from home, so I decided to start my own chamber choir in the area.

I have taken great pains (taking directors out to lunch or coffee and actually telling them my intentions so there can be no misunderstanding) to make sure the other choruses in my area understand I am not in competition with them.  I have had a good number of singers sing with me in addition to singing in one of the others (one person has sung in two of the three in addition to my MMS) and make sure to be sensitive to any rehearsal conflict.  I hope we all have a cordial relationship, as is my intention, but if they don’t understand that to be the case, there is nothing I can do about it.  I let it go, live my life and try to be above reproach. No one can fault me for trying to do that, can they?

*Name withheld