Choral Ethics: Under Pressure

“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.” Thomas Jefferson

How do you handle pressure? Do you get flustered or angry or numb? Do you become unhappy with everything (and everyone) around you, no matter if it’s what you asked for in the first place, or are you impatient? Or do you never think about it?

Or, under pressure, do you float above the fray and internalize your stress, so no one knows you are really “feeling it” and do you give the impression nothing is bothering you? There was a television commercial, years ago, for deodorant whose tagline was, “never let them see you sweat,” is that you? How do you appear to those around you as if the pressure isn’t getting to you? Is there a technique or a mindset you use?

Tippy* tells me she has handled pressure and stress both ways I’ve mentioned above throughout her life as an accompanist.

She always seemed to be flustered and grumpy and “checked out” during the beginning of her career. The director who hired her for her first community choral gig seemed to get some sort of perverse rush in pushing and pressuring her until she snapped; she often cried after rehearsal. Rehearsals she had been given the music for weeks, and even months before suddenly became sightreading exams because he decided to change repertoire at the last minute. He made snide comments to her about not being able to “hack it” and was generally a jerk. There was always some new crisis du jour and she felt she could never just do her job without some drama, not of her making, and be calm and focused. After two years, Tippy decided she had had enough and resigned because she was often ill from the stress.

Her next job was to accompany middle school choral groups and to teach piano privately in conjunction with their stellar music program. The two choral teachers she worked with were experienced older women, Frankie* and Grace*, who had seen it all. Working with middle schoolers, there was almost nothing that bothered them. They were the calmest and most Zen people she had ever met. Tippy asked why they didn’t seem to be bothered by whatever pressure or drama that was thrown their way, either by the students or the administration. They explained it this way: their students wanted to get a rise out of them, and they did NOT give them what they wanted. The administration, they felt, was often testing them to see how much they could handle—it turns out, quite a lot!

Frankie explained that it often took the first month or two of school for the younger group, who were just starting middle school, to realize she would not be upset by their nonsense. By the time they were older and began to work with Grace, they knew not to even try anything with her. And the administration was the administration, and Frankie and Grace kept their cools, no matter what. It was their joint mindset and, as they explained to Tippy, that it took them years to figure out on their own. The first year they worked together at this particular school and realized they were on the same page as far as drama, pressure, stress and the like, they decided to “tag team” and it worked wonderfully. Tippy was soon folded into their tag team and learned a lot about music program building.

Tippy currently teaches at a small college and directs their accompanying program. She has taken what she learned from her first uncomfortable gig, as well as Frankie and Grace and from her other work experiences and imparts that knowledge to her students. Meditation, psychology, good manners, yoga, and Alexander Technique are all part of what she teaches her student accompanists as well as the usual musical aspects of accompanying for individuals and groups. Learning to be calm and as stress-free as possible is an often-overlooked aspect of an accompanist’s “bag-of-tricks” Tippy believes.

What techniques do you use to handle pressure and stress as a musician? Please comment below!

*Name withheld