Competition is Real

"A good athlete wants his opponent at his best."
                                                              - Lao Tzu


Many artists have a natural aversion to competition. For some of us, formal contests like sing-offs and choir competitions diminish the joy, creativity and artistry that should be at the core of music-making. The idea of "scoring" a choir is anathema to the sophisticated conductor; surely we can find more nuanced ways to gauge the value of an ensemble, right?

And yet, competition exists in all areas of life- even in the arts. Although we may avoid engaging in artificial, contrived contests with other ensembles, we must nevertheless acknowledge that our ensembles and organizations function in a competitive arena that is subject to many of the same principals that govern other marketplaces.

In any choral community, a conductor finds that good choral singers are a limited commodity. While we can (and certainly should) strive to nurture nascent talent in order to constantly expand the pool of available singers, today's reality reflects the need to immediately engage and hold onto the best choral singers we can find. We've all had the experience of losing a singer from a performance due to some other commitment, whether it be sports (in an academic setting), or, God forbid, a performance with another chorus. To work around this type of situation, we may decide to build a roster of singers who can commit to an entire season, putting availability above technical training in order to achieve consistency (which in itself is a kind of excellence). Nevertheless, the fact remains that we must remain competitive in order to hang onto our singers; other pursuits and other ensembles can, and often will, come between us and our singers.

The responsibility, then, is on us as the leadership to provide an experience so fulfilling to our singers, audience, board members and donors that they aren't interested in going elsewhere. It's important to point out here that we aren't bemoaning the existence of competition; we aren't hoping that other organizations or competing activities will simply disappear. On the contrary, a community with multiple high-level, competing choruses indicates a healthy environment for choral culture. We do, however, want to state that competition does exist- a fact that many in the choral community simply refuse to acknowledge. Hopefully, a friendly and spirited competition can develop between rival organizations, resulting in higher standards across the board. But unless these organizations are literally sharing a bank account, they are in competition with one another.

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KRISHAN: About three years after SACRA/PROFANA's first concert, we were contracted by the San Diego Symphony to provide the chorus for two of their high-profile Summer Pops concerts. This was a thrilling time for us; we hardly even had a board at the time (it was me and two friends,) and we were still very much a rag-tag band. One of the Summer Pops performances was a video-game tie-in, scheduled during Comic Con International 2012. Given the concert's proximity to Comic Con (basically next door) and the pop culture connection, the performance was almost guaranteed to sell out. Certainly there were other, more established choruses in San Diego that the Symphony could have hired for the gig. But SACRA/PROFANA had begun to build a reputation, and we had made ourselves competitive enough to be a viable choice for this opportunity.

From very early on, SACRA/PROFANA has actively sought these kinds of opportunities. We haven't been shy about wanting to remain "San Diego's go-to choral ensemble", as the San Diego Union-Tribune has described us. This doesn't mean that we want other choruses to simply disappear, or that we want to steamroll them into oblivion. But at the end of the day, we want to be recognized as the best choral group around. Certainly, we have stiff competition for this title- and that's as it should be. That's why SACRA/PROFANA is constantly seeking ways to reinvent itself and to expand its reach. In an increasingly crowded choral scene, we want to make sure that we remain competitive.


KIRSTEN:  As is often the case with musicians and artists, my annual income is made up of several part-time gigs that add up to more hours and less money than most full-time jobs. For the past three years, I have built a career out of a variety of strange yet wonderful musical activities, and have worked with over 20 different arts organizations. I've been involved with several different types of administrations, and each comes with a mental pro/con list.

This January I accepted a new part-time, one-class-a-day job at Boston College High School in the 7th & 8th Grade division, teaching a general music class.  After only a short time at BC High, I can already say that it is one of the best jobs that I've held. Most of the positive energy comes from the fact that the entire situation sets me up to want to be there.

The administrators at my school spend time making sure I have all of the materials I need to run my class successfully. They stand behind me if I have trouble with a student, and consider my music class as a high priority - right beside math, english, and science. The other teachers, faculty and staff are supportive - consistently asking me what I need or offering to help me if they can. They provide coffee and lunch as a perk for teachers, and the teachers spend their lunches together discussing how to make specific students more successful in all of their classes. I find myself often wanting to stick around after my classes in the school, just because of the positive environment that they have set as a standard.

From a financial standpoint, the position at BC High is not ideal.  I've been keeping my eye on local, full-time music teaching positions, because, like everyone else,  I do have a financial need to fill. However, I find myself avoiding job applications just because I appreciate the environment at BC High so much. I desperately hope that they can find more for me to do next fall, because I so enjoy teaching there that I would forfeit the comfort of a full-time position for the climate at my current school.

As arts leaders and conductors, we need to create similar environments for our singers. We should strive to set up our rehearsal dynamic in a way that encourages singers to commit wholeheartedly to our mission - even if that means that they willingly sacrifice other interests or perks that they might find elsewhere.

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A lack of competition can easily lead to stagnation, or even negligence (think about the church choir director whose singers are so locked into the parish community that they'd never dream of going elsewhere, regardless of how incompetent or disorganized he is). The good thing about competition is that it often forces us to "up our game"; we find new, creative ways to engage our singers, our audiences, our donors. We challenge you in the coming months to re-think your role as the head of your ensemble or organization. Imagine that every rehearsal has a score-card, or that you're going to be competing for your next (higher-paying) job based on your current performance. What initiatives can you take that you wouldn't otherwise have thought of? Perhaps there's an opportunity to develop a higher level of professionalism in areas where you're coasting (this has often been the case in both of our professional lives, once we're a few years into a secure position). See yourself as competing at the world-class level, and we can guarantee you'll see positive results.