(This article was originally published in the November edition of the church newsletter.)
If you have a moment, take out your calendars and flip ahead to Saturday, December 2nd: Allegheny College's annual Christmas choral concert takes place at Shafer Auditorium at 3:15 PM that afternoon. (I mention it in this newsletter because next month's edition probably won’t arrive in your mailbox until that same day.) Several members of our congregation, in addition to all four choral scholars, are singing in the various ensembles, and the conducting duties will be split between Professor Jamison and myself. Admission, as always, is free.
When I was asked to step in as the interim director of the college choir and women's ensemble, a little trepidation accompanied my ‘yes’. After all, my conducting experience until now has been confined to a church setting. Church choirs, by their nature, rely more on speed than on finesse: our mandate is to have something ready to sing every Sunday. The director's job is to bring that music to an acceptable level of polish in the limited time available. Hence the necessity of repetition -- there simply isn't time to learn a new anthem from scratch every single week -- and the need to prioritize, to discern which are the two or three adjustments that will quickly elevate our singing from 'satisfactory' to 'good'.
Up on college hill, by contrast, an entirely different approach is necessary. Each week the women's ensemble rehearses for two hours, and the college choir three hours, for approximately three months. The goal here is to prepare a half-dozen pieces for a single performance. This timescale allows the director to choose more complex music, and to delve into greater detail about shaping, blend, tone production, and the nuance of each phrase. Essentially, it requires the director to be a lot more picky! On the flip side, that one performance is a high-stakes game: the college choir doesn't have the luxury of regrouping and trying again in a few weeks if things go sour.
So which is more enjoyable, from a director's standpoint? I have to say that they are both, in their own way, equally rewarding! While I’ll certainly be glad to hand the baton back to Professor Niblock when he returns from sabbatical, I’m grateful for the opportunity to sharpen my own skills as a conductor. In addition, two of our current choral scholars (John and Audrey) are set to graduate next month, and I hope my rapport with the students will open up opportunities for recruiting more of them to our choir in the future.
Until next time,
Kevin
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