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“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” Arthur Conan Doyle

Believe it or not, I get many emails about loyalty. Loyalty to a chorus or church choir or alumni group and perhaps another type performing group of some sort. I get questions such as: if my university has disbanded an ensemble I was a part of and I don’t see why they disbanded it, should I still donate to the university? Or: the new choir director at my church often schedules anthems not to my taste, should I still sing every Sunday, even if I don’t like what we’re singing that morning?

In addition to those types of questions of loyalty, several of my recent correspondents are board members or audience members of community or professional choruses. All want to know a variation of: if I don’t like the music on a particular concert, do I still have to attend?

The answer to all these queries is simple: it depends. If your idea of loyalty is punishing someone when they do something you don’t agree with by withholding money or attendance, then sure, do what you want with your money and attendance. But you’re not being loyal. If you see a chorus or church choir or other performing arts organization as someone providing you a SERVICE and you are unhappy, then don’t attend, don’t donate, and don’t support them in other ways. But I feel music is different from hiring a contractor or ordering take-out.

In our household, I am usually the one who organizes home repairs with the plumber or hires the lawn service or gets estimates. If I need a plumber, I hire someone I’ve had a pleasant experience with, not the company who punched a hole in my ceiling for no good reason. If I need the lawn mowed, I contract with someone who has done a good job for me and continues to do a good job for me. There have been a few times when my current Lawn Guy has NOT done a good job and he usually explains WHY. The backyard was too muddy and his mower kept getting stuck in the goo or he didn’t want to mow over 100s of Cicadas. The reason he is my Current Lawn Guy is for exactly this reason, he explains why.

If you are upset your University’s Glee Club, or Show Choir or Swedish Chorus has been disbanded, ASK WHY. Perhaps there isn’t interest from current students or not enough funds to pay the director. If you want to be loyal, see what you can do to prevent the disbanding, perhaps you and other Alumni could start a fund. Or you can accept their explanation. No one expects you to continue to donate if you don’t like their explanation unless YOU WANT TO.

Church choirs are notorious for using attendance and participation as some sort of punishment for anthem choices. If you think you shouldn’t sing if you don’t like the anthems, then don’t sing but TELL the director why you won’t be singing. Perhaps there is a reason for the choices, such as getting younger singers involved or it’s a request from clergy, for those Sundays and if you knew, you would want to sing. During Lent, I had a tenor in one of my former church gigs moan about the “Dirge of the Week” because he thought the music wasn’t “peppy enough.” He threatened not to sing unless the music was happier. It was LENT and the music wasn’t peppy because it was LENT. As we began rehearsing for Palm Sunday and Easter, he was much more at ease, but I’ll never forget having to EXPLAIN to him why we didn’t sing more upbeat anthems during LENT.

If you are a board member of a chorus and you’ve attended board meetings, you should know why certain repertoire is chosen for each concert. If a concert is not to your taste, don’t attend, but purchase tickets for the concert, that would be loyal. If the music for every concert is no longer to your taste, then perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your relationship with the chorus. And if other board members feel as you do, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your music director.

As an audience member, if you don’t like the repertoire, don’t go to the concert! A concert of “not Beethoven or Mozart” or “All New Music” might appeal to others and if that’s not you, it’s perfectly fine. In this case, the chorus provides a service, and no one suggests you need to attend a concert if you don’t like the music to be performed. It’s the chorus’s responsibility to choose music to get “behinds in seats” and if they don’t, it’s on them. However, they might be surprised, good or bad, what their repertoire selections bring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Search Results for: choir

Two new choral anthems from Augsburg Fortress by Thomas Keesecker

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Augsburg Fortress has just released two new anthems of mine.   Jesus Said, Come Follow Me is for SATB voices a cappella and oboe. It was the runner-up finalist in the recent National Lutheran Choir Choral Composition Contest. http://store.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/17110/Jesus-Said-Come-Follow-Me   Oh, Love, How Deep is for SATB and organ. http://store.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/17111/Oh-Love-How-Deep    

San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Welcomes Interim Director Alexander Ruggieri (Monrovia, CA)

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The San Gabriel Valley Choral Company is pleased to welcome Interim Director, Alexander Ruggieri.  Mr. Ruggieri is an experienced conductor of both choral and instrumental ensembles, with degrees from the University of Southern California and Wayne State University (Detroit).  He has studied with such noted teachers as Charles Hirt, Valter Poole, Gustav Meier, Hans Beer […]

Stick Time: Scariest Piece?

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In trying to find a little something spooky for Halloween, I occurred that scariest piece of music I ever conducted (on a Halloween, oddly enough) was the Thomas Tallis “Spem in Alium,” a monolithic 40-voice “motet” scored for eight choirs of five voices each set in a score that stands two feet tall.  Don’t misunderstand […]

Choral Caffeine: The Fork in the Tuning Road

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The piece starts.  The choir is singing in G major.  All is well.    Somewhere in the B section you feel your back stiffen as the key slides down to the key of G-‘not-quite-flat-but-it-sure-ain’t-G-anymore.’  Then comes the modulation to the dominant, which is supposed to be D.  But because the choir is well below G […]

Choral Caffeine: Is This a Dirty Word?

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I’m going to say what is for many in the choral profession, a dirty word.  Brace yourselves.                      Jazz.   I guarantee that a lot of folks instantly clicked away.  If you are still here, then take just a few seconds to consider what James McCullough has to say in his article, "To Jazz […]

Collaborating with Composers in “My Ears Are Open” podcast

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The Crossing’s conductor, Donald Nally speaks with Jim Holt, host of “My Ears are Open,” a series of conversations with conductors, performers, and composers about commissioning projects.  Jim asks a series of questions – designed as advice for composers – about Donald and The Crossing’s experiences commissioning and singing world premieres.  The discussion touches on […]

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