November? Tomorrow??

It is the morn of All Hallows Eve - or, as the kids call it, "Halloween". It is also the first Halloween that my wife and I will experience in our new house, in a residential neighbourhood which has evidence of little ones about who will likely be ringing our doorbell starting just before dusk tonight. We have no idea how many to expect ... five? five hundred? We bought enough candy to get through nearly two hundred, however, I'm secretly hoping for a lot less, so that there are enough rockets and chewy treats to get me through the next month, which is shaping up to be one of the most busy choral months in recent memory.

To celebrate the later hours of Hallowe'en, I will be in rehearsal - story of my life for the next little while. In the span of the first twenty two days of November, I have three full length concerts, all with different programs. The first one is a concert with my chamber choir, where I will be conducting all sorts of works inspired by water, in particular, the seas. The next day I'm singing a concert with our city's professional choir in an all male choir program of various remembrance day tributes, Beatles' arrangements, and, yes, even an arrangement of "Sponge Bob Square Pants" for the kids. A week later I will be co-conducting a concert with the Symphonic choir for their CD release. Adding to this is the task of preparing program notes, translations and various other pre-concert preparation duties for the concert on the 10th, as well as setting three music history exams for one of our national music examination boards, and also the week to week preparation of music for my church choir, including preparing for Advent, which is only one month away.

I have to remember not to blink this month - or I'm going to miss something along the way.

Things to look forward to are our one year "house" anniversary, which is tomorrow, the completion of our Kitchen, which will be next Tuesday, and just the every day joy of knowing that through all the hectic preparation of concerts and rehearsals - there is the simple fact that I have a wife who loves me unconditionally and a lovely home to come home to at night. Also the joy of knowing that every day - there is music in my life, and I LOVE what I do.

The Church Choir

As is the case with most choral musicians, especially those whose first degrees were in Organ performance, one might expect that a good portion of my income comes from a church position. When I first moved from my home province, I wasn't sure if I was going to look for a church position, as I was starting a new Masters program, and had enough scholarship and teaching assignments to sustain a fairly comfortable standard of living, without the need for a Thursday night choir practice, or early Sunday mornings - that was, unless the "perfect" job presented itself.

About 10 years ago (in fact, exactly 10 years ago this coming January) a colleague at the University asked me if I was interested in a job at a small Anglican parish (did I mention that the "perfect" job had to be Anglican?) I had expressed some interest, and before I knew it, I was meeting at an A&W (or as he called it "The A 'n Dub") near the church, discussing my church music and liturgical philosophies with the organist and director of music of the parish. I began the new post at the church the first choir Sunday back after Christmas, January 11th 1998, and besides the requisite four weeks holiday per year, have been there just about every Sunday since. First as the church's choir director, to my current position as organist, choirmaster and director of music (the sole music employee of the parish).

From time to time, I will blog some of the frustrations that occur in working with a completely volunteer church choir, all of whom lead professional lives (many of them teachers, a few lawyers, a couple of government employees, and at least one shoe salesman). But all this aside, I want to be clear from the onset of this blog that I love my job. I have incredible support from clergy, congregation and choir; and have the resources and space that make my church job the "dream" church job for any musician - which is not a luxury that others who work in my field have.

I should probably also mention - - if it were not for the church, and its choir - - I would have never found my wonderful wife.

The Conductor's "Diva" Trap

The other night, I was asked to conduct our city's symphonic choir for 10 minutes at a fund raising charity event staged at our local concert hall. Our hall is fantastic, one of the best in the country. Great acoustics, warm and inviting for classical musicians, especially orchestras and large choruses.

This concert, for which proceeds were going to a very worth cause, had a line-up of mostly pop/folk and blues on the program, interspersed with dancing, drums, and other variety type acts. We were the only "Classical" group on the program.

When I arrived to meet the organizing committee - I was lead to the stage, which was set up to favour the other acts in the show - no risers, curtains everywhere deadening the sound. A sort of carpeted gymnasium type theatre setup - not the usual conditions that we, the nearly 70 of us that volunteered to sing this gig, were used to.

At this very moment, I had to make quick decision. The options were to take the "it is what it is" approach, and just deal with it; or to rant and complain about the poor setup, and to tell tell them that we'd never agree to do this gig again in these conditions. I could have ruined the whole event for the organizers. I looked at my wife, who was singing in the choir and was with me when I saw the set up, and she said something like "we can make this work", and at that moment, I knew what route I had to take - one of support and understanding to the event ... which after all, was going to help a great deal of people - and it wasn't about "ME".

I like to think that I take this approach often in my work as a conductor. Nothing irks me more than a musician, or anyone, who can't deal with what is dealt to them in a given situation, especially when the situation is not about them in the first place. It is usually best to keep your thoughts inside, and vent about it later. Transferring this feeling onto sixty other singers is often a bit more tricky, but possible. It is amazing how much your singers rely on your reaction to a situation to make their own judgment.

I managed to smile through most of the evening - and so did my singers. We did go flat on our unaccompanied piece, however the last piece of the set was better than it had ever been. The hall was full of people, who didn't have a clue about what was going through my mind an hour before, and they showed immense appreciation for what we have given them.

I left the hall feeling a lot better than I did when I first saw the setup. I didn't even feel the need to vent afterwards. Instead, I had a glass of wine with friends who were visiting from out of province, and the went home put another coat of paint on the Kitchen wall.

It was a good day - all because of the split second decision I made on the stage of the performance hall - to do the best I could - with what I was given.

How many conductors does it take to .... ?

As a young child, most of my life revolved around Music. I was lucky enough to have a father who was a concert pianist, and a supportive Mother who, although doesn't have the music background, could probably tell you enough about all styles and genres of music, the dates of all the composers, and the different legitimate spellings of Tchaikovsky (Chaikovsky?), and the difference between a Tam-Tam and a Tom-Tom (She was, and still is, the executive secretary of one of Canada's largest Music Festivals).

However, where I'm going with this is ... she also taught me how to fix just about anything, how to operate an underground pool, how to install and patch drywall, and even (in the days before Mr. Lube) how to change the oil and filter in a car. My father played the piano, if you asked him for a screwdriver ... he'd mix vodka and orange juice, topped with grenadine.

Right now I'm in the middle of a major kitchen renovation, after tearing out the old kitchen, with the help of my darling wife, we installed a 6x4 foot patch of drywall, and are now in the middle of painting before the cabinets come in on Monday.

So the answer to the question ... How many conductors does it take to renovate a kitchen? Just one - but not without the skills learned from Mom, and the help of his wife.

A new beginning

In approximately one month, I will be walking across the convocation stage of my university, accepting my Doctor of Music degree. Although I am completely ecstatic that nearly 10 years of graduate education have finally come to a close - it is an odd thing to think that most of my 36 years of living have been classified as a "student". The advantages of being a student are many - discounts at most concerts, attractions and events. Cheap(er) travel through ISIC card status, and the benefit of having a university who has supported my studies through teaching, scholarship and other monetary making opportunities.

Now, I'm out on my own, a very small fish in an extremely big pond. Although I continue to receive teaching opportunities from the uni, it is unlikely that this will be something that will continue for ever. The idea of putting together applications for the few tenure track jobs that are available, in a highly competitive market is very daunting indeed.

So, in the mean time, I've decided to blog my adventures as a freelance conductor, teacher and accompanist. Currently I hold three part time conducting jobs, one at a church, one with a chamber choir, and one with a symphonic choir. All of which, I love dearly.

I'm not quite sure what form this blog is going to take perhaps it will include some of the following:

• trials and tribulations of concert preparation
• adventures in applying for a full-time job
• incidences from concerts, both funny and scary
• frustrations and revelations from life in front of the choir

My hope is to share these with those who take interest, and to join the electronic world of the world wide choral community, in intellectual - and sometimes less than intellectual discussion of choral, and conducting related topics.