Choral Ethics: Doing the Right Things

“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain

Many of my ChoralNetter correspondents have Choral Ethics queries I know they KNOW the answer to. I wrote a blog a few years ago about knowing what the right thing to do is but being unsure–or uncomfortable–actually doing it. Folks question themselves—”maybe it’s not that bad” or “maybe I’m just imagining it” –when their gut is right on point. When I assure them that they are right to feel the way they do, they are relieved, and we go from there.

Many times, the right thing to do might create a “fuss” and most of my correspondents don’t want that. But they also don’t want whatever the less-than-ethical behavior is to continue. By keeping silent, they are uncomfortable with what is happening but don’t know how to rectify the situation without creating a contretemps.  It’s often simple, to do the right thing, and they know what to do but still must be given “permission” to do so.

The situations they write about often happen to THEM, my correspondents, such as a director belittling them or other singers or watching an accompanist get chastised for no reason. What to do? Resign from the chorus and tell someone why you’re leaving, even though you really love singing in the chorus. Stick up for the accompanist, singly or as a group, and let the chips fall where they may. Report bad behavior to the board of the chorus. If it’s an academic situation, tell whoever is chair of the appropriate department or other higher ups; it’s important to understand the “chain-of-command” even if things are consistently good for the most part. In a worship community, tell clergy or the personnel committee. Doing the “Right Thing” is often complicated. These solutions may seem simple, but finding the courage to do them is not.

This past summer, I’ve had more than one ChoralNetter contact me about a “Choral-Conductor-Behaving-Badly” they know, personally, or in the larger choral community. It’s been A Summer, that’s for sure!  These are not the typical “he’s being mean to the altos” or “I never get the music in enough time to practice” complaints I usually get. These situations concern minors or emotional abuse or unwanted attention to adults bordering on the criminal. During August I re-ran some of my Choral Ethics blogs from years past concerning similar situations because I wanted you all to know I heard you then, and I hear you now.

I’ve read blogs and statements and Facebook groups discussing some of these people I’ve heard about from my ChoralNet readers. What the “Right Thing” to do exactly is debatable, but most agree that if someone transgresses enough to have a legal action taken against them, there should be some sort of accountability in our choral community. What that would be might be different for individual situations but, as a profession, we must do something to cause change.

I have been impressed by what I’ve read and how a few people are trying to uphold their own code of ethics. A composer stated on her website that she will no longer make one of her compositions available that was commissioned by a problematic choral director. Another choral director reached out to the publisher of that same problematic choral director, asking that their works no longer be published and was told they were in the midst of doing just that. These seem like small things, but if everyone did something such as this, it would make a difference.

The mind-set of “Maestro So-&-So is so talented that we must make allowances for their behavior” is no longer acceptable, if it ever was. But how do we change that way of thinking when others in our profession and the general public have been brainwashed to believe it is acceptable? We no longer have to hire anyone we feel uncomfortable hiring and can speak to others if need be. We can do what we believe is right, no matter what others tell us. It is NOT a tragedy when a so-called “talented conductor” is fired because of an ethics clause misstep on their part, it is the “Right Thing.”

If YOU have a Choral Ethics dilemma or an idea for a Choral Ethics blog, please contact me at my new email address: and we can figure it out together!