If Somebody Told You
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    To not use the piano to rehearse, but instead put a CD in and use that to rehearse, how would you reply?
  • MBWMBW
    Posts: 175
    Am I right in assuming that the CD is not going to be used for liturgy?
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Need more details to answer...why.
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    This is for a musical that the school is doing. The accompaniment CD will be used for the performance, so therefore I am being told to use it, and only it; and not the piano for rehearsal.
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,325
    Who's running this circus?!
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    I've put out an APB letting all my music teacher friends know I'm looking for another position.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    Use both. If you need to work specific sections play the piano. Also let them sing thru with the cd so it's comfortable when they perform it that way.
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    I was going to use the piano to teach them the songs first, then have them sing through using the CD. Apparently, this is unacceptable.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    Is this a non-musician making these rules?
  • MichaelDickson
    Posts: 419
    Based on the information here, it sounds like somebody who doesn't know what he or she is doing also doesn't trust your professional judgement. I agree with walking away from that situation.

    As for your original question (how to reply): Is there any chance of simply explaining why the flexibility of playing live with the kids while they are learning is 10,000 times more effective than fumbling with a CD player every time you have to stop them during rehearsal?
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    @janet: yes.

    @MichaelDickson: I have mentioned that having the flexibility of the piano is worth the piano's weight in gold (or more: certainly more than we paid for the CD), and that hiring a professional pianist to play the show would be the best option, but the aforementioned non-musician principal has insisted (read: decreed with anethemas attached) that we use the CD for the performance.
  • MBWMBW
    Posts: 175
    I was going to use the piano to teach them the songs first, then have them sing through using the CD.

    Your plan is the only efficient and sensible way to teach the musical. I suppose that you have explained to the (low wattage) powers that be that it would take 5x
    10,000 times more effective than fumbling with a CD player
    OK! 10,000x longer for the children to learn the material using the CD. Perhaps the positive way to put it is that, in using the piano to teach the parts, you are best preparing the children to be confident when singing to the pre-recorded accompaniment.

    When that ploy fails, as it probably will, I would decide how important this exercise in futility is to keeping things copacetic on the job. If it is not too important, I would find that I had some unavoidable conflict with most of the rehearsal times- or some other relatively reasonable out. I'm sure the quality of music on the CD is not worth the pain of working with it. Its not Green Santa, is it?
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Well, I would tell this non-musician that if a CD is all that's needed, they should have no trouble teaching the class themselves.

    Only half kidding.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,187
    Is using the CD a license condition?
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Cut that to 1/4 kidding, Ben!!!
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    Well, I would tell this non-musician... [to teach it himself].


    Only half kidding.
    Cut that to 1/4 kidding...

    How about Not Kidding At All!
    Shake the dust off your feet as you leave (hurriedly)!
    Thanked by 3CCooze CHGiffen Ben
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    I am not a music teacher, but what exactly is on this CD that the principal demands you use? Is it an orchestra, I assume? And why does s/he feel the need to dictate how you do your work?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,510
    I'm having an a cappella Christmas :)
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen Ben barreltone
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    An a cappella Christmas sounds wonderful.
    (Um, this means, of course, that you must have
    your rehearsals completely a cappella.)
    [Said with an ever-so-slight tincture of purple.]
    Thanked by 3Kathy CHGiffen Ben
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    The whole concept of doing a musical for our Advent program was not my idea in the least. I was approached after it had already been decided that 1. we are doing a musical for the Advent program, and 2. the repertoire had already been chosen. They are even suggesting that working on the program during assigned religion class time for the general teachers covers the religion curriculum. I assure you, it does not, even though it is a popularized adaptation of the Nativity story: the Nativity is not in everyone's religion curriculum at this time of year. It is also expected that I dedicate all of my class time to working on this half-baked idea. Not to mention that the people running the show are only seeing stars and dollar signs, as the apparent motivation for doing this musical is not to put on a musical, but for marketing purposes. This will end up being mediocre at best, because the people in charge are not listening to the experts. I want my chance to say "I told you so," because they deserve it.
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    Really, though, what can you do. If you want to keep working you generally have to cooperate with your supervisor. It's that way in any job. Keep in mind this isn't liturgy but an Advent program. The ones I saw when I was teaching were mostly cheesy and tacky. Most Advent/Easter programs are. One year a "creative" teacher decided to enliven the Stations of the Cross. She let the kids dress themselves from the theater costume collection. It looked like one of those bad Kung Fu movies on weekend TV. Teachers are trained to teach. That doesn't mean they always know much of anything else.
  • Scott_WScott_W
    Posts: 468
    There seems to be lots of this going round: the karaoke/Guitar-Heroing of musical performance to the death of genuinely live performance. The ironic thing is that it isn't any better as the playback system usually sounds like it was tweaked by a drunken monkey.
  • MichaelDickson
    Posts: 419
    In a nutshell: It is vaguely comprehensible why a principal (musician or not) would wish to dictate the terms of a performance, even if such decrees (anathema and all) are nonetheless disrespectful and misguided. That this person insists also to dictate the terms of rehearsal is an overt usurpation of your training and judgement, the exercise of which would normally be constitutive of your job. You might as well be working at McDonalds. At least you can wash the smell off at the end of the day.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Ben
  • Reval
    Posts: 186
    Seriously, do you have a job description, that might include something like "chooses and rehearses music for school programs"? Can you show that to the principal, and let her know that these things she is insisting on are not her job at all? When you say "marketing", does someone think they are going to make money off this?
  • Caleferink
    Posts: 434
    I'd almost say, "OK, principal, you win, we'll rehearse with only the CD that will be used in performance." Then it will be the mediocrity you rightly predict instead of the stars and dollar signs your principal predicts. Then when the principal asks why the performance was so poor, you can say, "I told you so." And if that doesn't fly, leave (granted, the door may be shown for you) and shake the proverbial dust from your sandals in protest against them. Sometimes that's the only way "people in authority" listen to their underlings.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    If you haven't picked up on this already, someone (but maybe not one "on stage") wants your head on a platter, and this is the way to make it happen. If you do what you are asked and it fails miserably, you'll be accused of sabotaging the project; if you don't do what you're asked, you'll be insubordinate.

    Years ago, it was a cross I was given: to work under a woman who was brought in to put on a production of (whatever) at Christmas which I would never have accepted, had I been given a choice. It was a travesty -- and I was then given a one-line solo, and expected to cooperate. You can't win the pitched battle, but you can refuse to cooperate and go somewhere else. Then, at least, you won't have the risk of grave matter (since full consent is manifestly absent) on your conscience.
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    If you haven't picked up on this already, someone (but maybe not one "on stage") wants your head on a platter, and this is the way to make it happen.


    Yes, I have already picked up on that. I know exactly who it is, too. It's one of the reasons I am looking to leave this position, although the person who has it out for me might not be here much longer, either, as that person gets a lot of complaints to her boss, too.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    Darn. I HATE that head on a platter thingy. It gets my goatee outa sorts.

    Tell them that you've never rehearsed with the CD before and would like a 20 minute demonstration.
    Thanked by 9ClergetKubisz Kathy CHGiffen irishtenor ryand MichaelDickson canadash Salieri chonak
  • kenstb
    Posts: 369
    I agree with Francis' position, but it seems to me that you are dealing with folks who wish to provoke you into a display of insubordination. I don't think it would be in your best interest to do so, unless you have another source of income. If you need this job to eat, just keep your head down and say your Rosary.
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    Francis has a good idea.

    Tell them that rehearsing with a CD is a foreign idea in your experience as a professional musician
    -BUT-
    You are willing to entertain the idea. Perhaps they could demonstrate for you how to rehearse with the CD effectively.

    Just one song will be enough. "Show us how it's done, boss."
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • Scott_WScott_W
    Posts: 468
    to put on a production of (whatever) at Christmas


    Perfect word to describe much of the extra-liturgical productions that crawl out from under the rocks when the main holidays and Lent approach. :)
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okbply2eTkY

    Trigger warnings: Vulgar language, performance anxiety PTSD, nausea and its effects, et cet.
    Thanked by 1eft94530
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