You say it's been sung every year.  Is this an alumni piece (alumni are invited to the stage to sing) or something that has become a traditional offering every year?  Where I attended high school (in Ohio) we also had a traditional song we'd do every year at the Christmas concert: "Beautiful Savior," and invite the alumni to join us.  The traditional closing for every concert is the Lutkin "Lord Bless You and Keep You."  This continues to this day, some 70+ years later.  There's nothing wrong with tradition, and it might be nice to have the students suggest some new traditions to establish now that there's a new director.

David Springstead, Sr.

Director Emeritus

Norfolk District UMM Choir

David's right on the money.  "Traditions" always have a start - in other words, "traditions" don't start as such.  If this "traditional" piece has been included at the end of just about every Christmas concert, and is an invitation for alumni to come up on stage (and I've seen this done in any number of groups I've been involved with over the years) it's a great way to stretch the line both backward in time and forward.  BUT - since you're having a challenge with this HS choir, it may be time to establish "the search for a new traditional piece" (not so announced) - which gradually can move the "older" traditional piece to its proper place - in the past.  You see, the psychology here is quite simple:  they're afraid.  You're new; you have no tradition with this choir.  The seniors, I expect, are the biggest proponents of the "traditional" piece - because they want to be "loyal" - and there's nothing basically wrong that that - to the old director.  Except - you're new.  You're now.  So now, challenge them to find another piece they'd like to make "theirs" - establishing a new "tradition" with the "new" director - who, God willing (and you keep your sanity!), will become eventually just "the director" - not "the new" director - just, "the director."  And the juniors and maybe sophomores will begin to look forward to doing "their" traditional piece - and you can gradually retire the other one, if you so desire.

I rather agree with David.  I think it shows good faith on your part to keep the tradition, for this year, at least, and then once you have experienced it, you might suggest a new tradition for next year, if you think it really doesn't work well.  I think the fact that the kids came to you is a good sign.  Middle school kids are wary, but once you gain their trust, they can be extremely loyal, and that is when you will get their best work.

 

FWIW

 

Nan Beth Walton

As long as you don't have any strong objections to the specific nature of this "traditional song," it might be wise, in terms of good relations with the students remaining in the program from the previous director's tenure, to go ahead with the tradition for another year or two. Then, once the students in the program are all "yours," you strategically replace the tradition with something else that you'd prefer, perhaps in consultation with "your" students so that you have support for the change.

 

I observed this at the high school my own children attended, where some previous director's "Song of Mary" was reverently sung each year at the December concert. The piece, however, was IMO not particularly interesting, in that it consisted of singing the Magnificat text (in English) in Anglican chant style (repeating the same chord pattern for all the phrases of the text) without any further compositional elements. Were I to take over that program, I would have phased it out after first getting rid of at least the graduating seniors. Perhaps the next year, I would have invited alumni to a pre-concert warm-up in the choir room, where we could sing it together for "old times' sake" but not have it be presented publicly.

 

Furthermore, in a public school setting, continuing things like Lutkin's "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" is less and less defensible, given the vast amount of pedagogically-superior compositions available to program. I also have issues with filling a December concert with overtly-religious songs, especially trite or banal contemporary Christmas pieces in English (not that there aren't also some high-quality pieces being written, but you probably know what I mean), given that we really ought to be sensitive to the non-Christians in our programs, and be able to defend our repertoire selections on the grounds of sound pedagogical principles.

Michelle:  You've had good advice so far (and this came up not too long ago and you might be able to find the thread from that time as well).  All I'd like to add is that many of us have been in exactly the same situation--the "new" director--in a wide variety of situations, and we've lived through it and made the ensembles our own, even though it might take a little while.

 

The best advice that *I* was given in this situation (at the college level), was that the ensemble was now MY ensemble and I could make of it whatever I felt it should be.  That's what I was hired to do.  But at the same time I was very aware of "the way we used to do it" and I was very careful to evaluate things and decide whether or not to change them or to keep them.  And one of the things that I kept was a leadership organization, because I could see its value even though I had never done anything similar in the past. 

 

And yes, I lost a few people I wish I had not lost, and one of them was a very talented lighting designer who went on to become a valued designer and administrator for Disney, but that's just part of the job.  They WILL become YOUR ensemble, and they need to learn and understand that no two people are EVER alike, and that even the same person will change things over time, so they can certainly expect new ideas from any new person.

 

The most awkward situations for me--and you may or may not run into this--was a few people who either had leadership responibilities under the old director or thought they were ENTITLED to leadership responsibilites, but who I did not feel were right for those responsibilities.  And those cases you have to handle carefully and remember that you're dealing with people's feelings, no matter WHAT age group you're dealing with.

All the best,

John

Michelle,

 

I was in a very similar situation to yours last year, when I followed the founder of our chorus who had been the director for 18 years!  Even though I've been conducting and teaching for over 20 years and feel confident in my teaching and conducting abilities,  it can be tricky to follow someone with such a long tenure, who was well-loved and to whome the students have a great deal of loyalty.  

 

My suggestion is to continue with the tradition.  Not only do older students respond very positively when they believe their voice has been heard and acted upon (after all, a student ASKED to perform this piece), it shows that you are supportive of your predecessor and all she/he did to instill a love of music in your singers.  I think it's human nature to want to make your own stamp on the choirs and to throw away all that was done before, but I do think it would go a long way to include the tradition.  I would make sure that the students know that you heard their request and are going to include it because they asked!!  :0)  It will take awhile to make these singers "yours" - (my second year in this position has been tremendously better than the first--particularly with the high school singers), and in time, when you've established yourself with your singers, you can create your own traditions.  

 

Best of luck....I'd be happy to collaborate if you'd like to talk further.  I'm at ksilva(a)peninsulagirlschorus.org.

 

Karyn

In my experience the directors for whom transitions have gone smoothest for are the ones who are willing to keep the "closing" song. For my high school that was "O Holy Night" at Christmas, for my college it was "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" in the spring.  We went through 3 directors while I was in high school, two of them coming in after bad circumstances, and we gave them all a little more respect for keeping "O Holy Night", they saw what it meant to us and left it on the program. My college director (who has been there for 30 years) always tells his choral methods class of how when he came in the upperclassmen hated him but when he pulled out the Lutkin (which had been done for 40+ years at that point) they realized he wasn't here to change everything and he gained more clout with them. I'd keep the tradition.

Michelle, you don't say anything about if it's a good song or if you like it. I think that's quite a big part of this. After all, you're only being asked to do ONE song, not repeat all of the songs the former director used. 

 

I'd say definitely go with the song this Christmas; if it's a good song, keep the tradition. Then you can make other traditions as well. Nothing wrong with keeping one thing from the past if everyone loves it but also making new traditions, your own and the ensemble's.

 

(you will very likely get a comment like: "That's not the way we've always done the song" though).

Questions that just popped into my head: Do you know if this was a song that they had only done with the previous director or was this one they had carried over from the director before them? Also, is this one alumni come up and join in on?

Michelle,

Stravinsky had to defend his move to neo-clissicism at one point.   I paraphrase, "Far from imposing the repetition of what has been, tradition presupposes the reality of that which endures."

 

If the students love a tradition I say keep it.   We need to be rooted in the past.   The very act of standing on risers while singing is a tradition.   

I was at a school that had many traditions going back many years before I taught there..   I kept every one of those traditions and gradually added my own as the older traditions faded away.

 

So instead of thinking of their Christmas song as "the repetition of what has been," think of it as the "reality of that which endures."

Nick Page

www.nickmusic.com

 

Thank you all for your replies!  

The specific song that the students asked about was "Ring Merry Bells", if I remember correctly.  I don't have the music in front of me so I don't know the composer.  I don't know the piece personally so I can't say if I like it or not.

There are several traditions that have been in effect from the last director.  As I mentioned, the previous director was there for 24 years so these kids and their parents have only known one way of direction.  The previous director relied heavily on the piano to teach the part to the kids instead of working toward part independance, which is what I have been working on.  I don't know how long any of the traditions have been in place.  I doubt they have been in place for 24 years but they have been for several years of this I'm sure.  

Beside the "Ring Merry Bells" request, they have sung "Hallelujah Chorus" as a closer with audience participation.  The first tradition area I ran into was the "Star Spangled Banner".  They had "sung the same one that was passed down from class to class" so there was no music for me to even look at! When I was finally able to find something similar to work from, they still couldn't buy into the fact that they needed to sing it correctly and there were actual parts.  

My concern with using songs that have been tradition is the fact that the songs that we have been working on to sing for the concert are still VERY rough.  It was only this week that we actually started moving forward with the music instead of stagnating and the concert is less than a month away.  

I did have a thought about letting the Seniors come up with a song that they prepare themselves and present at the concert as a "new" tradition.  If they chose to sing "Ring Merry Bells" that would be fine.  I'm just not sure how much ownership they will actually take in creating something they can sing well.

Michelle

Michelle, from your last entry it sounds as if: 1) there's really no "tradition"; 2) whatever has been done in the past has been done poorly. A clean break is needed. The challenge, of course, is to do it diplomatically so that you do not appear to be disrespectful of the students nor autocratic.

"students came up and asked if we could sing a song that they have sung every year for the Christmas Concert. They said everyone looks forward to singing it and the parents love it too. I am rather reluctant to sing songs from the previous director. I don't know if it would be beneficial to sing something that has been a "tradition" or better to start with a clean slate"

 

do the song they have done every year  - it is called 'grace' - it will win you points big time, then do your own choices. I stronly disagree with the clean break theory. if you want the honey don't shake the hive!

 

 

I had this same situation when I moved from middle school to high school a few years back. You might want to verify by talking with other students that what you were told about this song being a tradition is in fact true. I was asked about a particular song that I was told was "a tradition", that I did not feel was appropriate vocally for the group I had inherited. As I was wrestling with the decision, yes or no, I learn that the "tradition" was that they had song the song for 2 years in a a row and that particular student liked it. I didn't use it. None of the rest complained. Another song that is sung at the Spring Concert IS a tradition and we continue to use IT. The voicing is SATB which my current numbers don't work for, so since it is available SAB, I bought that arrangement so we can still use it successfully.

Debbie

Just a thought on the "Hallelujah" from "Messiah" as a closer at a high school concert - and I'm going to be stepping on toes, so please hurry to get them out of the way! - but I too often have heard it done as, not as the splendid piece it is, but as a raucous, almost "Friday-night-football" piece of - well, "music" may be a LITTLE charitable as a description.  And, on top of everything else, the poor instrumentalists who are doing their durndest to make this a piece of "music" are left struggling in the dust of over 200 voices (in some of the big high schools I'm associated with) roaring away at this - and the directors are good directors, but somehow have let the "tradition" take over their common sense.  I would plead for something fundamental, here:  let not the tradition overrule the musicianship.  If the piece is NOT a good one for the vocal needs of the group, or is not done with attention and musical concert, that's more important than wasting a breath on it - and that is something "teachers" must be prepared to insist upon - with care, and with a thorough explanation of why not - but still insist upon.  If a parent were to come up and complain about the "traditional closer" (and it's ironic how many of you have commented that the "tradition" is only a few years old) not being done, I'd explain to them that doing this is like taking the family car and trying to run the Indianapolis 500 with it - it CAN be done, but ought it; and will it really be a success?  Too often, the driving factor is emotion, not thought.  We owe our students better than that - and we wonder why, sometimes, the state of the arts is as it is, and why politicians and bureaucrats do NOT take the arts seriously.  We have to first.

 

Chantez bien!

 

Ron

Michelle, I'm curious how this issue turned out for you.

 

When I started in my current position, there literally were no choir traditions left, the program had decayed into two choirs with very low enrollments (in a high school of 2,000 students). No traditional songs, no madrigal dinners, no senior awards, nothing. So I find it a little hard to personally relate to your concerns about starting with a clean slate. Traditions are powerful, and if you've inherited a strong program that is lucky enough to have these traditions in place, more power to you; it seems wise to preserve them en toto - at the very least for the first year or two until you've won the trust of your students and parents. Not only are choral traditions a powerful cultural experience of group identity for the students, they serve a practical purpose as well. Every traditional piece that you might do, say at a holiday, graduation or year-end concert, is one more piece of music that is already learned that shouldn't require much rehearsal time.

Certainly, some musical traditions that lack artistic merit (e.g., your ad hoc national anthem) might be improved upon without ruffling too many feathers. But in other cases, it might be prudent to weigh the possible negative consequences of the resentments that your juniors and seniors might hold against you for altering their expected (and benign) experience overly much, for comparatively little artistic benefit to your program.

 

Hmmmmm. I'm kind of surprised where this thread has gone. Only one person has mentioned the use of Christian music in school settings as being somewhat problematic. I grant that there are different levels to this. I find a mass in Latin, the Halleluia Chorus and "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" less problematic than "Beautiful Savior" which so strongly implies that those who are non-Christian are not saved and ... well, you know the rest. So I'm wondering. Do those of you who teach in public schools regularly program music with such Christian themes? Given the responses to this thread I imagine there are are great number of you who do, and I'm just wondering if you ever take heat for it. If I had a child in your school I'd be applying some of the heat.

Michelle,

Though I was too busy to follow this thread when it began, I am curious about how this turned out, and how others feel about this aspect of the matter:

One point that was only touched on, I feel, is more crucial -

If any of us does a piece that was well-loved/frequently performed by the previous director, what about the interpretive differences?  Will you be locked into his/her tempo, dynamics, cut-offs, etc.?  Will the fact that you need to conduct it more with your interp, and they are naturally resistant to that, become another, related, issue?  If you haven't time to clarify/rehearse all this, will the piece be comparatively messy in performance?  (According to my experience, the answer is generally, "Yes!". )

Perhaps, when faced with similar situations, we could, first, determine whether the majority truly want to sing it.   Perhaps lead a short discussion about how directors, interpretation [ relate this to the way different pop singers "cover" the songs of others ] will vary - and that this is appropriate; no one "right" way! :)  "The skill of remaing open/flexible, while following different conductors and working with different musicians, is a valuable and important skill  for you!" [them]  

Then perhaps  offer a "deal":  "I will program and conduct the piece, but you must follow my interpretative direction with it.  This is a good chance for you to learn the aforementioned skill!"

If they find this too difficult/stressful, then you have a good reason to say, "Let's choose a new "signature" piece."    [ might also be valuable to discuss the fine difference between "traditional" and "signature" pieces]

If students ask:  "Why can't you just conduct it like s/he did?"   You might reply: "I know that this is a little more challenging for you, but remember: This is our art.  It is my art, just as it was __[former teacher's__] art.  We are trained to conduct according to our own artistic visions and feelings of what the composer was saying, not someone else's.  Let's think now...Would we respect Picasso as much if he had picked up a brush and only attempted to mimic  Raphael's  paintings?"   

This might even lead to an assignment where you take 30-or-so bars and let them prepare and student-conduct it in class; later explaining why they made their choices.  This would open young minds and ears to the infinite possibilities.  Another idea might be to call a 7 or 10-year alum back to class, and have them describe all the groups they've sung with, and how they interpreted/followed a conductors' interp of  the same piece in many different ways.

Best Wishes,

-Lucy

 

This exact same issue came up when I was a first-year teacher in northern Vermont. Mine had to do with a group of students who were members of a "select" ensemble for the three previous years the former teacher was there. The former teacher also treated them as equals, even meeting the group out for McDonalds and the like after school hours. I acquiesced in the end over the "tradition" that I ran up against and felt like I had given in and lost a lot of respect in the end.

 

My advice would be to do as you want and let your abilities and knowledge shine through and let those who don't want to be in YOUR choir hit the road.

 

Craig

Thanks again for all the responses.  It has taken me some time to get back to this thread and read through all the comments but they are all valuable.  In the end, I didn't continue with any "tradition" that a few students had stated.  Once it got close enough to the concert, there were no questions about if we were singing a certain song that may or may not have been a long standing tradition or only sung for the last few years.  At this point, the student responses for the select group are still in flux.  There are some that have decided the world is not ending and life will go on with the new teacher and there are still some that would rather see the old teacher every day they come in my class.  I am learning to accept the situation and grant myself peace and grace.  

 

The concert went off well.  I didn't have tons of parents come up and say it was fantastic or anything to that effect (and I wasn't expecting any) but I thought all the groups did a nice job.  And it was done without a come-y'all sing "Hallelujah Chorus" that would have frustrated me to no end.  Now, to make it through the second semester of fundraising, festivals, trips, and concerts.  May the Lord bless me. :)

 

Thanks!

Michelle