[HANASHIR:2233] RE: adult volunteer choir

[Adrian Durlester <durleste...>]

Rachelle:

In working with a volunteer choir (even with a few ringers, like around the
HH Days) I try to focus on what I believe is most important: NOT musical
perfection; but singing G-d's praises, and enhancing the worship experience
for congregants and choir both. If they are not having a good time, and a
prayerful one, it won't work very well.

Find a good musical mix. Pick a few pieces that you know your choir is quite
capable of doing, and doing well-but not so easy they think you are
under-rating them. Then throw them a few challenges.

One hard lesson I have learned is: be extremely well-prepared and organized.
Because it does indeed take more time and work with volunteer choirs (in
most cases) to learn music, you cannot afford to waste any time.

Praise, praise, praise them constantly. But honestly. Critique when needed,
but in a language they understand.

Take the "really good" singers aside, and try to explain to them the "GEFTS"
philosophy I employ. It stands for "good enough for this show." While it
appears to be a negative philosophy, that is a misinterpretation. What it
means is that one should determine the highest achievable quality level-and
everyone should aim for that. That does often require those who excel to
pull back and reign themselves in a little. My example is from theatre but
it works for choirs as well. A show with brilliant lighting but lousy
lighting is wasted, just as one with brilliant acting and lousy lighting.
But if everything is all at the same level, you get a coherent whole. I am
not encouraging mediocrity, but I must say that some of the best shows I
have seen were ones in which everything was mediocre (or at least on the
same quality level) and everything gelled together into a perfect, coherent
whole. As Abe Burrow's wrote in "How To Succeed In Business Without Really
Trying": "remember mediocrity is not a mortal sin. Always encourage doing
better, but encourage it within the overall context of what the group can
accomplish, not the individual.

Encourage mentoring by the more experienced singers with the less
experienced singers. Help the newbies get comfortable. If necessary, start
the rehearsal 15 minutes earlier for just the new (or uncomfortable folks)
to give them a chance to catch up and feel good about it. Maybe invite them
over to your house to practice sometime.

Don't be afraid to BREAK that old dumb rule, and LET them listen to
recordings of the piece. Have your accompanist even make tapes with
individual choir parts played out on them-because many people are aural, not
visual. Put your own ego aside-so what if you don't get the choir to
interpret it exactly as you want it? I see conducting as partnership, not
dictatorship.

You may have to ignore the rules of placement, and place people on the basis
of who relates well to who, who can mentor who, etc. You might even have to,
oh shock o horror-mix sections! (I actually sometimes think this helps
people develop a better internal sense of pitch. I had a choir director in
my formative years who would often mix the choir up so than no SATorB was
standing near more than one of their own section. You'd be amazed how much
that improved a singer's ability to hold their own amid a cacophony of other
sounds.)

Direct with flair, and be ostentatious about it. Sure, we'd all like to be
able to control a choir or orchestra with tiny little, graceful gestures.
But a volunteer choir might need something less graceful and more obvious.

Let them perform one number without your conducting. That build real
confidence and pride. And do some a capella numbers too. They have a similar
effect.

Do something funny or different. I remember, years ago, how I learned this
from the first choir director that assigned Bloch's "Geographical Fugue" and
Tom Lehrer's "Pollution."

Feed them, as Judy suggested. But feed them properly. Foods that are good
for you, good for your voice, your stamina. And once in a while, break down
and give them something really awful-like pastries or donuts. And keep the
food OUT of the rehearsal space. Allow ONLY water there.

Make the rehearsal space comfortable-but not too comfortable-you want them
alert, not relaxed. Don't let it be too warm. Keep it moist (bring in a
humidifier if you need to.) And keep it healthy. Tell the martyrish devoted
chorister with the bad cold to stay home-you'll work with them later to make
up what they missed.

Well, I guess that's enough wisdom for now. If only I would routinely
practice all that I preach!

Adrian



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org]On
Behalf Of Rachelle and Howard Shubert
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 1999 10:05 PM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:2230] adult volunteer choir


The first rehearsal of my adult choir went pretty well.      Oh my, it takes
much longer than I might have expected to teach a song to a group of 15-20
adults, half of whom are  strong and half of whom are weak singers.
Although I try to run my rehearsals efficiently and focus on the work at
hand,  one of my goals is to build a cohesive sense of community within the
choir.  Any words of wisdom from experienced volunteer choir choral
directors?

Rachelle

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian A. Durlester  -  durleste (at) home(dot)com
http://members.home.net/durleste/
Student, Vanderbilt University Divinity School
http://divinity.lib.vanderbilt.edu/vds/vds-home.htm
Music Director, Congregation Micah, Nashville, TN
http://www.micahnash.org/
Home phone (615) 646-9788
Nextel cel-phone (615) 207-2661
You can page me from http://www.nextel.com
List-Owner for hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Co-Owner for L-Torah (at) 
shamash(dot)org
http://uahc.org/hanashir
Editor, Bim Bam (for Torah Aura Productions)
http://www.torahaura.com/
Alternate Email: aad (at) iname(dot)com  adriand (at) aol(dot)com




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