Choir Diary-Note Bashing

Two things happened at the start of the rehearsal this week that set the tone. The first was the discovery that the heating wasn’t working in the church. Cue singers sitting in layers of coats, blankets, hats, scarfs, gloves, burrowing into their chairs and trying to conserve as much energy as possible. The second was a throw-away comment from a soprano on the way in - “I’m exhausted, can’t face a night of note bashing tonight.” 

This term's program is a mixture of nonsense songs, comedy trifles and some contemporary choral classics. It’s an attempt by me to do a couple of things, primarily get away from the sacred music that is Very Much My Comfort Zone and also to experiment with the sorts of contemporary music this choir loves to play with. It’s early days in our rehearsal schedule - I’ve nine weeks to put this together, and we’re a third of the way through - so while some music is there, some of it is very much not.

Does anyone like note learning? I occasionally dep for choirs where some singers can’t read music and I actively enjoy those sessions. That sort of teaching - call and response and patterning - can actually be fun, and there’s a bunch of ways to keep people engaged with that sort of thing. Sing for Pleasure has a whole course on it. But this isn’t that, and maybe that’s the problem.

I’m not a ‘sit behind the piano’ choral leader. Mainly because my piano playing could charitably be described as ‘woeful.’ I struggle to play one hand, never mind reductions and things. Accompanists are a treasure and should be paid in gold - occasions where I get to work with one are always a delight. But that means I know my limits, and keep away from the piano unless I have to. It means I get to hear the choir more, I get to actively listen, and I can do note learning and performance notes at the same time. I try to turn that weakness into a positive.

Except, not tonight Josephine. Thea Musgrave’s On The Underground is tricky to learn, and so I spend a lot of time hammering out accidentals and taking it 4 bars at a time. It’s tiring, painstaking and no fun for anyone. Especially if you’re cold, wearing a sleeping bag and tired after a day of work.

Thank goodness for Jaako Mäntyjärvi’s El Hambo, which is also new to the choir, features a lot of nonsense words, but, crucially, I teach with call and response. It goes quicker, people are having fun - partly because of the Swedish-Chef-inspired words, partly because they get to sing more than 2 bars at a time - and we get up on our feet and start to perform. The quality changes immediately, they’re engaged. It’s fun. Two completely different ways of learning.

This is on me, really. This is how I should have taught Musgrave. I know the lines: I should teach by singing. Get away from the piano, and trust the choir more. A lesson learnt. Anyway, we got through it, there’s a sense of notes falling into place and we can start working on it for real next time. We just could have got there faster, and warmer.