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Marie Grass Amenta

Choral Potpourri: Pettiness

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                                                                              “Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.” George Carlin
 
Jackie* and I became friends at a long ago ACDA national conference and have stayed in contact for several decades. She directs a community chorus two states over and recently emailed me about a situation which came up during her summer audition period. She thought it would illustrate why we all need to be aware of Choral Ethics and to encourage our singers and board members to follow our lead in behavior toward others and other choruses.
 
Like many of us in the community sector, annual auditions are very important to the health of Jackie’s organization. She has a savvy board with plenty of ideas on how to advertise their auditions, but also still go with the tried and true methods of announcing them. One method is taking posters to various places in the community such as local businesses, restaurants, libraries and, believe it or not, grocery stores.
 
Posters are handed out to board members during the last board meeting of their concert year in June. They are told not to start putting them up until after July 4. Each board member is given instructions and a list of kinds of places to bring them as well as any known protocol businesses may have, such as bringing it to a particular person or on a certain day of the week.  Most businesses are happy to put up their posters and encourage Jackie’s people to bring anything else they may have to post as they want to support local arts organizations.
 
As usual, Jackie’s board members began to bring ‘round their posters after July 4. Soon after, some of the board began to notice something peculiar; their audition posters at one local grocery store chain were disappearing.  This particular chain has community bulletin boards at each of their store entrances and anything, with the exception of political posters, is encouraged to be put up. There are pianos for sale and painting services offered and babysitters or guitar lessons advertised. Audition posters for a community chorus would not be out of the ordinary.
 
Jackie’s chorus has always put up posters in the grocery stores and have auditioned a good number of singers in the past as a result. They were confused why suddenly they were being taken down. Jackie, herself, went to her own local store to talk to someone as to why the posters were being taken down. The Store Manager told her they have no restrictions, other than nothing political, as to what could be posted. The son of the chain’s owner cleans up the bulletin boards about once a month but other than that, he was confused as to why only their posters would be taken down. It soon became clear who was taking them down.
 
On her way into the store that day, Jackie had put up a poster but on her way out, it was no longer there. As she was walking to her car, she noticed one of her former singers, now a board member of another chorus, loading his car with groceries with her poster in his hand. She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing and left. The first thing she did when she got home was to call her board president. They decided they would keep aware of what was happening with their posters at those stores and keep replacing them. During the summer, two other board members had a similar experience to Jackie’s; replacing posters and then seeing someone walk off with them, usually someone they recognized as belonging to that other chorus. She doesn’t know if the director of the other chorus knew about his singers’ antics and Jackie doesn’t care. She thinks it’s beyond petty and with his blessing or not, it shows what kind of group they have.
 
You will be pleased to know Jackie had about the usual number of singers audition for her this summer and all is well. But her chorus will be watching their backs from now on.
 
It seems bizarre to be writing about the stealing of audition posters, doesn’t it? And yet, it is a symptom of a greater problem in our choral world; silly competitions and lack of ethics. Why would you take down another chorus’s posters? Does one group’s viability diminish yours? Isn’t there room for more than one good chorus in the world?
 
*Name withheld
 
 

Choral Potpourri: Perfection is Over-Rated

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                                                                    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 a 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 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 singers 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 were 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

Choral Potpourri: Ethics Should Matter

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                                                                          “We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don’t know.” W. H. Auden
 
What does it mean to be an ethical choral conductor/director? Our own Choral Ethics code should be a model of behaviors for how we treat our singers, but shouldn’t it be a bit more? Don’t we need to be Choral Ethical to our colleagues in addition to our singers?
 
Vance*, who teaches at a community college and has a church job as well, has strong opinions on the subject and what it means to be ethical to our fellow choral colleagues. He believes being ethical in our profession means supporting each other with singers, recommendations, concert promotions, publicity, encouragement, and concert attendance. We may feel alone in our institutions and organizations; we are rarely alone in town. There are conductors in other schools and churches or nearby communities and he thinks developing a personal and congenial working relationship with them which is not just over the phone is important. Working together no matter the choral group you direct Vance believes is good, not just for the individual director, but for all directors and choral organizations in the community.
 
Vance also has opinions about what he considers to be unethical choral professionals. He has been left “holding the bag” a few times in his career, cleaning up messes—literally and figuratively–left by predecessors and has wanted to ask them one question: how can you leave a choral library in the shape you did? Leaving a disorganized choral library might not be considered unethical behavior by some and Vance realizes everyone has different standards as how exactly a choral library should be organized. However, we can all agree dumping a year’s worth of octavos collected at the end of the school year in one collective heap regardless of title and leaving it for your successor to take care of it not exactly the most stellar of behavior. Music dumping by his predecessor makes no sense to Vance, since now the guy looks like a big jerk to his former colleagues in the music department, in addition to his successor. Vance has gotten over it, but does wonder how the fellow is doing in his new position.
 
Maggie* has lived in her community for several decades. She’s made quite a name for herself, often being referred to as “a teacher’s teacher.” She is also a lovely person; with a history of taking a chance on singers no one else seems to want and turning them into excellent musicians. Or rather, her fine reputation is agreed upon by everyone except those in the local “premier” choral group and their director.
 
The chorale Maggie directs is a bit different from other community groups; it’s unique in that it focuses on a certain kind of ethic music. Her chorale is not in competition with any other group in the area but it doesn’t stop those in the “premier” choral group from taking verbal swipes at her and the chorale. All of the other community choral directors have spoken to her with their support, both together and individually, and feel she is being treated terribly. But it does make it difficult to invite her and her ensemble to the bi-annual local choral fest or to have a group meeting of local choral directors. They do what they can by making sure to invite her and her group to the fest or director meetings, but they can only do so much without causing trouble.
 
Maggie and her chorale attend local choral events when invited but sometimes wonders why they do. The “premier” group’s director is condescending or just plain rude and so are his singers. It’s very humiliating for her chorale to have to deal with this behavior in public and she is at a loss. Maggie wonders what to do because by attempting to make her look bad and behaving the way they do–without Choral Ethics–they are hurting their own organization, whether they realize it or not. It makes Maggie sad for our profession.
 
*Name Withheld
 
 

Choral Potpourri: Collaborating with Other Arts

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                                                                                               “Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.” Claude Debussy
 
If you read Tim Sharp’s ChoralBlog on Monday, you know the title was, “Collaboration Outside Our Comfort Level.” I meant to write about collaboration as well and his comments on Oklahoma and buffalos (my Granny D. grew up in Tonkawa, OK and used to talk about buffalos) convinced me I should just go ahead and ‘be the Buffalo.’ My Blog today will speak to the subject but on a more rudimentary level.
 
I am the daughter of a ballet dancer/stage director father and an opera singer mother; thinking about collaboration between arts is normal to me. Yet, when I bring up the idea of collaboration between arts, I often get blank stares or an occasional “no way” from those I thought would be open to doing something new. We choral folk could learn much from our fellow artists (whatever their discipline) in the coming together of arts, but may tend to think it is not an option for our ensembles or think it might draw attention away from our music making.
 
One of my favorite works for solo piano is a suite by Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition. Orchestrated by Maurice Ravel among others, the work was a memorial of sorts for Mussorgsky’s artist friend, Victor Hartmann, who died at the age of 39. As Mussorgsky walked through a memorial exhibit of 400 of his friend’s works, he was inspired to write a piece reflecting what he saw. It delights me to think two artistic forms—musical and visual–converged to create such a lovely work. And I wonder why we don’t “converge” more.
 
Other musical and performing art forms already know what we should; using other art and artists to enhance takes nothing away from our own performance. This may seem like a new idea but it’s not. Early in the 20th century, Pablo Picasso collaborated with Diaghiliev and the Ballets Russes on several ballets, using his Cubist sets and costumes for Parade, The Three-Cornered Hat and Pulcinella. In the last 25 years, opera companies around the country have used sets and costumes influenced by the Belgian surrealist, Rene Magritte, for productions of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Having attended two productions of this version of The Barber of Seville, I can attest it is charming!
 
All this is great, you think, but how does this apply to choral ensembles? A few years ago, my husband gave me a video of two of my favorite things—a ballet choreographed on my all-time favorite choral piece (to sing or conduct), Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. Originally conceived for Nederlands Dans Theater in 1978, the chorography has been used by other dance companies, recently by the Boston Ballet. It was profound to see what I was hearing and singing and actually seemed to make my experience fuller. I don’t know if other large choral works would work quite as well having a ballet made on them, but I think Symphony of Psalms does. Last winter, one of my own home town choral ensembles, Chicago A Capella, did a concert collaborating with Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater. I admire them greatly for thinking outside of the box!
 
I also try to collaborate or be inspired by other art forms with my own ensembles.  Last spring, my chamber choir did a concert inspired by the life of the architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.  My singers, to a person, told me how much they enjoyed the music and how much fun they had with this perspective, different from our usual. Sometime in 2017, I plan to do a concert using Baroque dance in some way; we will see where that idea leads me.
 
Collaboration doesn’t have to be difficult; it can be as simple as having a concert at an art gallery or museum. There are occasionally announcements of concerts here on ChoralNet of events such as these, with musical offerings intended to enhance the art works or exhibits. I have thought a concert at a house of worship with significant stained glass windows, with works chosen to highlight the windows or the window donors, could be a wonderful sacred concert.
 
What about you? When will YOU be the Buffalo? Every journey begins with one step; what will be the first step to your collaboration? Please tell us!
 

Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics Begins Soon!

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” I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.” Lou Holtz
 
In two weeks, I will begin another series on Choral Ethics here on ChoralBlog. There are a few misconceptions floating around as to what I mean by Choral Ethics, so before the series begins, I’d like to clear them up. Choral Ethics is not just ethics, but ethics specific to our profession. What may be acceptable for another group of musicians may not be for choral professionals. Choral Ethics and behaving ethically to our singers and colleagues (no matter the level of our ensembles or colleagues) is important to every one of us in some way or other and has the potential to have an impact—positively or negatively–on our profession for years to come.
 
Writing about Choral Ethics has turned into something I am quite passionate about, but my interest started simply enough. Nearly four years ago, I decided to write a book about something I came to call “Choral Ethics.” A few things motivated me, including a rather unpleasant encounter at a community arts event with a choral colleague.  Nothing seemed to provoke our confrontation; in fact, I had just recommended the person for a rather nice job. But she was hell-bent on being unpleasant, so…unpleasant she was.  She harangued me in public and I thought she was being “unprofessional” as well as something else I couldn’t define. After our encounter; I began thinking about behavior, specifically what we deem “professional” behavior.
 
“Professional” means different things to different people and musicians throw the term around all the time. As I began to think of what I believed to begin with as a lack of professionalism, it occurred to me it is not a lack of professionalism but a lack of some sort of accepted ethical guidelines within our profession. As I began to examine my own behavior, both in rehearsal and out, I was determined to behave as kindly and as ethically possible. And the whole concept of Choral Ethics was born.
 
In order to have some sort of general choral ethics code, each of us needs to begin to think about our own personal code of choral ethics, ideally beginning to develop it while in training. Those working with young conductors can begin the process by being a good example first and sharing their personal codes with students. I find my own teachers and the conductors I have worked with influencing my own ethical code, whether positively or negatively.
 
My personal choral ethics code is a work in progress but has three basic parts.  I try to treat my singers and accompanists as I would want to be treated.  I try to always say something good about my colleagues if at all possible and if I am not able, to keep my mouth shut. And I try to keep my own skills as good as in my capability. This does not mean I expect less from my singers, accompanist or myself; I just try to be nice about it. Since I’ve begun to consciously behave more choral ethically I’ve noticed a difference, subtle at first, with my choirs and how I feel about myself. Rehearsals are more relaxed and we seem to accomplish more. I feel more at ease with my colleagues, no matter how I feel about them. And I feel less stress!
 
In my upcoming Choral Ethics series, I will share stories submitted to me by our colleagues. I am grateful to those who have felt comfortable enough to contact me with their concerns and Choral Ethics dilemmas. All names have been changed and some minor details have been modified to protect privacy. I am always looking for new stories so please contact me with YOUR stories or Choral Ethics questions if you’d like and they might be featured in a future Choral Ethics Blog post.
 
Thank you for the support and the “atta girl” I get both on ChoralNet and through personal contact when I write about Choral Ethics. I am a bit surprised the whole thing has resonated with so many. When I first thought about writing about this subject, I wasn’t sure there would be an interest. Now I see not only is there an interest, but a real need.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Choral Potpourri: Choir Rules

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  ” I believe in rules. Sure I do. If there weren’t any rules, how could you break them?” Leo Durocher
 
In the past few weeks, everything has started (or will start soon) for our choirs. Getting back into the rehearsal swing with those first rehearsals, it’s time to pass out Choir Rules. Whether we call them “Choir Commandments” for a church choir or “Choir Expectations” (with a contract to sign) for academic choruses or “By-Laws” for a community group, they are still choir rules.  Most choral groups have pretty straight forward ones but a few are…..well, a few are *interesting*. Makes us wonder WHY that particular rule was included.
 
When my sons began piano lessons, they had no rules.  I allowed them to practice when and how they wanted.  Often, it was right before school and sometimes, right before bed.  As they studied, it turned out we had to have some rules. We had two basic ones, which to this day, apply to all children who come into our home and want to play our Steinway:
  1. No banging
  2. Wash your hands
The first rule was because of my son-the-physicist who studied percussion (and played through his undergrad years).  Eventually, he did find something other than my grand to bang on. The second rule developed because of my son-the-keyboardist (now with several degrees in piano).  His nine-year old self loved to practice so much, he often would eat (pancakes with syrup were a favorite) and run to the piano to play without washing his hands. I usually was the person to practice after he did and I did NOT appreciate a sticky keyboard! Our house piano rules developed over the first few years of their studying. I think they were good rules; and not so complicated for children to understand. And I think Choir Rules should do the same thing—be simple, easy to understand and have a reason for being.
 
Which leads me to the question, what kinds of rules do YOU have for your choir, how did they develop and why are they important to your organization? I’m sure all have rules about number of absences allowed, excused or not, in order to sing a concert.  I’m positive all have a tardiness rule in there somewhere. I bet there is a music folder turn-in rule or two. And I am also confident all have a concert dress code (and perhaps what condition choir uniforms are to be returned in) or some other guidelines as to what your singers should wear for a concert. Any of the other rules are probably unique to your situation.
 
I am interested in unique, “only in your choir,” kinds of choir rules. Do you have a “don’t come if you’re sick and we really mean it” rule because of an outbreak of flu several years ago? Is there mention of personal hygiene or cracking gum? What drove you to amend your approach with your church choir when *everyone* seemed to be taking the same Sunday off to go to a football game? Do rehearsals after football (or basketball) games have their own special rules, for those teaching at a high school or university?
 
When I was in the midst of forming my community chamber choir, I was given the opportunity to read the By-Laws of several other community choruses I knew. The large groups (my proposed choir would be a chamber choir) had many By-Laws I knew would not apply to me. By-Laws which could have been helpful were so wordy as to be difficult to understand. Some rules didn’t make sense to me at the time, but the longer I direct my own community chamber choir, the more I understand why those rules came into being.
 
I thought it might be fun to share your quirky and funny choir rules in a future Blog, perhaps in late November or early December, as the semester ends and concert and holiday season intensify. We’ll all need a laugh by then. But I need your help. Please contact me via ChoralNet contacts or you may respond here. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!
 
 

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