I've invited an esteemed conductor to come and work with my choir and he will be there tonight. I'm quite excited about it.
I'm a little conflicted. I would love to sit in the choir and sing, however I wonder if I would get more out of it if I just observed what he did with my choir and walked around the room to listen to them.
There's nothing to say that you can't do both... :) Presumably, he will be there for a bit of time. You could start with observing, walking around - join in with the choir for a segment of the rehearsal - observe and listen some more. In that situation, the world is your oyster, so to speak. Wherever you might be deriving benefit is the place to be.
I think that sitting to the side and observing would be best. Hanging on his every word, mannerism, and gesture. I agree somewhat with Incardination, that you have much to learn from being in the choir and responding as they do - but observing him and the choir's response to him would be most valuable for you as the choirmaster.
Godspeed. Every serious choir should do this from time to time.
I'm lucky in that my choir has a few conductors (we are combined, after all) so sometimes I "tag team" out and my associate has her turn. It's good to observe her method of doing things, and it certainly holds myself accountable when I might find myself tempted to venture off into Speculative Musical Theoretician Land . . .
It went very well. In planning this, I was hoping he would spend more time on the difficult repertoire we are singing, but I think what he did do was wise and will be better for me and my choir in the long term.
He spent a lot of time on nuance and making every word/syllable count and how to emphasize the accented syllable in homophonic four part music and chant in Latin. He also emphasized phrasing. Pitch was always a consideration and as soon as any section started to waiver in pitch, he stopped and re-calibrated the ensemble. He also did not tell them what he was going to do at every turn which made the choir watch him more than they watch me. Many things he did confirmed what I do as well, such as where to place consonants and spreading of vowels.
My choir did very well and he was extremely positive about them. He said they were very responsive, though there are a few who have odd ways of making their vowels (we've discussed this before on the forum... it has to do with the accents of English as a second language speakers) He did mention that I should recruit more men. Once my second son graduates and leaves, the lack of bottom to my choir will be a killer. I don't know how to recruit. Music education in general is horrid. The choirs at schools all sing with microphones and I find that Catholic parents just don't put their kids in private lessons - it's not nearly as important as sports to them, though my kids do both.
He also did a lot of research of music for me. I tend to pull things from the internet and not take the time to make sure that the editions are perfect and cross check the music and whatever is suggested in it. That was a wake up call for me. I have to take more time. I have the ability to do this, I just find that my family takes over my life and it is a challenge.
He suggested I pick up a copy of Oxford's "Ash Wednesday to Easter" and Novello's "Lent and Easter" so I have some shopping to do!
A very good experience. Thank you for your suggestions and for your inquiry into the rehearsal.
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