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Leadership

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Staying On Track

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“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today is the first Thursday of December. In normal times, I’d be reminding you to slow down and relax. Perhaps I’d be clever and suggest you stop and take time to smell the Christmas Cookies. In years past, I’d advise not to let snowstorms or sick sopranos get you down when they force a change in your plans but this year, what can I say? Our plans are already so mucked up, there isn’t much to say.

Some of you are doing remote or virtual concerts and worship services. Some of you may be playing in-person to a few folks, spread out, but there’s no singing.  In addition, you feel like you’re doing it wrong, whatever “it” is, and no one can tell you differently since they also feel they are doing “it” wrong. Some of you may be doing NOTHING and feel sad and empty but also feel you shouldn’t feel that way because at least you have your health. It’s all been a swirl of emotions this year and each one of us are feeling things we have never felt before.

Many of us feel unsettled and uncomfortable because we are off our schedule for the first time in our professional lives. The last time I did NOT have a Christmas gig–of some sort–was when I was expecting my youngest in mid-December and was just too uncomfortable (and HUGE) to do anything. The following year, I had just been hired for a church position and was preparing to begin the New Year with a new job. Since then, I’ve done something Holiday Music related almost every year; and it’s been awhile.

One thing, one person really, who has helped me stay on schedule and helped me (and our family) have some structure during the Pandemic is Russell, my son with autism. Russ doesn’t care if we don’t have deadlines or rehearsals and can eat when we want, he just wants his dinner at the usual time. He doesn’t care if we’re binge-watching “Miss Marple” or “Vera,” he wants his shower and to go to bed when he’s used to. And his breakfast–with the one cup of coffee he’s allowed per day–better be ready when gets up or he’ll start looking for people to make it. Autism isn’t usually looked upon as a positive thing, but in these times that’s the way I feel. Those of you with young children on schedules probably feel the same way; being forced to have some part of your normal life is a blessing during the Pandemic.

I am getting out my Christmas decorations (and decorated for Thanksgiving and Halloween) in the next few days. Russ looks forward to the wreaths and the red bows and the Nutcrackers and that’s what he’s going to get, especially this year. It’s something I can do that’s “normal” for our family.

So that’s my advice to you during this strange year; try to do some of the normal things you do. Bake the cookies and fry the Latkes and decorate. As Ben suggested a few weeks ago, sing in the privacy of your own home. Do something that feels normal because there IS light at the end of the tunnel!

For the rest of December, I’ll be rerunning a few seasonal blogs from the last few years, updating them for our current situation when appropriate.

Until next week, be well and be safe!

I am taking my Choral Ethics Blogs to my chamber choir’s Facebook page for the foreseeable future. Please join me there this morning! https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety/

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Guest Blogger

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Today we have a Guest Blogger, my accompanist and assistant, Ben Amenta, who is also my son. He has a few ideas about how we can get through the next few months as well as prepare for the time we can all sing together. With much love, MLGA

Choir Present and Future: How Choral Musicians Can Overcome the Pandemic

Hello, I’m Ben, the son of Marie, the Choral Ethics blogger.  I too am a choral musician and have substantial training in piano and organ; and have also studied the cello and harpsichord.  Like Marie, I am concerned with how musicians treat one another.  Today Marie has asked me to discuss how we as choral musicians deal with this awful pandemic.  First, I begin with good news, then discuss problems, and briefly express a possible and hopeful framework beyond COVID-19.

Many of us are concerned about being rusty once relatively normal choir singing begins.  First, if one is not advised or required to self-isolate or quarantine, then there is nothing stopping one from singing or practicing singing in one’s home.  It is not a sin to do this but perhaps solidarity for fellow singers who are not able might keep us from doing so.  When things resume, we can help one another improve.  Secondly, one may also take advantage of the “zoom” app and/or other social media. There are three problems to deal with in the present. 

The first is safety.  Please follow safety guidelines (choral, but also in other social situations) and follow temporary laws, the key word being “temporary” because humanity will get through this!  These are designed to alleviate, so when things do return, for example there will be a good number of people in choir.

Second is knowing and dealing with mostly beneficial technology; with virtually any reasonably beneficial technology, there are indeed many benefits, and a few drawbacks.  A general example is the “google maps app” vs. a globe.  The google maps app indeed provides much wonderful information, but the globe can literally be touched and if one has access to a globe, it is faster.  The globe’s mere seconds access to the internet app’s half-a-minute or so. 

Regarding those of us in choral singing who use “zoom” here are a few issues.  One needs to spend time learning the technology, which uses time and energy, sometimes with frustrations and a new set of etiquette.  With learning and more grace in etiquette, one is required to have patience.  Computers are complicated, and if one is not a professional programmer per se, problems can pop up like a wack-a-mole.  Technological problems with “zoom rehearsals” have included, (1) about a second delay between live and ether, (2) being mirrored, (3) brightness, (4) when it is appropriate to be muted, (5) sound quality, (6) getting kicked off without seemingly knowing why, (7) and problems with tardiness to name a few.  And how one might deal with these?  Whoever is directing may be inspired to “conduct ahead.” With being mirrored, it may be fine as long as one has right from left straight to one’s preference, and brightness is also personal taste.  Muting the choir is a new way for its discipline, hearing one’s self and watching while rehearsing.  Frustrations with sound quality are a problem to be dealt with patience and less judgment.  With getting kicked off, one needs to know one’s technology better, with diligence and patience.  In terms of tardiness, an old adage: “If you are early, you are on time.  If you are on time you are late.  And if you are late, well…” One needs to plan ahead similar to one planning to commute or travel but instead of physically traveling, planning, nonetheless.

Thirdly, we see our arts organizations struggling, and choir and band programs cut in schools.  It has usually been because people “can’t afford them.” This “argument” is being used even more because of this pandemic.  But the principle goal of life is never to acquire the most sheets of green paper or to “get ahead.” Neither is it true money grows on trees.  And we are encouraged to not be afraid.  One’s economic value is how fruitful and/or germinative one is; beautiful choral music is included among these preferred things.  Once this is firmly understood, monetary theories and practices are given a proper lens.

I conclude trying to renew our hope after COVID-19.  Being a part of the American Choral Director’s Association, let us be inspired by Mr. Biden; the soul of choral music will be restored and built back better.  We can have “zoom rehearsals” on snow days, or have an ill person observe via zoom, and have additional artistry of concerts being used with zoom.  Lastly, one day people will be able to sing wholesomely and freely in homes, schools, streets, churches, over the ether, and at concerts.

Until next week, be well and be safe!

Ben Amenta

We are taking my Choral Ethics Blogs to my chamber choir’s Facebook page for the foreseeable future. Please join us there this morning! https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety/

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Regrets, I’ve Had A Few

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“Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.” Arthur Miller

As I write this, it is the week before our presidential election. I decided to write this week’s Blog BEFORE the election because I wanted to be clear minded and not influenced by events of the week. And I have no regrets about writing it BEFORE.

During this fall, since I’m stuck home for the most part, we are having major remodeling done. In the last few months, I’ve gone through boxes of books and my spouse is finally organizing his HUGE collection of LPs, CDs, Laser Discs and miscellany. In preparation for the work to be done, we’ve found many things we’ve put off using or forgot we had. I’ve found items from both of my grandmothers, from dishes to furniture. I inherited end tables and one occasional chair from my mother’s mother and decided to use them. That meant getting the chair reupholstered and am so happy I did!

Grandma’s chair is now in our bedroom and is more comfortable than I remembered it to be. I am making a habit of sitting in her chair for at least five minutes once a day and thinking about her. It helps calms me during these turbulent times. The first several times I sat in the chair, I thought about how much I loved her, and how she loved me, and that love washed over me like a cozy blanket. I also began to think about some of the conversations we had about her life, her girlhood, and the early part of her marriage to my grandfather. I do have one regret about something we did not discuss: the Spanish Flu.

Grandma was born in 1899, so she would have been around twenty and in college during the time of the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1919. In fact, Grandma had been a piano major at a conservatory in Kansas at the time. We did speak of Grandpa’s military service during the Great War in France and how he was gassed in the trenches. We spoke at length of the early years of her marriage before Mom and my Uncle were born and how she took a secretarial course during those years. And we spoke of her accompanying for choruses, especially after I was in college and a choral conducting major. But we never spoke of the Spanish Flu or how it affected her and her family. It seems like a hole in our conversations. We spoke of many things BEFORE that time and many things AFTER but never things which happened during. And I regret not asking her.

Before February or March of this year, I had never thought about the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1919. Other than learning about it in very general terms in a high school US History class, I knew no details. I always believed many advances in medicine were made since that time, so it seemed fanciful to think.  It was never an interest to me because I couldn’t imagine anything like that happening again. Of course, I was wrong.

I did speak of the Spanish Flu with my other Grandma. Her sister, my Great-Aunt, lost her fiancé in the Pandemic and never married. Aunt Rena wore his engagement ring on a chain around her neck for the rest of her life. Grandma explained WHY she wore her beautiful ring that way and not on her finger, but my young mind couldn’t understand how so many people could DIE from the same disease. Our family would have been much different if Rena’s Jim had lived.

Oddly, 1919 was the year my grandparents eloped. I never understood why they didn’t have a big wedding because Grandma LOVED weddings and dressing up. They were young but not that young for the time. But trying to have a nice wedding during a Pandemic perhaps answers my question. Neither one of them ever spoke of the Spanish Flu or how it affected their lives, other than talking about Rena’s fiancé. I regret not asking about it.

I have vowed, after we get through COVID-19, to share my experiences with my loved ones. My future grandchildren will hear about it and how it affected my profession. I will ask colleagues, past, present, and future, how they managed and share their experiences as well. We cannot forget the lessons we’ve learned during this time for the sake of our families as well as our Choral Profession. And I’ll have no regrets doing so.

Until next week, be well and be safe!

I am taking my Choral Ethics Blogs to my chamber choir’s Facebook page for the foreseeable future. Please join me there this morning! https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety/

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Following Through

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“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.” Martin Luther

Throughout the month of October, we’re revisiting some of the staple issues of Choral Ethics. I’ve written a BUNCH about each of these subjects during the last few years. While most of us now rehearse and perform in a much different way, these issues remain at the center of Choral Ethics even now. Today we speak of Following Through. In one of my earlier blogs this month, I briefly mentioned one of my HUGE Pet Peeves is not following through. I can’t stand it and there’s a reason.

Twenty years ago, I waited for two months for an organization to contact me after I auditioned for a position. I heard nothing until I ran into a search committee member who couldn’t believe no one had contacted me. He apologized since he assumed everyone who auditioned would hear from them, one way or another. I had already accepted another job, so it didn’t matter, but I did agonize over what had happened. I have since learned this is how that organization does business; they tend to be arrogant, with a “we’re important and you’re not” attitude. Everyone, except their singers and board members, know this isn’t a good way to conduct business and yet, they still operate this way.

Yes, I am still talking about something that happened over twenty years ago. That organization could have dropped me a form letter or given me a call, that would have been the end of it, and we wouldn’t be talking about it twenty years later. They could have told me I would hear by a certain date if I DID get the job and would not hear back if I didn’t. That would have been fine too. But my time was not important to them, so they chose to not follow through.

In the five years I’ve been regularly writing Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics, I’ve gotten a number of emails from folks experiencing a situation similar to mine. They auditioned or interviewed for a position or a singing or playing gig, everything was congenial, some felt they did well, or some felt they didn’t, but all had every expectation of hearing back. When they didn’t hear back, they were confused, wondering if they had done something wrong. I tell them they did nothing wrong and use it as a Life Lesson. In future auditions, ASK if you will be contacted one way or another and be a good sport if they tell you only those who make it will be contacted. And when they are in a position of conducting auditions themselves, ALWAYS remember how it felt to NOT KNOW and act accordingly.

When someone auditions for me, I always think back about how I felt during the two months I was in limbo. Did I get it? Did my answering machine drop the call? Was something lost in the mail? Several times, I thought I would contact the chair of the audition committee to see if they were waiting for a response from me, then thought better of it. When I ran into that search committee member and thought I’d ask, I was happy I did. I had been hired by my second job choice and got on with my life. But I always wondered WHY they couldn’t take the time to just tell me I didn’t get the position. The Kids call this “ghosting” but back then, we didn’t have a name for it.

Even during Pandemic Times, we should be responsible for following through. Answering emails, responding to texts, acknowledging voices mail are not that difficult or time consuming. So why don’t folks follow through? You tell me!

Until next week, be well and be safe!

I am taking my Choral Ethics Blogs to my chamber choir’s Facebook page for the foreseeable future. Please join me there this morning!

https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety/
https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety/
https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety
https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety

Choral Potpourri/ Choral Ethics: Auditions

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“No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Throughout the month of October, we’re revisiting some of the staple issues of Choral Ethics. I’ve written a BUNCH about each of these subjects during the last few years. While most of us now rehearse and perform in a much different way, these issues remain at the center of Choral Ethics even now. Today we will speak of Auditions.

Our auditions this year do NOT look the same as in years past; we may not even have had auditions. When we are able to have auditions again, how will yours look? Will you be using skills you’ve been forced to develop during the Pandemic? Or will you be going back to your “tried and true” ways of handling auditions? Perhaps this is the time to scrap the old ways and look to new ways. I have some audition behavior suggestions from past blogs, with an eye to Choral Ethics to help start you thinking. And as we rethink our ways of doing things, there are several behaviors we could change that might be the beginning of a new day for us, and for our organizations.

We create our own distinctive culture whether we are aware of it or not. We hold auditions or open rehearsals every year, then are not welcoming to the singers we say we wanted.  We play favorites.  We allow a select group (you could say a clique) lead the organization, keeping us either mired in the past or grabbing onto any new trend or repertoire that comes along. Or we don’t follow through. We may not think these behaviors affect our chorus, but I can assure you, they do.

One of the biggest problems with auditions is the lack of an audition plan, or the perception of the lack of plan by those auditioning. If singers who audition for you don’t understand your plan, they will believe you are not being fair when you are just sticking to your plan. And if they believe you are not fair, all sorts of misunderstandings occur.  Taking time to be clear about expectations can make a world of difference in auditionees’ perception of you, your ensemble and organization.

Another Choral Ethics issue is how you, the auditioneer, behave during the audition. Do you act bored, or interested? If you are forced to hold auditions no matter what, how do you present yourself? Do your auditionees feel they have a chance of making it by your behavior? You may not need extra sopranos now, but you may down the line. If you have ticked off enough singers in previous auditions by your attitude, you may be sure they have told everyone.

I mentioned being clear with expectations earlier in this blog. It’s important to convey your expectations to those who audition for you but just as important to be clear about what they should expect from YOU. After auditions, if you only contact those who make it, please be clear that is what you do. I’ve gotten many, many emails from folks who found out via a press release they did NOT get a position, a perfect example of ticking people off for no good reason.

Early in my career, auditioning for community chorus positions, I learned the importance of following through.  Those who were timely and let you know where they were in the auditioning process, were groups with whom I had good feelings about, no matter what happened.  And those who “forgot” to contact me are now not doing that well–years of treating folks with no respect will take its toll. Believe it or not, I am grateful for that lesson learned!

As a result, I can’t stand promising to do something and not following through.  If I say I will call you–I will.  If I say I will email or text you by a certain time–I will. I try to respect people’s time and feelings by always doing what I say I will, when I say I will. It makes

a world of difference in how people perceive me and my organization.

Until next week, be well and be safe!

I am taking my Choral Ethics Blogs to my chamber choir’s Facebook page for the foreseeable future. Please join me there this morning!

https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety

Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Gossip

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“To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea.” Henry David Thoreau

Throughout the month of October, I’d like to revisit some of the staple issues of Choral Ethics. I’ve written a BUNCH about each of these subjects during the last few years. While most of us are now rehearsing and performing in a much different way, these issues remain at the center of Choral Ethics even now. We begin today with Gossip.

Recently, believe it or not, I’ve gotten quite a few emails about gossip, despite our altered reality. It seems the gossip and rumor mills having running overtime about music programs and community choruses across the country. Most of the gossip centers on how groups are coping or if they are following state-mandated guidelines. The “perfect” Zoom rehearsal and parking lot performances are new status symbols by which to judge our peers. Choral organizations who are not able to do anything approaching other groups solutions are gossiped about. And there are unpleasant wonderings about certain choral organizations ability to survive if they are not able to rehearse or perform anytime soon. Following mandates–or not–is a subject for some of the nastiest gossip according to my correspondents. In my opinion, this is all a bit distasteful in the middle of a Pandemic.

I’ve told my correspondents to ignore the gossip if it is about them and their groups, and not join in if it isn’t. Simple solutions because who has the TIME or the emotional strength and energy to deal with it?

It does no good to gossip about our colleagues and their ensembles.  It doesn’t help the arts community in general or the choral community specifically to “bad mouth” others. We are all in this together and the sooner we realize it and behave accordingly, the sooner we will reap the benefits.

We need to be supportive of each other, since if your group is doing well, my group should be as well. Many forget this truth. They attend concerts and gossip about the performance or the concert wear or who is doing what and how well WHILE THE CONCERT IS HAPPENING. They repeat gossip they hear to their friends and the truth, whatever it is, morphs into something unrecognizable, the victim of a game of “Telephone.” It might be “fun”, but it is damaging because it destroys good will. And art organizations, no matter if they are at the church, school, or community level, need good will to survive.

I hate the gossip which surrounds some art organizations. I won’t tolerate gossip in my own rehearsals from singers about other groups, especially if they are former members of those other groups.  You won’t hear a bad word from me about my conducting colleagues or their choirs in public or private, but my spouse and children know my opinions.  I will nod or be non-committal when gossip swirls around me, but I won’t join in the “fun” no matter what. I know when the gossip is directed at me in my presence and I refuse to acknowledge it, I look stupid or naïve. If I say anything in retaliation or make an equally nasty comment, I will be sinking to their level.  And I will look as poorly as they do.  Better to be thought stupid than nasty!

There is a difference between networking and gossip.  If someone retires and there is an open position, it’s good to know. It’s also good to hear why the person is leaving so we can decide if we really want to apply. Whoever applies for the first job and then gets it will create another opening.  And so on, down the food chain of choral jobs. We’ve all heard stories about colleagues in our community: the “too big for his britches” fellow who got the plum church job and was asked to leave after eight months or the college conductor who retired and left a mess for his successor to clean up or the community chorus director who didn’t try to be a community member.  I never believe such stories unless I hear it from a person I respect.  I believe the church member/piano professor who was the one to let the church director go or the college conductor’s replacement. The alto with an attitude I don’t believe when she tells me the director was asked to leave for the simple reason, he didn’t attend the fund raiser!  I don’t repeat these stories to anyone because I don’t want to perpetuate gossip.  It’s not fair to my colleagues and I don’t want to get that reputation.

Until next week, be well and safe.

I am taking my Choral Ethics Blogs to my chamber choir’s Facebook page for the foreseeable future. Please join me there this morning!

https://www.facebook.com/themidwestmotetsociety

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