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Moving toward excellenceDate: June 26, 2010
Hello all! I have read this forum for 2 years now, and have learned a great many vicarious lessons, but this is my first post. Here goes...
I am interested in what you have to say about moving a good high school chorus toward an excellent high school chorus. Many of you have probably been in the position I am in today, with a 5 year old program that started out with 25 singers, then 45 singers, then 60, 80 100 singers! A group that makes music on a pretty sophisticated level when given a level 4 (nyssma or maryland list), but really kind of falls apart when more difficult literature is introduced. It isn't the drive... they are enthusiastic and want to try more difficult literature. They are more than happy to put in the work, but sometimes forget from day to day the suggestions made on the music, and rehearsal rut sometimes sets in. If anything, it is that I have a problem getting them there. Can anyone give me ideas for bridging the gap between good and excellent in a quantifiable way? To more seasoned directors than I... do you remember when your chorus' were at this point and what "aha!" moments you had that brought you through? I feel I must be missing something, and although I know this is a broad topic (difficult to address in just a few words), I would be thankful for any information which may ultimately lead me in the right direction.
Thanks to all for the information posted on this forum. I suspect there are others out there that have less to say and more to learn by reading these posts, so I appreciate all who share their knowledge.
Lydia Courtney, SCHS Chorus
John Howell on June 26, 2010 10:22am
Hi, Lydia. I heartily applaude your goals for your choir, and your looking for ways to reach those goals. This is just what comes to mind immediately, and may not apply to your situation, so PLEASE keep that in mind.
It sounds as if you have brought them to their limit AS SINGERS. To move to a higher performance level doesn't necessarily mean making them better singers, it means making them better MUSICIANS. Do you have lower level choirs where you can teach them musicianship as well as repertoire? Have you taught them to be fluent in solfege? Do you, yourself, have specific ideas on what you want them to be able to do?
I'm sure there are tons of published material out there, but if it's still in print, take a look at Paul Hindemith's "Elementary Exercises in Musicianship" (or something like that). There is NOTHING elementary about it, and a great many professional musicians would be challenged by it!
As to a "quantifiable way" to bridge the gap between "good" and "excellent," the longest journey starts with a single step, and the first step here is to come up with objective definitions of "good" and "exellent," without which it is impossible to see the steps that lie between the two.
All the best, and I look forward to this discussion.
John
on June 26, 2010 6:20pm
Hy, Lydia!
Sounds like we started out with very smilar programs. I remeber those days 20 years ago. Solfeg is so important. If you can start it in the middle level (if you have any control over that), I think that's really important. Find some good rhythm reading exercises too.
We, as a department, have been working on helping students define their strengths and limitations. We shyed away rom the word weaknesses because our students perceived that as a hurdle they couldn't get over. TAke one piece on one day and, as a group, have them identify 5 strenghts (things they do really well) and talk about why they feel that way. Ask them to cite specific examples. THen ask the to identify group limitations (3 at most). Why are they limitations? HOw do you move them from the limitations column to the strengths column. USe those ideas to help them move forward. If you can guide them through this process the first couple of times, they'll start thinking in that frame of reference.
It sounds like wasting class time, but it is well worth the effort. THey become the critical isteners and evelautors of their own work. They will be more focused and pay attention to the details that will help them grow as musicians.
Play plenty of good recordings too. They need to know what a good choir versus a great choir sounds like. With my students, they are given something to aspire to.
Good luck.
Wendy
Director of Choirs
East High School
on June 29, 2010 7:15am
Lydia,
The best advice I ever received about choral excellence was this - the minute the choir in front of you sounds like the choir in your head, you need to improve the choir in your head. I had taught for about 8 years and was having great success as a middle school choral director in Texas. My choirs conisistently sang well, were honored at competitions and I had lots of kids signing up for my classes. I was beginning to become quite impressed with myself! ;-) Then, I bought my first Indianapolis Childrens' Chorus CD, popped it into my car's CD player and nearly had a wreck when they began to sing. I had no idea children could sound like that. I literally had to pull over, stop the car and just listen. I've spent the last 12 years since then buying many CDs, listening to many concerts and talking to many directors I admire about tone quality and how to get the choir in front of me to sound as much like the one in my head as possible. I am certainly not there yet.
On another note, the kids have no idea what "excellence" sounds like unless we teach it to them. To that end, I play those same recordings I'm listening to for my kids each day as they enter and leave class. I also try my best to find good recordings of literature that they are performing for them to hear so they can critically listen to similarities and differences between their performance and the recorded ones. The last thing that will bring you great success is to teach your kids good music literacy skills. It will seem time consuming and as if you are losing rehearsal time at first. In the end, the kids becoming good readers saves you so much rehearsal time for becoming more excellent, polished music. Keep working, and remember, it's never going to be perfect. The fun is in the journey, not the final product!
Mary Jane Phillips
on June 29, 2010 8:16pm
Hi Lydia,
Here are a few thoughts:
Here's a quick way to assess your group's current level of acting/performing:
If their current focus is more on technical elements (words, notes, posture, technique), then their faces, bodies, and voices are likely to trend toward blandness, stillness, and inexpressiveness -- more 2D than 3D, more stiff than striking. They will tend to stand relatively still, and their faces will tend toward a flat or generically intense affect.
On the other hand, if your singers' faces, bodies, minds, and voices are connected to the power and nuance of their specific texts, then they might already be acting the song. If this is the case, they'll have a captivating and dynamic effect on you and their audiences. They'll be moving freely -- and to the MEANING more than to the music. Their faces will go through all sorts of expressions as they connect to the myriad thoughts associated with their texts and their purpose -- they'll go from smiling, to glowering, to rapture ... and all without any effort or self-direction. In other words, they won't be telling themselves to look a certain way, show a certain emotion, or sound like the meaning of the song -- that will all come automatically as they engage their acting chops.
An additional benefit to doing this (if they're not already) is that musicality usually leaps ahead -- even after just one rehearsal. Phrasing, cut-offs, entrances, dynamics -- all these improve dramatically once all singers tap into that shared well of human experience that motivated the lyricist/poet and composer to create the piece in the first place. The singing itself improves as well, becoming freer, more powerful, and more nuanced.
One more benefit -- learning is quicker and deeper; musical details once hard to hold onto now have many connection points in the singers' neural pathways.
If you think your singers might benefit from learning some basic acting skills which are tailored specifically for choral singers, check out my website at www.choralcharisma.com.
All my best,
Tom
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