Leadership

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!” Percy Bysshe Shelley

I love autumn. The golden slant of the sunshine, the rich, beautiful colors of the trees, the crisp and warm days, combined with the crisp and cool nights are a few of the reasons for my love of autumn. I have been known to go out of my way to crunch leaves beneath my feet simply because I love the sound. I am an October Baby, so that’s also part of my preference for the season. But what I really love is beginning a new concert cycle every fall!

I get excited by the repertoire I’ve lovingly chosen and have been studying for about eighteen months. It is thrilling to finally hear my singers sing something I’ve only imagined them singing. I enjoy beginning pieces which are new and interesting, working with wonderful people. Our fall concerts tend to be sacred music, so beginning our concert year with works of a more spiritual nature sets the tone for the rest of our concert year. As well, auditions every summer bring new singers; it is always fun to bring new blood into the mix of the core group.

Amber* also enjoys the autumn for many of the reasons I do. Her community chorus has auditions the first few days after Labor Day in September, and rehearsals begin the following week. She likens her view of autumn and the beginning of the choral year to New Year in January; she even makes New Choral Year Resolutions! Amber contacted me to share some of her choral resolutions for this year, Fall 2019 to Spring 2020. There are only three, but they are important.

Amber resolved to practice more regularly and to purposefully block out time every day to at least look at a tricky spot or conduct through several pieces for her community chorus. She tells me she always practices before rehearsals begin but in the last few years, has not practiced as much as rehearsals continue through the concert season. After about a month of rehearsals, she told me yesterday she really has noticed a difference in herself and the chorus. With a busy week last week, she was only able to practice about fifteen minutes each day. While not as much as usual, she still felt she needed to do what she could even if it seemed minimal.

She also resolved to say something nice every rehearsal; this was trickier than you’d think. Amber was trained by “old school” conductors who never said anything nice. She has tried to abandon this practice but old habits die hard. Her usual way was not to say anything good or bad, and often it was confusing to her choruses. If something needed to be fixed, she would work to fix it but not say anything when the correct notes became habit. This fall, she has complimented the chorus’s work ethic or tells them it’s almost there until it is corrected. When they do finally get something difficult, she tells them they did a good job or will compliment a section on figuring out a difficult passage. Amber has noticed the chorus seems to get things quicker than in the past with this change in tactics.

Amber’s third resolution is simple; she says “thank-you” to those she should thank. She does so immediately instead of “later” at a more perfect time, when the chance of forgetting is greater. Amber always had great plans to thank people, plans involving flowers and gifts and handmade cards. Most of the time, she got too busy to follow through and, as a result, folks she was really grateful to never get a proper “thank-you.” This summer, she bought several boxes of music themed “thank-you” notes. She put one box in her conducting bag along with several pens so she could write a note immediately. She also is keeping a running list of those she has already thanked. She could send a thank-you email or text but believes it better to write a physically tangible note of thanks. She feels better about her “thank-yous” and I assured her she is doing the right thing.

Autumn is a new beginning for many of us in the Choral World. Cheer’s to all of us for a wonderful beginning of the choral year!

*Name Withheld

“If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.” Alice Roosevelt Longworth

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 should 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 on 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 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 of as 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.

My own chamber choir is not the norm around here and, as often as not, is referred to as that “little choir” in a rather disparaging way. The singers in my choir understand we are that “little choir” until proven otherwise. Recently, I had a conversation with one of my altos after our fall concert.  This particular concert’s attendance was pretty good and my alto noticed several members of other, larger choral organizations from our community attending. Both of us in this post-concert conversation opined their attendance probably wasn’t so much a desire to hear our concert but probably a desire to see us fail.  My alto is one of the most laid back, non-gossipy people I know, so when she offered her opinion, I took her seriously.  She told me a friend of hers, a member of one of those other choral groups, spoke with her after the concert and told her she was surprised we were so good because “rumor has it” we weren’t.  The saddest part of this whole story is in that one phrase, “rumor has it.”