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Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Busy Times

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“He, who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of the most busy life.” Victor Hugo

This was written and scheduled before COVID-19 changed our world. Please enjoy and hope we all are soon back to normal!

I am sure you are busy. In fact, I know you are busy this week. This week, Holy Week is the distillation of all we as choral professionals do, packed into seven days. A friend of mine in grad school, who used to sung with the professional choir at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, told me she and her fellow choristers called this “H**L Week.” At the end of it on Easter Sunday, they came out of it bleary eyed, craving chocolate and wanting to sleep for 24 hours. Most church musicians can relate to this and even if you are not a church musician, you can relate.

Whether you are singing, playing or conducting this week, you are busy. But this is just the showy part of the worship services, lined up one after another during Holy Week, the real work took place months ago. I explain to my civilian friends and family, being a choral conductor means steady planning for months, then intense busyness, then nothing. And repeat. It may seem to my mother-in-law I don’t work during the summer but it’s my most productive time. And my planning is probably more important than my actual doing.

This week, all your plans are coming to fruition. Everything you’ve been working on for months is finally coming together. There is a light at the end tunnel, along with the Easter Lilies. You are almost there with only a couple of rehearsals left.

Remember to jot down, when you have a minute, what works and what doesn’t this week so you’ll be a bit ahead for next year. Remember to eat properly and get enough sleep (if you can) so you can get through the whole week and not crash at the end. Remember to participate in, as well as observe your beautifully planned Tenebrae service and feel the wonder of it all. Remember to guide your choirs and the other musicians through the last part of the Lenten journey. Remember to remember what this feels like; a wonderfully planned and perfectly executed Holy Week and even if you don’t think it is, someone will, so take the compliment!

We are almost there, almost. Take a break, take a nap and then buckle down for these last few days. The brass players are ready, the organ and piano are tuned, your choirs seem prepared and everything is in place. I can smell the Easter Lilies……what are you waiting for…let’s do this!

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: I Wish I Could

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“It is not enough just to wish well; we must also do well.” Saint Ambrose

Like people in all walks of life, I am often stretched thin by requests. From my spouse and children, from my choir and professional colleagues, from community and art organizations I support; I am often overwhelmed. No one thinks twice about asking me to do something because I always come through; always. I try to honor those requests and even if I am not able, I try.

It’s gotten a bit too much for me, in addition to my professional obligations and family obligations, to do as much as in years past. Why? I recently realized I do almost nothing I want to do or that brings me joy. When things are a joy, we do them happily, easily and quickly. When things are a burden, they are a chore and drag out. I have requests which take precedence over things that bring me pleasure but I come through, despite the toll. In the last few weeks, my plate has been so full of chores and obligations I have reached my limit. And am extremely tired. I have decided to cull my obligations.

I am not alone in culling obligations. Jaqueline* began cutting out those time wasters a few years ago. In fact, her story inspired me to take a look at my own life.

A few years ago, Jaqueline’s daughter asked her to help with her Troop’s annual Girl Scout Cookie Drive. But she didn’t actually ask at first because she was crying. Why was she crying? She wanted her Mom to help but KNEW she would not be able to because she is so busy. Now Jaqueline is a former Girl Scout herself and loves the Cookie Drive and couldn’t imagine why her daughter would think that; except she really IS busy.

Her fairly large church job and community chorus directorship require she attend many rehearsals of course but also many, many, MANY committee meetings. And most of those committee meetings she did not need to attend but did so to keep aware of things pertaining to her choral groups. So she tried to figure out how she could help her daughter’s troop by cutting out things she could cut out for six weeks. After explaining her situation to her supervising clergy and the chorus board, she realized she needed to attend only ONE MEETING during those six weeks. They emailed the minutes of the other meetings she did not attend. It was fine.

After the Cookie Drive was over, Jaqueline started to go back to her old ways. But she soon discovered something; she didn’t need to attend most of those meetings. Jaqueline sat in meeting after meeting and began to look at things with fresh eyes. It was a nice idea to show her church job and her community chorus she wanted to be involved and aware of what was happening. But she didn’t NEED to be involved with the theme of the fund raiser or to help get bids for a new roof for the church. Her Epiphany, if you will, came after a two hours discussion of gift baskets for a silent auction while her youngest had a bad cold and a fever. Again, she spoke with her supervising clergy and the chorus board and was supported in her decision to cut back on her meeting attendance. Both groups assured her, if she was really needed at a particular meeting she wasn’t scheduled to attend, she would be alerted. In the past three years, there have been two extra meetings she needed to attend.

Jaqueline tells me since she’s cut out extra meetings, she feels physically better. She occasionally volunteers for her children’s elementary school and scouting activities of her own choosing. And also has more energy for her church job and community chorus. It’s been Win-Win for all concerned; her family as well as her jobs. Jaqueline realized she CAN’T do it all without taking a toll on her own person.

All of us are busy, with sometimes unnecessary BUSYNESS. We can’t imagine we could get more things accomplished if we cut out extra things we’ve been led to believe are important, but aren’t. With more energy and more time to re-charge, we CAN get more accomplished if we cut out things that waste our time. I am taking a page from Jaqueline this month; I already feel less stressed!

*Name Withheld

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: As Lent Begins

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“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Francis of Assisi

Last week, we finished our Mark Twain February inspirations. For March, I thought quotes from a few Saints might help get us on the right track for the month.

Those of us with church positions began our yearly Lenten Journey last week. If we have an academic or community position, we will also soon begin our trek to the end of the semester or concert year. This is a busy time, with the occasional unplanned difficulty thrown in to keep us on our toes. And it’s how we prepare, as much as one can prepare, which can make or break us.

ChoralNetter Shanna’s* story (under rehearsed chorus but concert was okay) has appeared in the two previous Choral Ethics Blogs. She is a good example of handling an unplanned difficulty in the best possible way. We’ve been corresponding for around six weeks about her situation and each time we exchange emails, it becomes clear to me she has good instincts.

Last fall, she began working on the most difficult sections of her two large choral works. As rehearsals progressed, she added material before each section and after each section until she had the movement thoroughly rehearsed. When illness struck many of her singers, her chorus had a good chunk of the difficult portions under their belts, though she did not realize it. While she tells me her chorus’s concert was not quite up to their own standards, it was perfectly fine. And when she listened to the concert recording, it was better than she remembered. If you were to be put in to a situation similar to Shanna’s, how would you handle it?

The end of winter and the beginning of spring can present us with challenges, both weather-wise and health-wise. There is often a late snow storm or rain or other bit of inclement weather causing our singers or ourselves to miss rehearsals or even a concert or worship service. With the coronavirus possibility and regular colds and flu going around, there is a good chance something important will be cancelled or postponed this year. Are we prepared? And how DO we prepare?

We should begin rehearsals with what is most important for our concerts or worship services. If we are doing a cantata for Lent or Easter, we can tackle the most difficult portions first. Anything requested by our clergy or that is important to our ensemble should come next. Structure your rehearsals with the idea you will not be able to have every one you’ve planned and squeeze in as much as possible every rehearsal. Have a few pieces your chorus is familiar with which can be used as Plan B in the event rehearsals need to be cancelled. That way, if you need to cancel one or more rehearsals due to weather or illness, it won’t be as dire. And if you DO need to cancel a rehearsal, especially because of the weather or illness, do it without regret; your singers will thank you later.

Busy work should begin as rehearsals progress so if you are distracted by the unavoidable, it will be ready. Do as much preparation as you as able as early as you are able to keep things on track. There is still time to get ahead of things during Lent, so do what you need to soon. Then relax and take things as they come.

*Name Withheld

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: We Had a Plan

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“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” Leonard Bernstein

If you are anything like me, your December concert and worship music for this year was planned during the summer or before. Your plans are coming to fruition or close to it. You are calm, knowing things are falling into place, right? Or maybe not.

There is always something to muck up our carefully laid plans around this time of year. A soloist gets sick, a snowstorm causes trouble or instrumentalists with car issues make us squirm. We handle whatever is thrown at us, and if we are smart, are flexible. Sometimes, the challenge to get things “right” turn our simple plans on their heads and somehow, the revised and improvised plan is better than we had ever imagined.

Dante*had grand plans last year. The Sunday before Christmas was to be the cantata to end all cantatas at his church. His Pastor approved a music budget for this Advent event he had only dreamed about. This was due to a significant monetary legacy donated to the church’s music program during the summer. There was enough left over for next year’s music budget to be doubled from years past. What a blessing!

He hired two vocal soloists from the local university, thirty minutes away. He arranged for a small string orchestra comprised of professionals from the city. He rehearsed his volunteer church choir, beginning from the first choir rehearsal in September, until everyone knew the music from memory. The church organist loved the music, accompanying as usual for rehearsals. But he was really looking forward to getting a chance to sing for a change. Dante was excited. Dante was nervous. But Dante was prepared, or so he thought.

There was a dress rehearsal the Friday before that Sunday. Everything was going according to plan. The soprano soloist happened to be the teacher of one of the “daughters of the church,” Ginny*, and was especially thrilled her student would be singing in the choir. The small string orchestra was wonderful to work with and Dante was having a great time conducting. The organist was having a great time singing. And the choir was enjoying singing a great work with an orchestra.

The Saturday before the Sunday, everything began to go south. The baritone soloist called at lunch time to say his wife (the soprano) had lost her voice. He would still sing but there was NO WAY she could, even if her voice improved a little, the next day. He suggested having Ginny sing, since she had studied the soprano solo sections with her teacher (the soprano soloist) during the fall. Dante arranged for Ginny to be coached by the baritone that afternoon and trusted all would be well.

Saturday night, it began to snow. It snowed all night and portions of the interstate from the city were closed. Dante began to get phone messages and texts early that morning from players in the string orchestra telling him it was impossible for them to get there that morning. All except two violins, a viola and ‘cello contacted him. He didn’t realize that until he got to church. Since Dante was fairly confident his organist would be able to play, he didn’t think to check who had contacted him and who didn’t.

Dante arrived early at the church to chaos, with the Sexton snowplowing the parking lot and the Pastor worrying about low turnout for worship. The organist arrived soon after, fully resigned to playing instead of singing. Then, a string quartet walked in and no, this is not the punch line from a joke. The two violins, viola and ‘cello were part of the string orchestra Dante had hired and had a gig as a quartet in the area Saturday night. They decided to spend the night instead of going back when the weather got bad. The choir straggled in, mostly on time for their Call, despite the weather. Dante had to do some fancy rearranging before the service began but took a deep breath and dived in.

Let’s review:

  • The weather outside was frightful
  • Substitute soprano soloist did a beautiful job
  • String quartet instead of a small string orchestra
  • Choir knew the work, backwards and forwards, and sang well
  • Organist got to sing
  • Pews were filled

The family who donated the monetary legacy in their Mother’s name was moved to tears at how beautiful and special it was. They are thinking about donating more money to the music program.

The verdict: the best musical performance Dante had ever been a part of, snow or no snow. There isn’t one thing he would change. Well, there is one thing he would do differently. Next time, it’s an Easter cantata when there is NO chance of snow!

*Name withheld

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: In ‘Perfect Harmony’

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“The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.” Heraclitus

I learned about the new NBC situation comedy, “Perfect Harmony,” during the summer. I was flabbergasted. Someone thought a sit-com about a choir, a church choir, would be entertaining? Impossible! I hoped it wouldn’t denigrate what we do. I went about my usual summer activities of repertoire planning, reading ChoralNetters’ emails and doing some home improvement projects and forgot about it.

I didn’t pay much attention to the buildup for PH until ACDA announced a contest for choirs on its Facebook page. I watched a few promo clips and what I saw, I thought was funny. But a few funny clips do not a comedy series make. I took a “wait and see” attitude though secretly, I hoped it would BE funny.

My spouse, a physician, has long luxuriated in dramas, comedies and a reality show or two about his profession. We laugh at “Scrubs,” cringe at “Dr. Pimple Popper” and try to figure out the disease du jour on “House.” Hubby remarked during the run of that series, while he would never be caustic or curmudgeon-like with his own patients, he loved to watch Dr. Greg House. Well fellow Choral Folk, we have our own Dr. House!

Arthur Cochran (Bradley Whitford), a retired music professor from Princeton University, is in the small town in Kentucky where his late wife grew up. He’s there to bury her and has come to the realization he has nothing to live for after her death. As he is sitting in his car, deciding how to finish himself off, he hears a rather “second-rate” church choir butchering the “Hallelujah Chorus.” He does NOT want that rendition of Handel to be the last thing he hears in life, stomps out of his car and into the church. The choir begs him to help them win the local church choir competition. Comedy ensues.

I was worried our profession would be portrayed in an unrealistic and “magical” way; the choir would be terrible and then good, old Arthur would say or do something and then suddenly they would be outstanding. For the most part, important choral details seem to be accurate; he is guiding them to get better and it’s not exactly sit-com magic. I loved that he had folks stand tall and asked them (well, he demanded—he’s a curmudgeon after all) to sing on the vowels. Some tired sit-com tropes are trotted out with a few unrealistic convoluted plot points but I do understand its fiction and a comedy. I would request a few less church choir competitions (around here, we call them “Church Choir Fests”); in real life, those happen about once a year in ADDITION to all the Holy Day services we sing. Unrealistic goes with sit-com territory but I hope the relationships and making music together are what drives further episodes. It seems to be headed that way.

Each PH character seems to have a story primed for the telling. Choirs become family and it seems like this is where PH is moving toward as an ensemble. I was very touched by the ending of this first episode; Arthur’s choir is in his home (it’s a house boat) and brought him groceries and other things to help him set up his household. They are bossy and butt into his life, like a real choir often does with each other.

As your Choral Ethics Maven, I should tell you there are some aspects of Arthur Cochran’s personality that are not exactly what I purport here on ChoralNet—he’s more of a ‘Don’t Be’ than a ‘Do Be.’ I would never tell a woman singing Soprano she’s an Alto and it’s because she’s aging (I’ve thought such things, not exactly my best Choral Ethics persona). The character “Adams Adams” has the best comeback to his comment–which was bleeped out! I laughed and laughed. He’s a bit caustic and blunt and not careful with his comments but quite frankly, they are funny! And not just funny, but so close to the truth we live in our profession, which is why it’s funny.

I hope “Perfect Harmony” can show the general public how much fun and soul fulfilling singing in a choir can be. And how a group of people can work together for a common goal, which is not always musical, and still love each other. Here at ChoralNet, “Perfect Harmony” is preaching to the choir!

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Let’s Be Nice

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“Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down.” Jimmy Durante

We’ve been busy, email-wise, here at Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics during the last few weeks as the choir year ends. Academic programs are finished when school ends. And community programs, with all sorts of different types of choral organizations, are having their last concerts, if they haven’t already. The church choir year ends with Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, so the end is in sight for them too.

The End-Of-The-Year comments and queries, with their desire for advice are similar, no matter who writes. The writers are singers, accompanists or directors themselves, all wanting to know one thing; why can’t people be nice? After a whole choir year of putting up with people being snotty or cranky, they can’t take it anymore and reach out, wanting to know what they should have done. Hindsight is always 20/20 and most of my correspondents are curious if they’ve done or said the right thing or if there was a better way to handle the situation.

It’s more complicated than simply saying, “Let’s be nice to one another.” People get upset when oversights leave them out. Or when they believe they are made to look bad and are scolded for things beyond their control. There are certain people who also believe there is a right and wrong way to do certain things. As the end of the year approaches, emotions run high and if things don’t go according to plan, or the way they THINK they should go, that’s when folks get testy and cranky. This year, “pettiness” rules with my “not being nice” emails.

Gene’s* name was (again) left off the concert program of the community chorus he accompanies for. When asked why his name was left off, he was told to get over it. He quit. Sasha* was yelled at by one of her singers for not carrying her music in the correct hand as she came on stage. She was NOT supposed to carry her own music but the person who WAS forgot. Her singer didn’t care because it “looked terrible” so Sasha quit her community chorale job. Jordan’s* choir director at church decided to scold the whole choir (all volunteers) at their last rehearsal for their terrible attendance this choir year. Jordan sang the Pentecost service but won’t be back in the fall when the church choir year begins again.

All of these folk QUIT rather than continue because of some rather petty reasons. And all of my correspondents admit these are pretty petty reasons. The problem is these are the LAST of a series of petty issues and comments, culminating in that proverbial straw. Gene and Sasha and Jordan asked what they should have done and I told them; they should have spoken up before. When I asked what they would do now, since they are no longer employed or not going to sing as a volunteer, all three told me they began to look for new jobs or a new church right after the winter concert and Christmas. In other words, they were primed to leave.

This leads me to ask; do we put up with others being nasty and petty so we don’t have to confront them? Is confrontation, even the benign type, so difficult for some people they would rather leave? There are some working situations when saying something will accomplish nothing, as in Gene’s case. He is right to quit and his new job seems like a much better situation for him. Sasha has one or two busybody singers who must say something about, well, EVERYTHING. If she has said something long ago, this wouldn’t have become an issue. And if it was such a Big Deal, one of those singers could have made sure her music was on the podium to begin with but not being nice must have been easier. Jordan has a point about scolding volunteers about attendance; church choir directors with volunteer choirs must take care not to offend those they depend on, otherwise, they get what they get. It seems so simple just to be nice, no matter what, in that situation.

I will be taking a bit of a Choral Ethics break during the summer and have scheduled Choral Ethics Blog repeats beginning July 4. But 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: .

Have a GREAT SUMMER!

*Name Withheld

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