The Conductor as Yogi: A Moment of Peace

It’s Saturday morning as I write this.  A few days until a big concert with guest choirs and a full day of auditions and prospective student visits on the holiday sandwiched in between.  My “little world” is busy but in the face of the challenges of the “bigger world,” I take a step back.  I feel fortunate to make music for a living, to create meaningful sound with others, knowing that this mission is significant beyond the performances or a paycheck.

As choral musicians, we are especially lucky to have powerful texts in our music, to pull from these words insight, wisdom, encouragement, or guidance.  When we program repertoire, we are not just planning a concert; we are choosing the rehearsal atmosphere for the next several weeks; the opportunity for dialogue, understanding, and the unique kind of healing that the arts offer.  A piece might last 4 minutes in performance, but over many rehearsals, we will spend much more time engaging with not only the technical components but also, more importantly, the wisdom of the words. We have the opportunity to experience their energy multiple times, meeting us and our singers where we are in our “little worlds” or the “bigger world” that can overwhelm us with chaos, fear, and uncertainty.

One of the pieces for our upcoming concert is Joan Szymko’s exquisite setting of the Wendell Berry poem, “The Peace of Wild Things.”  Musically challenging in ways beyond the page, with an arc so artfully developed, the music and poem provide a path to hope and a felt sense of freedom, to a moment of peace.

“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

As our Chorale journeyed through the learning of this piece, we acknowledged the anxiety we all feel at times, the fear of the unknown or a sense of despair.  This is important, I think—that even in our desire to be welcoming and positive, we don’t assume everyone walking through the door is happy and emotionally settled.  Rehearsals are opportunities for building balance:  through our breathing, movement, and variety of musical styles and texts.  Acknowledging the reality that singers bring into the space can support them where they are and become a launching point from which we can grow and move forward towards something better.

Berry’s opening is strong . . . but after catching our attention with those first three lines, he offers a plan, a way to cope with our fears by meeting nature in its incredible, bountiful, beautiful forms, building to the power of “day-blind stars waiting with their light.”  These images remind us of a larger, universal richness; timeless, grounded, and awaiting us if we only see it.

 Yes, we hope to create powerful “moments” in concert, but let’s not overlook the “moments” in rehearsal, times of deep connection to the music, the text, each other, and the larger life we live.  The yogi’s greeting of “namaste” means “the light in me salutes and celebrates the light that lives in you.”  Remember your light, your unique way of meeting the world and the singers you are given to lead, and together, we may experience a deep exhale, freeing us in a moment of peace.

“For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

Dr. Ramona Wis is the Mimi Rolland Endowed Professor in the Fine Arts, Professor of Music, and Director of Choral Activities at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and the author of The Conductor as Leader:  Principles of Leadership Applied to Life on the Podium (and newly released video course through Forward Motion, the online learning center from Manhattan Concert Productions).  Dr. Wis is a 500-hour CYT (Certified Yoga Teacher) and a certified Brain Longevity® Specialist, a research-based certification on yoga and integrative medicine for brain health and healthy aging. Reach her at: rmwis@noctrl.edu or ramonawis.com.