The ladies have had some great rehearsals. Tonight being no different. Their winter concert is coming up quickly and they have been excellent progress on their songs, especially since their fall concert. We still have things to do, but I am not worried about making good music.
After rehearsal I spent some time thinking about how I address sacred topics on choir. I am very careful not to dwell too much on one religious belief. Many times I turn it into something generic- instead of thinking about how beautiful the feet are that announce Christ, we talk about what we do when we hear good news. I mention the context and sometimes have asked for thoughts, but I also know there are a variety of faiths in my group. Although I believe the ladies are respectful and understand why we talk about sacred topics. When singing "Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy", we shared the joy of spreading good news and announcing amazing things that happen. The trick was how to put it into context of the nativity story. I think most expressed this well. I normally travel home with one of the girls in the choir (who lives near me). We talked about this on the way home tonight- she was surprised to think of some of the girls not believing in God. But also understand why I often did have an in-depth discussion on religious topics. In all honesty, the ladies could probably have a conversation about the birth of Jesus, but we do not have time for it and I don't want to risk some of the ladies checking out because they cannot relate.
I also realized tonight that I was getting in the way of myself. "Ma Navu" is taken at quarter note equals 50. In certain parts the ladies like to slow it down even more than that. And the past two rehearsals I was trying to figure out why they wouldn't follow me when I was working so hard to pull them back to tempo. However, that was the whole problem. While I thought I was being clear, I wasn't. Tonight I stood up straight, kept my rebound steady and trusted that they would be with me on the ictus. And they were- and on the rare occasion they weren't, it was often fixed on the next beat.
Then I had this beautiful lesson taught to me. At the end of the piece, I was listening and trying to give certain parts cues. But it was too much and the ladies were not clean. Three or four times they sang the end and were not clean. So finally, I decided not to listen and to just be a counting machine. I focused on clarity of tempo without much musical effusiveness in my gesture. Guess what? It was not only cleaner but also more musical. Great lesson. And glad I learned that now.
Tomorrow I have my conducting lesson. And I am going to the band to teach them a French pavane they are singing during a song. Their director asked me to come in for 15/20 minutes. Should be fun... even trying to pronounce the French.
1 comment:
When a piece of music gives a strict tempo indication (quarter = 50 in the case of Ma Navu), how often do you follow that tempo indication? Do you try to follow that marking exactly or do you use that marking as a ballpark estimate?
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