A View from the Podium

My singers are getting nervous.  We are a week away from a gospel concert, and they are beginning to panic about whether the music will be ready to perform.  I must admit that I am a bit on edge, also, but I have to trust my singers and myself if we are going to be successful.

I have directed choirs of all ages and all sizes in my years as a choral conductor, and I have learned a few things about performing over the years.  While nothing that I have learned is earth shaking or brand new, it helps once in a while to remind myself and to tell others what I have learned.

1) You have to trust yourself and what you know.  We have been working on the music for this gospel concert for seven weeks now.  Do we still have work to do?  Of course.  Are the songs perfect? Heavens, no.  However, if the group is going to perform well, then the singers have to trust themselves and what they know.  If I have done my job as their director, then I have given them the tips and strategies to make the music its very best.  They know what to do.  All they have to do is remember what they have learned and put that knowledge to work.

2)  Relax.  Standing in front of an audience performing can be rather frightening for some people, even if it's with a big group of people.  I tell my singers to try and forget about their audience.  This choir is their choir.  They are a part of this great group of people who have practiced together diligently for the past several weeks.  I tell them to forget about this being a performance.  Instead, think of the performance as the final capstone rehearsal.  It is the last chance they have to share this great music with their fellow compatriots.  They definitely want this last time of singing together to be their best, to be something that they can remember.

3)  Enjoy the music.  Blending your voices with others to create beautiful music is what being a choral singer is all about.  Forget about how nervous you are or how your hair looks.  Enjoy the music.  Sing as you have never sung before.  Listen to the words as you sing them.  Let the music carry you off to a higher plane.  Sing it from the depths of your soul.

4)  Enjoy yourself.  Think about how much you love to sing.  Think about that audience out there that wants to be entertained.  They didn't come to see and hear a bunch of singers who aren't having fun.  They came to watch and listen to a group who is enjoying itself so much that the fun they are having while performing will literally lift their hearts and spirits as they listen.  If the singers don't enjoy themselves at the performance, the audience won't enjoy themselves, either.  Most people would rather come and listen to a fun, enjoyable performance that is not quite perfect than to listen to a perfect performance that isn't any fun.

5)  Know that no matter what happens, life will go on.  So what if one of the songs doesn't go well?  You can use it as a learning experience on what to do better next time.  So what if the concert isn't the best that you have done?  Every concert can't be the best.  The trouble with a live performance is that it can't be completely controlled.  You can work hard as you prepare for it and think that everything is going to be great only to have something unexpected happen.  No matter how hard you try, things happen that we can't control.  All you can do is go and give your best performance and hope that it will pay off in the end.

I tell my singers to remember how much they love to sing, to think about how much fun it is to have all of their voices blend together to create a beautiful moment in time.  Moments pass, and more moments are to be made.  Just keep on singing.

Energy and Goosebumps and Chills, Oh My!

My school choirs have a concert a week from tomorrow.  I'm now into the "Oh, my gosh, there is no way we'll be ready in time for the concert" frame of mind.  I usually don't worry too much about my groups, but this year I added a concert in October instead of waiting until December.  I wanted to give my kids something to work toward right away.  Unfortunately, I think it may have been a wrong choice on my part.  Can I cancel it?  Yes, but I don't want to unless I absolutely have to.  The kids have all ordered new outfits, and they are so anxious for them to come in.  If I canceled the concert, they wouldn't get to wear them until December.  Well, at least I know they'll look good.

My job is at a K-12 laboratory school on the Ball State University campus.  It is a relatively small school, with around 650 kids from K-12.  Because it is small, and because I teach both elementary music and choirs, I only have one high school choir and one middle school choir.  This puts grades 6-8 in my one middle school choir and grades 9-12 in my one high school choir.  Consequently, I have some people who are seasoned veterans in there with kids that are newbies.  Trying to find music for them that will keep everyone happy can sometimes be a challenge.

I was working with my high school choir today.  They are actually sounding pretty good, at least as far as the notes go.  As we all know, though, music is more than just the notes.  Two of the songs we are singing are uptempo and need lots of energy.  For some reason, I just haven't found the right thing to say or do that has helped them "get it."  I've had them say the words in an intense whisper.  I've had them bend up and down at the knees with the beat while they are singing.  I've tried walking around in front of them and clapping my hands in an off-beat rhythm.  Unfortunately, nothing I do or say seems to make a difference.  I may be selfish, but I want more than just the notes.  I want the energy.  I want the excitement.

Either the kids don't want those things, or they don't know how to get there from here.  I was talking to them today and trying to encourage them to keep working at finding that level of excitement.  Then I stopped talking to them as a teacher and started talking to them as a fellow musician.  I told them that I hoped more than anything that they could someday have an experience singing where the music takes their breath away, where it leaves them with goosebumps and chills.  I have had those experiences, when my whole spiritual being is lifted to a higher place, where I don't want to breathe for fear of breaking the spell.  It is a most awesome experience, and one that I hope they can someday share with me.

I don't think they will reach that level at this concert.  Maybe not at the next...or the next.  However, I do hope that they can someday experience it and come back and tell me about it, and we can marvel together at the special moment.  I wish that more than anything.

Technology and Choir

I am sitting right now at a technology conference. The conference is sponsored by Ball State University.  Because I work at a lab school under the umbrella of BSU, I am considered a BSU employee and was invited to the conference. I think that all of the people here are from the academic world, so there was really nothing that was directly about teaching music or directing music.  However, it is up to me to find a way to apply it.

Students today are tech wizards; they expect to use it wherever they are. Choir is no different.  However, singing is the foundational tenet of the class.  The class is a performance-based class.  Other than recording the class and having the students critique their performance, how can we incorporate technology?  Of course, students can always do research about the composers or the text of the song, but research of this type is really not something that I feel is helpful.

I have a big task: finding a way to incorporate technology that the students will enjoy and in which they actually want to participate.  I took some classes this summer on using Web 2.0 tools in education.  These tools help instructors make the classes more collaborative and a lot more fun for the kids. There are a bunch of things out there from which to choose; I just have to figure out which ones best suit my needs.  There's the problem -- I don't know which ones best suit my needs. The only thing I can do is try several of them and see what works.

The first one I want to try is a blog.  I am going to setup a private blog for my students.  Two or three times a week, I will ask them to share with me what they learned in class that day and what impact, if  any, it had on their singing.  I will also occasionally give them other types of prompts to which they will respond.  I also want to try using a wiki, which is similar to a Google doc.  I will give the students a subject to discuss, and they will discuss it on the wiki, where all the students will see all of the responses and be able to respond to them.  Those two things will be my collaborative tools.

With students being into social media right now, I'm going to plug into that interest by using both Facebook and Twitter.  I will set up a Facebook page for the choirs.  I will post concert dates, fundraising activities, and other items of public interest.  I will also Tweet with the students.

These are all great ideas, but they will only happen if I make them happen.  Will I be able to do it and still have time to do the music?  Who knows?  Check with me in two months, and I'll let you know.

Excitement in the Air

My community choir had its first rehearsal of the new season this week.  I love starting a new season. The singers come to the rehearsal with an energy and an excitement that is catching.  They've had the summer off, and they are ready to sing again.  They gather together with their friends and fellow singers and look forward to creating some beautiful music.

Unfortunately, there are some problems that arise after taking some time off.

1. The cohesiveness of the group is diminished.  At the end of the season, the choir blends beautifully and syncs their thoughts together.  When we start a new season, the group is different -- we have lost some singers and gained some others.  It takes us a while to find that blend and cohesiveness that we have had in the past.
2. With new personalities added to the mix, the choir often has underlying tensions that can only be worked through with time.  I encourage my singers to talk to me -- about anything.  As the director, I need to know if a singer is bothered or offended by something I do or another member does.  Over the summer, I went to lunch with a couple of ladies.  One of them told me how much she was bothered by some members of her section chatting during the rehearsal.  Since I am so focused on what I am doing, I was totally unaware of any chatting taking place.  I need to be informed of those things.  If someone doesn't tell me, and I am unaware of the problem, there's no way that I can address it.
3. The singers may forget that singing requires a different voice than talking.  Singing requires a raised soft palate and open, pure vowels.  The sounds I hear from them at the first rehearsal are usually nothing like what I hear from them later in the season.  It just takes time for them to remember how to sing.
4. The singers often forget how to phrase correctly.  They forget that every phrase has a high point to which the music should rise and fall.  Having them physically lean toward that high point as they are singing can help them not only sing the phrase well but also feel the phrasing.
5. We have to start learning all new music.  Some of my singers are musicians that are excellent readers; I have others that don't know how to read music at all.  Although it is every director's desire that all of their singers learn their notes at home, that usually doesn't happen, so we often have to plunk out notes during the beginning rehearsals.  This can be frustrating for those who know how to read music.  However, I keep reminding them that they are the leaders and that they need to lead so that the others will have someone dependable to follow.
6. We have to start learning all new music.  I know -- that was point #5, also.  However, another aspect of that is that it gets tedious working through parts on songs.  Most singers would love to just open the music and sing through the piece.  We can sometimes do that, if the piece is a fairly simple one.  There are other times, though, when the music is really difficult, that we have to tear apart the music and learn it line by line.  That usually happens in the spring, when we do a major work.  The singers are always thrilled when we can put the piece together and sing it through for the first time.

The exciting thing about starting a new season is that everyone is fresh from the summer off and ready to start singing.  There is an excitement and enthusiasm that I work hard to hang onto as long as I can. When my singers are enjoying themselves, then I know that the two-hour block of time that they gave up to spend with me was worth the sacrifice.  I also know that singing can bring a joy and peace to my singers that nothing else can do.  That's why they keep coming back week after week.  I hope, though, that they also come back because they're having fun.  A rehearsal that isn't fun is a waste of my time and of theirs.  That is something I work very hard to keep from happening.

Singing Is Good for the Soul

      I love my community choir's rehearsals.  Yes, I lead a busy life, and, yes, another evening away from home can be the last thing I want or need.  However, no matter how tired I am, I know that going to rehearsal will be the best thing that I can possibly do for myself.   You see, no matter how hard we work at the rehearsal, I come away invigorated, excited about what we have accomplished.  I leave with a heart that is almost bursting with happiness.  The only thing that makes me sad is that it has to end.

     How do you feel when you leave a rehearsal?  Do you feel worn out?  Do you feel tired?  Or do you feel invigorated?  Happy?  Robert Shaw once said,  “The wonderful thing about the amateur chorus is that nobody can buy its attendance at rehearsals, or the sweat, eyestrain and fatigue that go along with the glow; and nobody but the most purposive and creative of music minds can invite and sustain its devotion.”

     Singing is fun.  It is even more fun when it is done with a group of people with the same goal in mind – to create beautiful music.  It gives each of the singers an opportunity to let go of what is bothering them or what is going wrong in their lives and focus instead on something beautiful – the music.  Stacy Horn, the author of the book Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing With Others, says this about why singing in a choir is such a good thing.  “That’s because it gets you out of house every week to do something that is like exercising joy.  As I move firmly and inexorably into midlife, I need it more than ever.  I thought that these would be the easy years.  I was sure I’d be settled by now, not wondering how I’m going to pay for all the dental work I just learned I needed or still crying about the last guy who broke my heart.”

     Singing with other people gives everyone involved a sense of peace – a sense that, no matter what is going wrong in the world, all is well as you blend your voice with the voices of all the people around you.  At that moment, you are happy.  You are lifted to a place where all is good and pure and hopeful.  At that moment, you forget about the pressures of life and focus instead on the beautiful music you are creating.

     The next time someone asks you why you sing in a choir, try to tell them.  I bet you will have problems doing so.  Singing is personal; it affects every person differently.  It is difficult to put into words the joy and peace that it can bring you.  It is a feeling that one can get only by experiencing it.  Instead of trying to explain why you sing in a choir, invite that person to come with you.  Once they experience it, they will understand.

What a Life!

Ahhh...the life of a choir director.  You work and work and work to prepare your choirs for a concert.  You slave over your singers until they have every vowel perfectly pure, every word perfectly pronounced, and every phrase perfectly structured.  You coach them until they totally believe in themselves.  The concert date and time finally arrive.  Then, in a matter of minutes, the performance is over, never to be recaptured again.

Why do we do it?  Why do we choose to spend our lives preparing ourselves and our singers for something that is lost forever after a few minutes of ecstasy?  That's why -- those few minutes of ecstasy.  We love taking an inanimate bunch of notes on a page and, with our singers' help, turning them into an unforgettable piece of choral music, one that will take its listeners to a new level of beauty and spirituality.  One that will never again be sung or heard the same way.

That's the way it is with music.  The beauty of music is in its present state -- in its here and now.   Unless it is recorded music, it is constantly changing.  No matter how many times it is rehearsed, how many times it is sung, or how many times it is heard, it is never the same.  No matter how many times you hear the Mozart Requiem, it will never grow old, because each and every time is different in some way.  No matter how many times you sing the "Hallelujah Chorus," it will never be boring, for its present beauty is always different than its past.  No matter how many times you rehearse your choir for a performance of the Rutter Gloria, the sound that they make the day of the performance will be different than you've ever heard before.

So, we've prepared our singers well, and they give an outstanding performance.  What do we do then? We go back to square one, with a totally new repertoire of music, and a new concert for which to prepare.  It's time to make some more moments of ecstasy.

As I See It...Starting My Year

I am sitting at a table at my school's registration.  I have a display set up for the music program, and I'm trying to hunt middle school and high school students down and invite them to be in the choir.  I don't know if it will do me a bit of good, but I'm certainly going to give it a try.

My school has a weird set up.  It is a K-12 laboratory school, so I teach everything from kindergarten music to high school choir.  Because of that, I only have room in my schedule for one middle school choir and one high school choir.  That means that the middle school choir has 6th graders through 8th graders in it and that my high school choir has beginners in it as well as advanced students.  This setup limits me on what I can do with the choirs.  If I push the students toward the advanced music in order to keep the more experienced students interested, then I lose my beginners.  If I stick with beginning music to help those students who have not been in choir before, my advanced students get bored.

Another problem is that my high school still exists on a six-period day.  There are actually seven periods, but one of those periods constitutes the lunch period for the students.  With all of the academic requirements that students have now, trying to fit all of the classes you need -- let alone the classes you want -- into the school day is next to impossible unless you give up your lunch or take summer classes. A one-year fine arts credit is required of every student, so I often get students for one year, but after that, they move along, claiming that they can't fit choir into their schedule.

When I first came to the school 10 years ago, a high school choir was not even offered.  I have a doctorate in choral conducting, and conducting choirs is my passion, so I immediately set to work getting a high school choir back in the curriculum.  It took me a couple of years to do it, but I was finally able to get it set up.  However, I soon found out that getting something going after it has been dead for several years is difficult.  After eight years of struggle, I am finally confident that I will have enough students each year to constitute a choir, but I never know whether it will be an SAB, an SATB, or an SSA choir.

I am usually an upbeat, optimistic person, so I start each new year hoping for the best.  I take what I have, start at the beginning, and push them as far as they can go.  Does the choir reach the level that I wish it could reach?  No.  Do I wish it could sound better?  Of course.  However, I am usually pleased with the sound that they are able to make.  When I think about how little some of these students have sung and the fact that many of them have never been in a choir, I am always thrilled with their progress. I hope that they are proud of what they have accomplished.  Unfortunately, the next year, I will get an almost entirely new group of students and will have to start all over again with them.  Oh, well, here we go again...

Thoughts on Directing a Church Choir

Today is the day that I am finally making myself select some music for my church choir's upcoming season.  I haven't really been putting it off.  I was extremely busy with two online classes up until last week, and then I had to deal with some issues with my community choir.  However, I can't put it off any longer.  I absolutely HAVE to do it today.

I love church choral music, so you would think that I would love selecting music for my choir -- but I don't.  There are situations that exist that make it an extremely frustrating and tiresome process for me.  Here are some of the issues I have to consider when I choose my church choir music:

1. The wealth of church choir music available.  You would think that having a lot of music from which to choose would make it an easier process.  That's not the case -- not for me, anyway.  There is so much available that there is no way that I can look at each piece, and I am worried that I will pass up a really good one.  My retailer has a list of the most popular pieces in their catalog.  However, that's only the top 10.  They also have an Editor's Choice selection, which is helpful.  I still worry about not finding that hidden gem.
2. My taste and my church choir's taste isn't always the same.  Have you ever experienced this situation -- when you absolutely love a piece and your choir hates it?  This doesn't happen very often in my choir, but it does happen occasionally.  If my choir dislikes a piece, and the song doesn't have any significance to the worship year, then I will usually return it.  It's not worth it to fight the battle to prepare it when the singers don't like it. 
3. Once-a-week rehearsals.  As with most church choirs, my group rehearses once a week and then sings in two Sunday services each week.  Although we sing the same anthem in both services, having to learn a new piece each week is a difficult task.  It is my task to make sure that they are prepared.  That isn't always an easy task.
4. Rehearsal time management.  I try and work on four different pieces at each choir rehearsal.  I introduce a new one, get them further along on two others, and then finesse the piece that is to be sung that Sunday.  Unlike some directors, I do not like to repeat an anthem during the year in which it is sung.  In fact, I usually like to let at least two years pass before we repeat a song.  If we are working on a cantata, it is difficult to maintain this four-anthem-per-week rehearsal.  During those times, I try to pick some easy anthems that won't take too long to prepare.
5. It's a volunteer choir.  My church is not a huge one -- we have between 150 and 200 people weekly in our two services.  I have around 20 people in my choir right now, which is a decent number of singers to have.  However, I hardly ever have that many in the choir loft on a Sunday morning.  Most of my singers are busy people, and they often have conflicts that arise on a Sunday morning.  Because they don't get paid to be there, they often elect to skip church and do whatever else is on their schedule.  As a director, it's a frustrating fact with which to deal, but it's a realistic one.
6. Singers leaving the church.  We went through a pastoral change three or four years ago, and we are still suffering the fallout from it.  As people become more and more dissatisfied with the services, they elect to leave the church.  While they love the church choir, it is not enough to keep them there.  Another problem I face is that half of my church choir are retired people, and as they age, they often decide that it is time to give up choir.  While I try and tell them that they will never be too old to sing, many of them have sung in the choir for a long time, and they just don't want to do it anymore.
7. Recruiting?  What's that?  As the population of the choir drops, we make continual pleas for new people to join us.  Unfortunately, we don't usually have much luck.  Our church is not growing; in fact, we are shrinking a little each year as people leave.  The people who have been attending for years aren't interested in singing in the choir.  If they were, they would have already joined.  Since we don't get many new people, the chances of us growing are slim to none.
8. General interest in church choirs is dying.  Praise teams are the thing to do nowadays.  Churches with contemporary services all use them, and because they play the type of music that most people are used to hearing, they hold great interest for their congregations.  Everyone wants to be a rock star, and getting to hold a microphone and sing pop-like songs makes you feel like one. 
9. What type of music do I choose?  SATB?  SAB?  Two-part mixed?  My library is full of SATB music, but there are times when all four parts are not covered, especially at rehearsals.  We have rehearsed with no basses.  We have rehearsed with no tenors.  While most of the time my singers are pretty good about letting me know they won't be there, there are times when something comes up at the last minute or someone gets sick, and we're left hanging.  If we come to a Sunday morning and one of our parts isn't covered, what do I do?  I simply make the decision not to sing.  I go to my organist and ask them to play a piece during the offertory.  We have two excellent organists at our church, so most of the time it isn't a problem.  They can at least pull out a hymn and play it.
10. Staying enthusiastic, even when there are problems.  As the director of the choir, I feel it is my responsibility to stay enthusiastic and motivated, even when problems arise.  My choir is an intelligent group of people, so they know when they don't sound good.  There are times that I leave the Wednesday-night rehearsal wondering how we will ever be ready to sing the anthem on Sunday morning.  When we start the pre-service rehearsal on Sunday morning, I pray to God that we will be able to pull it off.  Fortunately, God is good, and we have always managed to give a decent, if not excellent, performance.

While all of these issues can make directing a choir -- and everything that goes along with it -- a very frustrating and nerve-wracking experience, I wouldn't give it up for the world.  I love my church choir; I have loved every church choir that I have ever had, and they have loved me in return.  When we stand up in the service and together raise our voices to God, it is an exciting and spirit-lifting experience.  I hope and pray that our congregation feels the same way.

The Five Top Reasons That I Love Directing Choirs

The Top Five Reasons I Love Directing Choirs

I recently read a blog in which the writer shared five reasons why she loved teaching music I began pondering her reasons and decided that I would share five reasons why I love directing choirs.

1.   I love working with people -- people of all sizes, all kinds, and all ages. Choirs can bring together some of the most diverse people on the planet.  Anyone can sing; God has blessed us all with an instrument.  Consequently, anyone is open to being in a choir.  In my conducting life, I have had the pleasure of directing adult choirs, college choirs, high school choirs, and children’s choirs. I have directed community choirs and church choirs. Each one has brought a unique set of challenges as well as a unique set of joys. No matter what type or size of choir, I have always been amazed at the diversity of the people that have come together with one goal in mind -- to make beautiful music.

2.   I love getting to know my singers. While I have a passion for conducting choirs, my passion for getting to know my singers is even greater. I want to know all about them. I want to know where they live and what they do. I want to know when they first began singing. I want to know when they first joined a choir. I want to know when they first discovered their love for choral music.

3.   I love taking the choir's many different voices and melding them into one. A singer's instrument is not like any other. While trumpets can sound different when played by different people, their sound is inherently still that of a trumpet. If you put three women together and ask each one to sing, their three voices may sound totally different. One of the biggest challenges a choral conductor has, then, is taking this diverse group of voices and blending them together to create an unforgettable choral sound.  When that sound is reached, however, there is a sense of fulfillment and ecstasy like no other.

4.   I love choral music.  I actually love music of all kinds, but I especially love choral music because it deals with words.  Words are powerful.  They can be used to express joy and happiness or despair and sadness.  They can be used to instill a sense of awe or convey a message of tragedy.  They can be full of hilarity or wont of despair.  Granted, the melodies, harmonies, and textures that are used to express these words must also express those same emotions or feelings, but the text that is sung can take the listener to a much deeper level or much higher plane than music without words.

5.   I love educating people about music. I love teaching my choir members the proper singing techniques. I love the expression on their faces when they hear the difference that a slight change in technique can make in the overall sound of the music. I love taking them beyond just singing the notes to a place where they can create a piece full of magic and wonder.   I love educating my audiences.  I love sharing information with them about our music.  I love giving them insight into a song or a composer that they might never have had if they hadn’t been at our concert.  I love giving them something to think about while they listen and something to talk about on the way home.  I want to give them an experience that is both educational and musical.

I have shared with you five reasons why I love directing choirs.  There are many others, but those five have had the biggest impact on why I have chosen to spend most of my life standing around waving my hands in front of a choir.  I love it – what more can I say?  I can only hope that I will have the opportunity to continue leading choirs for the rest of my life.