Choral Culture

I am taking a bit of a Choral Ethics break during the summer, and this is the first of my Choral Ethics Blog repeats, taken from Choral Ethics blogs from 2018 through 2019. We will also have a guest blogger a time or two.  I will be working on the fall’s Blogs during the summer, so if you have a Choral Ethics dilemma or query or comment, please email me: .

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.” Gertrude Jekyll

It is SUMMER! Or will be tomorrow. It is the time of year I most look forward to. I am busy, but it is not same sort of busy as my usual “busy.” I bet it is the same for many of you.

I try to use this time to refresh and reboot my life; both personally and professionally. With no regular rehearsals or performances, my time is flexible. I am able to do some planning for the next concert season, and the season after that. I read mostly for pleasure and take a workshop or go to a conference if I can find one to fit with my vacation plans. We often vacation in an area with a music festival and go to concerts between resting and hiking and biking. We also go to the occasional outdoor concert venue; it is often noisy with the sounds of nature—or trains—but that’s part of the fun!

If I don’t get some time to refresh myself during the summer, my fall is not as organized. I feel stressed beginning the new concert season and things seem harder than usual. I have learned to make down time and to enjoy the down time and, since I am a planner, to plan for my down time. My favorite down time activities are baking pies and then lounging on the patio on summer Sundays, with a cool drink and maybe a piece of the above mentioned pies! Enjoying my flowers, delighting in the sunshine and the breezes and relaxing, truly relaxing, helps me reboot for fall and my seasons of busyness.

What do you do to reboot and refresh yourself during the summer? Are you able to take a vacation? Do you teach or do you take a class or a workshop? Have you taken a conducting Master Class, either close to home or out of the country? Do read or do research for your upcoming concerts? Do go to more concerts and shows, or less, than during the choir year? What do you do to relax?

Have a GREAT SUMMER!

“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I’ve written quite a few times here about my conversations with choral friends, most of whom I’ve known for decades. Some of them have shared conversations with me they’ve had with their choral friends, and I’ve written about those friends too.

My friends are talented and experienced and more importantly, they know the score. More than once, we’ve taken the same course or gone to the same conference. While we learn so much by attending, it’s after and our conversations together, when the real learning takes place. It’s more than mere networking, though that’s important too, but sharing expertise and experience with each other so we are fully able to digest and retain the material presented.

Sometimes, we go out to lunch during a conference and have a conversation about what we have just experienced. A few times we’ve had coffee before and divide up the sessions. We may have bought the videos (or now, the streaming links) but talking with someone actually in the room makes a difference. My friends may not be able to go, if but I am able, we might have a discussion after they’ve had a chance to watch the video.

Questions during the sessions are helpful but what’s really helpful is talking through the material AND the questions that were asked. Another view, another point noted can help the material be retained for use in our own situations.

One of my first experiences of “Talking it Through” occurred about twenty years ago, when I attended a church music conference. I had just met Wendy* and she and I immediately hit it off when seated together for morning choir practice. Later, we each took different courses but ran into each other again at lunch time and ate together. Having about 30 minutes before the next sessions began, we took a walk around the college campus. The choir director we were singing under was something of a big deal, and we talked about some of the techniques he used. I pointed out things I noticed, and she pointed out things she did. It was a lovely experience to share rehearsal ideas with someone else and we made it a habit for the two-week conference. We both felt we got more out of those rehearsals by talking them through with each other.

If you are able to attend a conference this summer, try to talk it through with those you meet. Networking is great but Study Buddies are WONDERFUL!

This will be my last completely new material Choral Ethics Blog post until September. We’ll have a guest blogger a time or two as well as some oldies, but goodies and I might write something when I’m on a long-looked-forward-to “real vacation.” I need to slow down as much as anyone else and plotting out the rest of the summer now seems like a smart idea. I try to be here, one way or another, every week because I know many of you look forward to this blog and I don’t want to disappoint you.

Have a GREAT SUMMER!

*Name Withheld

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” Alexander the Great

 Many of you read the title of today’s Blog and understood exactly what I was writing about. You might know someone who is a member of a chorus with a leader who can do “no wrong” or you might be That Leader, who is secretly delighted by his or her “sainthood” or you might be an observer. In any event, YOU KNOW what I mean.

Tony* is a very good bass with a very unusual voice and much in demand in his area’s community choruses. He got back to singing right after his youngest entered high school and has been active for about ten years. He joined a choir which sings a certain variety of choral music, then about five years ago, he joined a larger group, touted as “the best” in the area. He’s convinced the only reason they are “the best” is because they all keep saying it over and over and over again. And they all “worship” their director.

That Director is a nice guy, a decent musician but nothing special, according to Tony. Tony likes the music That Director programs but has a better time and feels more musically challenged by his first choir. If given a choice, he’d choose the first choir because he’s respected and is SHOWN respect. And there’s no game playing. Not so with the larger group.

Tony usually gets all the bass solos in the larger chorus. Yes, he does audition for them but it’s almost like they’re going through the motions. And there are sometimes vocal solos when That Director doesn’t even TRY to hold auditions; his favorites get them. Tony tells me for their last concert, the Chosen Soloist got sick several weeks before the concert and That Director had to give it to another singer, someone who auditions but never gets anything. It’s Tony’s opinion she did a BETTER JOB than the Chosen Soloist.

The reason Tony contacted me was two-fold; he needed to vent AND That Director is retiring. The larger chorus went through a year-long search for a replacement but it’s Tony’s opinion, the New Guy won’t work out because most of the singers worship That Director. Tony hasn’t decided what he will do but he WILL give the New Guy a chance.

Tony explained what happened before. That Director tried to “retire” a few years ago, but some of his most fervent followers BEGGED him to come back, which he did. There was a new director for the group, but That Director was “convinced” to start a new variation of the old chorus, which conflicted with the original chorus. The original chorus folded within a year and That Director flourished with his new group. It was a “shame” but no blame was ever heaped upon anyone but That Director should have stayed retired and left the original chorus alone. Tony is afraid the same thing will happen only this time That Director’s wife wants to move to Florida. He wonders if His Followers will realize asking him to come back could cause a heap of trouble!

I told Tony I’ve seen and heard many similar situations. Directors like That Director, whether they realize it or not, have created a cult. Their singers have been led to believe NO ONE ELSE can lead their chorus or even knows how to LEAD a chorus. It may make them feel good and feed their ego, but it isn’t healthy. My advice to Tony is to support the New Guy and hope That Director and his wife get to Florida before he can be convinced to do otherwise. It’s really a shame!

*Name Withheld

“If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is not the Blog I had planned to write this week. I had planned to write about our concert on Sunday, how this is the concert we originally planned for Spring 2020 and, well, you get the idea. But young Jess* contacted me and my plans went out the window.

Jess is an early twenties-something choral singer. She is fairly newly graduated from college, with a fairly new job in a city far from both her hometown and her college town. She arrived just before the Pandemic hit and was just beginning to meet people, besides at her workplace, as she settled in. She was able to work remotely but that meant she rarely went out, except to occasionally do some shopping.

Jess began to listen to music, all sorts of music, in her free time. And she realized she missed singing. Jess sang in her high school swing choir as well as several a cappella groups in college, so she began looking around for similar type groups in her area. There didn’t seem to be any, so she looked for community choruses and found two near her home. One was “highly auditioned”, and one would accept anyone who paid their yearly dues. The two groups rehearsed different days of the week, so Jess decided once restrictions were lifted and they were back in operation, she would join both. She thought she could get back to singing and meet new people by joining these choruses.

Restrictions in her community were lifted last summer and she auditioned and was quickly accepted into Chorus One. She attended the first rehearsal of Chorus Two and was welcomed warmly. Jess had sung a LOT of swing and pop a cappella music but not a lot of classical, large chorus music and found she LOVED it. Both groups sang similar repertoire but had a different sort of “vibe.” Chorus One sang more difficult music but it was a very easy-going atmosphere in rehearsal. Chorus Two sang easier music but the rehearsal atmosphere was anything BUT easy-going; it was tense and more competitive than the highly auditioned chorus.

When the ladies in Chorus Two discovered she was a “newbie” regarding large choral works, they began to suggest recordings for her. If she had listened to a recording of a work they suggested and it wasn’t the “right” recording, they acted disgusted. They had a “right way and a wrong way” for doing everything, from marking music to organizing their music folders. It felt like they were gatekeeping her choral experience because nothing she did or liked or had sung before was quite up to their standards; she would never be good enough.

When the ladies found out she was also singing with the other group, the ladies made disparaging remarks about Chorus One, their “high falutin” repertoire, the qualifications of their director and general nasty and snarky comments.  It was funny because Chorus One was so much better musically; voice quality of singers and what Jess believed to be their differences in musical standards. It didn’t make sense, but she WAS a choral newbie and maybe they were right.

Chorus One was a huge contrast to Chorus Two. Rehearsals were relaxed. Rehearsals were family-like, comfortable and no one felt in competition with anyone else. Jess asked their director, Marcus*, for suggestions of works to listen to and he shared his favorites. He offered to take her to a local symphony concert, and soon they began dating.

She told Marcus she was also singing with Chorus Two and he encouraged her to continue singing with them. He asked about her experience and said he really admired their director. They were more than mere acquaintances, shared some singers and pooled their contacts for orchestral players. Jess was confused when Marcus told her he ADMIRED the other director. She was under the impression from Chorus Two ladies that was not the case.

Jess contacted me, asking what she should do next year. She would stay with Chorus One, though she felt challenged and a little uncomfortable with her own abilities, but Marcus assures her she is doing fine. She was not sure what to do about Chorus Two, as she liked the music, the director and most of the other singers but couldn’t stand those ladies. She disliked being told what was good and what was bad or how she should listen to music. It’s a bit more complicated than that but I’m not sure how to describe the situation without giving away confidences.

I told Jess to do what makes her happy. If the music, director, and other singers make her happy, than she should continue. If the ladies and their gatekeeping are NOT making her happy and cancelling out the good, then she shouldn’t return. If that is the case, she should tell the director why she’s not continuing.

I have written in this blog more than once about Choral Ethics issues involving singers driving other singers from their ensemble by their attitude and behavior. It’s always my advice to tell the director or the board–or both–because they have a right to know WHY a good singer is suddenly quitting. And they won’t be happy.

*Name Withheld