Countdown to Oklahoma

Sorry for the pause in postings as of late. Betwixt a major bathroom renovation and piles of marking that has to be done before I leave on Tuesday for the ACDA national convention, I just haven't had time. I hope, once I get to Oklahoma City, I can post a few bits of my experiences there, thereby negating the need for postcards.

In the mean time ... O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A here I come!

I hope to meet some of you folks there!

Some very good news

Some great news arose amidst the fog of plaster dust during the bathroom renovation this week (which, as an aside, is going very well by the way - we've decided to restore the claw-foot bathtub - and I was able to rig up a temporary shower over the basement drain, which is surprisingly effective)

On Tuesday night, I was informed that my next concert with Da Camera Singers will be picked up by CBC Radio for future broadcast on a future Choral Concert.  Which is probably the only show aside from Saturday Afternoon at the Opera that survived this year's overhaul of the once vibrant national radio broadcast service.

It does put the pressure on us to produce an excellent concert.  It will be a concert of all Canadian works, including two commissions.  The program is listed below - broadcast date and time will be posted as we are informed of it.

"Eulogies"

Saturday March 14th, 8:00 PM

First Baptist Church, Edmonton

John Estacio's "Eulogies"

Eleanor Daley's "Requiem

Leonard Enns' "The Only Face I Want is Yours" (World premiere, Da Camera Commission)

Frances Macdonnell's "Arise, O God!" (Da Camera Commission, 2007)

Home renovations

About a year and a half ago, we renovated our Kitchen - and we love it!  We didn't love the two weeks of living in our basement with a microwave and a laundry tub sink, but for the most part we did just fine, and the inconvenience of it all is just a flitting memory.

So much so a memory in fact, that we've decided in a rather rush decision to do the bathroom, starting thursday!  So, for approximately the next two weeks, we will be once again be living in plaster dust, and without a few essential amenities.  Luckily, the church and school both have accessible showers, and a brother-in-law lives within a hundred meters.  So use of facilities will be close by.

What does this have to do with music?

Well ... I'm thinking of a finding a new toilet seat ....

Seating Plan Part II

The new seating plan for my chamber choir had it's first run on Monday night, with good success and no apparent displeasure!  Either that, or I've become so good at filtering out the odd complaint that I just wasn't aware of it.  Actually, my choir is great for letting me know how they feel about things - something that I think in a small choir is a good foundation for a healthy conductor/choir relationship.  

In the comments of my post on this topic from last week, there is a nice comment from reader Liz Garnet who noted that singers sing better when they are "jolted out of autopilot", and that was a comment that stuck with me as I prepared for rehearsal on Monday.

Immediately the sound improved with the choir, and there was a renewed energy and focus that wasn't there last week, and much was accomplished.  The funny thing is - this is a seating plan that I used in some form for the first two years that I conducted this choir.

For a while, I had so few tenors in my choir (a challenge I'm certain all choral conductors have had) that I had the tenors sit dead centre front row, with the basses behind them, and then sops on the left, alto on the right in two rows each.  Once the tenor section grew to balanced numbers, I was able to have two rows of each section, going from left to right(S-A-T-B), and this is where I've been for the last two years.  Now I'm back to two rows, front row all women, back row all men, basses behind sopranos, tenors behind altos.  My main reason for doing this is that I do not have any "front row" type tenors in the choir right now, and having them buffered a bit by my altos helps that situation a lot.

I have experimented with mixed formation a bit in the past - although never for a concert yet, just for rehearsals.  It always seems to go well in rehearsals for a limited time, then once we get into our performance venue, it never quite gels.  Something I think we can work on in the coming years.

Perhaps in two years, when this feels stale again - a new seating plan will emerge - and out of autopilot we shall go!

When Music meets Science Fiction

The good fellas at Robot Chicken present for us a remake of Star Wars II "The Wrath Of Khan" in the style of a Bel Canto Italian opera:

Just Brilliant.

You're a Musician? What instrument do you play?

I've been asked this question many times.  The simple answer is Piano or Organ, but really, I would never consider myself a Pianist or Organist in a professional sense anymore.  I'm a conductor.  So ... What is my instrument?  

Many years ago, I was driving across the border taking the southern short-cut from Alberta to Ontario, when the customs agent asked me what I did for a living, I told him I was a musician.  When he asked where my instrument was, I said I wasn't carrying one.  This apparently raised a red flag, and they proceeded to search every known cavity of my car.  I tried to explain that I was a conductor, but they were sill absolutely dumbfounded that I wouldn't have a guitar case in the car.  "How can you be a musician if you don't have a guitar?".  Seriously, that was the gist of the conversation.  And if you think that's fun - try going through airport security with a tuning fork.

So, now my answer to the question is that on Mondays my instrument is a chamber choir of nearly 40 voices, on Tuesdays my instrument is a symphonic  choir of 120 voices, and on Thursdays and Sundays, my instrument is a church choir of about 20 voices.  

Is the choir really an instrument?  Well, yes, I believe it is.  The artistic interpretation and overall sound and tone will mainly depend on what I am able to do with it - although limited by the ability of the ensemble - but mainly limited by by my ability.

The main difference between a 9 foot Steinway and a 30 voice choir is of course, that the choral instrument is full of people.  Each with their own personalities, abilities and above all, sensitivities.  Yelling at a piano, or moving it to different locations, will not hurt its feelings.  None of this of course is something that hasn't been written about before, but it is one of my main struggles as a choral conductor. 

Where I struggle most is in my great fear of hurting people's feelings.  I have difficulty choosing soloists, saying "no" after an audition, or standing up to people who confront me about artistic or interpretive decisions.  Over the last few years I have become better about this aspect of the job - this has come with experience, and confidence.  For example, I'm not afraid to tell people to shut-up during rehearsals, or to point out individuals in cases of poor blend, or pitch issues - and now that they know me better, they are very much open to this type of criticism, I've also become better about demanding more from an ensemble, and pushing them to achieve great heights.  

The ONE thing that I still struggle with the most is seating arrangements!  In fact, it is the one thing I wish I never had to do.  In some choirs I don't worry about it at all, it is basically "Sopranos sit here, Altos here ... but where you sit within your sections is up to you" - but in my chamber choir it is something I am so often confronted with.  Whether it is someone who really "likes" to be in the back row, or likes to be sitting beside "so and so".  When I move voices, it is impossible for me to think that I am hurting their feelings - or moving them in a situation where they don't want to be - beside someone they don't want to be beside, or in a row that is not a row they want to be in.  And in someway, I've made their experience less enjoyable.  It's almost worse than not letting them in the choir in the first place!

Next Monday night ... new seating plan .... wish me luck.