Choir and Commitment

A choir concert is a place where, once you’re on stage, one plus one ends up being three or four instead of two. The fancy word for this is “synergy”. In my experience with Pro Cantu I’ve seen this synergy at work time and again.

What I am realizing more and more, however, is that choir is also the one place where fifty minus one is not forty-nine, but probably closer to forty-four or forty. Every time someone misses a rehearsal, or even worse, a performance, it cuts much deeper than just that one person not being there.

Some choir members feel that they learn faster than others and that they therefore do not need as many rehearsals as the rest. Their attitudes are often “but I know my music”. What everyone needs to understand, however, is that choir rehearsals are not just about learning notes; much more important than that is the fact that choir rehearsals are where you grow your ensemble.

In as sense singing in a choir is like a farmer planting a crop. Getting all the seeds in the ground is learning notes. Waiting for the crop to grow and mature till the point where the crop can be harvested is the “growing the ensemble” bit.

“Ensemble” means “togetherness”. True ensemble on stage comes from spending time together; from learning to trust the person standing next to you and from learning to depend on the one next to you. Like growing a crop, growing your ensemble is a slow process; it takes time and commitment; but ensemble lies at the very heart of creating choral art.

Blessings!

Leon