ChoralNet

The professional networking site for the global online choral community.

“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

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow

by Leave a Comment

I have a short arrangement of the text Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow – SATB a cappella. It’s just one page – it could be that last piece for the choir to sing while folks are fumbling for their coats and carkeys. I can send a copy as a pdf. Contact me if […]

Two new choral works by Keane Southard

by Leave a Comment

Two new choral works by Keane Southard are now available.   Do You Hear How Many You Are? for a cappella SATB choir (c. 3min), with text by the composer, won the 2011 Ars Nova Singers Colorado Composers Competition and was premiered by the group, led by Thomas Edward Morgan, in June 2011 in Boulder, CO, USA.  You […]

Tell me what this choral piece is about

by Leave a Comment

ChoralNet reader Michael Zaugg recommended this video to me but didn't tell me what the work was about.   It is an impressive piece of videography, especially on my 27'' monitor!  Can you help me figure it out?     <p><a data-cke-saved-href="http://vimeo.com/29583282" href="http://vimeo.com/29583282">Männerstimmen Basel | TRAILER | tøngedrøhn</a> from <a data-cke-saved-href="http://vimeo.com/maennerstimmen" href="http://vimeo.com/maennerstimmen">maennerstimmen basel</a> on <a […]

Stick Time: Clever Concert Presentation

by Leave a Comment

The addition of sound effect and movement is a good way to enliven a choral concert.  In our current media-driven world where we are all bombarded by non-stop video images (TV screens in the grocery store!? Please.), people seem a little uneasy when they are challenged to contemplate music without a visual component.  I hold […]

WCG Update: Cincinnati Pops to Headline Opening and Closing Ceremonies

by Leave a Comment

CINCINNATI (OH) – This was Erich Kunzel’s vision when he led the charge to bring the 2012 World Choir Games to Cincinnati USA. The beloved Cincinnati Pops founder and icon, who died Sept. 1, 2009, dreamed of watching the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in the Opening Ceremony of the 7th World Choir Games at U.S. Bank […]

Stick Time: Communicating Powerful Poetry

by Leave a Comment

It occurs to me that we sometimes underestimate the emotional capabilities of those in the choirs we conduct.  Take for instance men’s ensembles.  I love “Brother’s Sing On,” the various college fight songs, and the other rousing standard repertoire for the men’s chorus.  Listen though to the text of this too-seldom heard work by Lee […]

© 2024 American Choral Directors Association. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy