Choral Ethics: Enough

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It’s a New Year and new opportunities will crop up for you. New attitudes and new diets and new exercise programs and other NEW, NEW, NEW stuff will revamp and revitalize your life. Or will they?

During the month of December, I got quite a few emails from ChoralNetters about how they believed THIS YEAR (2023) would be the one they would shape their the choir  into the one they’ve always wanted or do what they’ve always wanted to do. THIS YEAR they would change their lives and write the definitive article (or book) about Latin Vowels in Sacred Singing (or something like that) and be famous and not just in the Choral World. THIS YEAR they will get healthy so they can take their community chorus on a Dream Tour of Europe or someplace exotic. THIS YEAR would be their defining year and it wasn’t.

My ChoralNetter correspondents were disappointed their “visions” and “manifestations” and hopes and dreams and journaling didn’t produce anything. To a person, I asked what they did to make all their “visions” and “manifestations” and hopes and dreams and journaling reality. And, to a person, they told me they did a few things like research or talking to colleagues and friends, but nothing further. My response was “well, no wonder.”

It isn’t enough to think or dream or journal about what you want but you need to do something. Research is doing something but until you are able to USE that research toward what you would like to do, it’s worthless. I’ve researched something, put it aside, then used it a few years later, so no research is really worthless, but you HAVE TO USE IT eventually in some way. We all would like to have our ideas and dreams a reality, but first we need to do the work. And doing the work is easier than you think.

I studied acting as well as music (and ballet) back in my undergraduate days. One of my teachers/directors, Mother Yo, spoke about “doing the work.” She was always talking about using everyday behaviors and mannerisms (of others) to influence our characters. She spoke of studying the play and playwright, the background and culture of the time and place of the play—both the setting of the play and when it was written–and letting that knowledge help to inhabit our characters. “The work” began as soon as we were handed our scripts, and we began studying for rehearsals. Woe to those who did not do “the work!” She could tell if you didn’t, and it is with some contrition I tell you I didn’t do “the work” only once in my time studying with her. She gave me a petite lecture (her term for it) about how the work should become integrated in your everyday life, it’s too overwhelming if it isn’t.

I’ve brought Mother Yo’s ideas with me to my Choral Life and have let them inform some of my opinions. I’ve advised my current ChoralNetter correspondents to do some WORK if they want their lives and careers to change. Imagine, dream, manifest, sure, but DO SOMETHING to make your dream a reality. Taking a class, revamping repertoire, looking for a new position, or re-auditioning everyone could be the first step to help achieve what you want.

Breaking down a dream isn’t romantic but if the end result is your dream becoming a reality, it’s worth it. Break down what you need to and give yourself deadlines. Be realistic and move on, after you’ve given things a reasonable length of time to work out. Sometimes reality and your dreams aren’t all you expect them to be, so CHANGE the dream. Every year, we re-invent ourselves a little anyway SO CHANGE!

Happy New Year ChoralNet!