"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."
-Rosalynn Carter
One of the most difficult skills for a leader to perfect is the ability to keep pushing people forward when they want to quit. It takes tremendous discipline and strength of character for a leader to insist on moving forward when the going gets tough- especially when people start complaining vocally. As choral directors, we love our ensembles and want what's best for them; we want them to be happy. When they're complaining about having to stand for so long, or having to push through another 30 minutes of rehearsal, our instinct is often to let them off the hook. They're volunteers, after all, and we can't force them to do anything. Wouldn't your choristers like choir more if the conductor just let them do what they feel like doing?
The answer is usually no. No matter what you do, choristers will complain- it's one of the ways that they bond as a group. Usually, those complaints are just people blowing off steam, so it's important not to attribute too much meaning to them. (Occasionally, your choristers will have legitimate, overarching complaints that need to be sincerely addressed- but that's not what we're talking about today.) Gently bitching about our superiors is a time-honored pastime, and one that virtually all humans in groups occasionally indulge in. So let your choristers complain when they need to, but don't cave to those complaints.
A leader needs to be able to see and work toward the big picture; this sometimes means being unpopular in the moment. Of course, there are times when driving a group forward mercilessly does more harm than good, and we need to have enough empathy and social awareness to identify those times. But if the choir is making progress, it's often best to slog ahead, even if the rehearsal process is occasionally grueling.
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KRISHAN: During my first semester of doctoral study at Boston University, I was asked to lead several rehearsals of Stravinsky's Perséphone with the B.U. Symphonic Chorus, in the absence of the ensemble's director, Dr. Scott Jarrett. I had the unenviable task of teaching this difficult piece (with its extremely unidiomatic application of sung French) to a large chorus made up of students, faculty, staff and B.U. alums. No one in the group had sung Perséphone before, and I had been given carte blance as to how I wanted to teach it. Since Dr. Jarrett had tasked me with covering large swaths of the piece in a relatively short time, I did what I do best: simply plowed through the choral sections, count-singing and drilling and slowing things down to a glacial pace when necessary. Toward the end of my first rehearsal with the chorus, I could tell that people were exhausted- they'd been singing almost non-stop, I was using every last minute of rehearsal time (which they weren't used to), and it had been a slog. But I could also tell that the choristers weren't giving up- many of them were on the edge of their chairs, tapping pencils and giving other visual cues that their brains were still engaged. So I elected to push forward. At the end of the rehearsal, there was an almost audible sigh of relief. But later that night, and during the next week, several choristers approached me and thanked me for pushing them through this difficult piece. After that night, the piece no longer seemed so daunting.
KIRSTEN: One can internalize this lesson best when working with middle or high school students. With these students, there is almost always too much homework for them to be focused on singing. They want to sit down and do nothing because they are too tired or too stressed. They are notoriously bad at "checking it at the door" and bring last period's failed science test with them to chorus. If every middle or high school chorus teacher gave their choristers the option to do what they felt like doing in the moment, rarely would these choruses ever sing!
Often, I have had students come up to me at the end of class, and explain that they were having a bad day, but they feel better after singing in chorus. Singing releases endorphins and helps to relieve stress and release emotions through a specific channel. For many students, even if they don't feel like singing in the moment, they feel better once they are "forced" to sing. As their teacher and conductor, I have to see the future and encourage them through their complacency. They may not even feel better that day, but could look back a week later and realize that they are glad that they decided to sing that day.
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A conductor's character is revealed over time; it's not something that can be gauged in one rehearsal. Not every rehearsal will be spectacular, and your choristers won't always leave the rehearsal walking on air. But our goal should always be to give our choristers a sense of satisfaction at the end of rehearsal, and a feeling that they've accomplished something worthwhile. There will be times when the mood needs to be light, when you need to be self-deprecating and when you absolutely should let your singers leave early. But there will also be rehearsals when you simply have to buckle down and work hard, if you want to impart the kind of success that really changes lives.
We were coming to the end of rehearsals and performances for an added 3rd concert. The volunteer, adult community choir had achieved a new standard of emotional and musical cohesiveness in preparing and performing Faure's Requiem for the 15th Anniversary of 9/11 and in honor of victims and recovery workers of recent, devastating floods in our area. As we reached our last week of rehearsals, the board of directors started voicing concerns that the chorus had become weary and might need a break from preparing and singing our annual Winter Concert. After calming my defenses and trying to gather my own evidence of said weariness, I realized that it was the BOARD that was weary. They had spent a year planning, writing grants, designing, promoting, dealing with logistics and contracts AND rehearsing.
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Singers want to sing. If they take a collective, long-term break, they may forget how much gratification, energy and joy they receive from the hard work and performances.