Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Perfection is Over-Rated

This is a Choral Ethics Blog post repeat from several years ago. I need to slow down and plotting out the rest of the summer now seems like a smart idea. I try to be here, one way or another, every week because I know many of you look forward to this blog and I don’t want to disappoint you. Hope you’ll enjoy one of our Oldies but Goodies!

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” Henry Van Dyke

Many Choral Ethics problems stem from perfection issues, or the perception of what perfection is and how to achieve it. Is the “pure goal” of true perfection just cause for the “end justifies the means” type behavior? Do the people we work with in our quest for perfection matter? Or is the goal of perfection in our performances the end all and be all, our choruses (whether amateur or professional) and their feelings be damned?

Gigi* and I became friends quite a few years ago. We kept running into each other through a group which helps parents with special needs children. Both of us have three sons and both of us have one son who has autism. When I noticed someone who sounded like my “autism Gigi” here on ChoralNet, I contacted her and asked if she was the same person. We became fast friends. Savvy and smart, Gigi is a long-time choral singer and does PR work for the large choral organization she has sung with for many years. She has also been a board member for that group, off and on, depending on what’s happening in her own life. When I asked her for a contribution for my Choral Ethics project, she told me this story.

Gigi was not singing with Unity Chorale* that particular concert sequence because they were guest artists for a local Symphony, singing Carmina Burana, which she dislikes a great deal. Another local group (now defunct), Eastern Community Chorus*, was singing Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and she loves Mendelssohn. She auditioned, started going to rehearsals, and enjoyed the Mendelssohn. What she did not enjoy was the conductor.  He was an outstanding musician, and gave great visual images for the music, but he was obviously not tuned in to working with amateurs. Instead of saying, “Oops, altos look at measure 59.  That second note is a B flat, and you want to sing a B natural,” he’d say, “Altos, in measure 59, what’s the second note?”  “B flat,” they replied.  “Oh.”

On rehearsal day each week, she’d start asking herself if she really wanted to go to that evening’s rehearsal.  She began to sit in rehearsal and think of all of her past choral directors, including high school and college, and realized that none of them needed to be sarcastic to get people to correct wrong notes.  In that regard, she feels this choral experience was an opportunity to see the importance of working with positive people…and of being a positive person, too.

Later, she talked to a few people from her church who had sung with this fellow before she had.  They all said they would not sing with the Eastern Community Chorus again because of how the conductor handled rehearsals. A couple of years ago, she talked to one of her fellow Unity Chorale singers who had sung with him too.  Her friend’s opinion was that a number of the singers liked the director’s style, because they wanted to do the music justice. But Gigi feels there’s more than one way to do the music justice and browbeating volunteers is not necessary.

Many amateurs feel in order to “do the music justice” you need to be treated poorly to be able to achieve true perfection. And when we allow directors to get away with behaving badly, they feel they CAN get away with it.  A conductor has the power to attract singers or repel them.   If Gigi HAD enjoyed singing with that conductor, she may have not returned to the Unity Chorale.  Who knows how many singers he repelled who moved on to other groups after singing with him for a concert or two?  I would guess there are a significant number.  And that number is something boards of choruses need to keep in mind in regards to retaining their directors…..it’s not only concert repertoire or performances but how singers are treated during rehearsals which makes a good conductor.  Being a jerk doesn’t mean you are a genius or so perfection driven you don’t feel the need to respect anyone, it just means you are a JERK!

*Name withheld