Choose your music.

Only you can do that. You must be convinced of its worth and be able to impart your interest to the group.

Prepare your Music.

Never trespass on new musical ground without understanding what is intended.

Look for the Hook.

Find the essential thing, the feature, the one catchy bit that gives life to the piece. Plan to accomplish making it special with your songster brigade.

Introductory Remarks.

Prepare a comment relative to the unique needs of the piece. Also, state a deadline or goal toward which the group will work. Be brief.

Isolate Potential Problems.

If you feel that a good first impression will be hindered by a particular spot of difficulty, then plan to rehearse that first.

Pre-determine how much can be reasonably accomplished at first reading. Be content.

Structure the rehearsal to balance known and unknown music. Never juxtapose more than two newies in a row. And if you bash away at it for more than 20 minutes, one newie in a row is enough. Time for an oldie. Be thrifty.

Utilize your pianist.

The pianist must know well ahead what is to be covered. He/She is your greatest ally. Be kind.

The pianist should be prepared to play it alone. This is helpful when sight reading is not your choir’s strength.

The pianist must play this rendition as beautifully and as perfectly as possible so that the first impression is complete and wholesome. The integrity of the performance is a must, one which will inspire a musical reading from the singers and plant the seeds of correct rhythms and intervals at the outset.

The pianist will play in octaves the individual parts for rehearsal. Isolating each line in this manner allows a clearer perception of the sounds which are sometimes hard to hear when sung simultaneously at pitch with the piano. Play the written pitch and one octave above for the best results. Note this well. It is a good trick.

The pianist should make it a habit to sound out starting chords slowly in broken fashion from the bottom. Hold for three or four seconds. This must always be presented in exactly the same way. You are setting up a signal. A signal must be consistent.

The pianist should regard this moment as part of the music making and should avoid plunking out the sounds in an abrupt manner. This is a time for calm reassurance. It will be the last thing heard before singing begins. Use it to take the guesswork out of finding the starting note. Do it deliberately and without apology, yet musically.

Sounding the chord from the bottom allows the basses to hear first the root of the chord. It reinforces their sense of harmony. Since the highest note is always the easiest to pick out it can be left to the last.

Rehearsing the piece

The melody may be sung by all at first, so that the contours of the piece, the highs and lows of phrase can be experienced by everybody. After this exercise encourage part singing which retains a sense of line. While stress, release and a feel for the overall direction of the phrase are more easily felt in the melody their impact must be transplanted to the inner workings of the music.

Mark your copy and encourage your singers to do likewise. There is nothing shameful about this. Most mortals forget stuff mentioned only once. So unless you want to mention it seven or eight times have your songster brigade use pencils! In my experience the only people willing to do this without coercion are professionals. Strange, is it not?

Avoid a first reading designed to tell you what the piece is like. DO your homework!

If your rehearsal technique is run-through, then your group will forever be content with fixing it the next time but, if your rehearsal technique is exacting, by the time you are finished getting the little things to happen you have taught the piece, and the music is learned. Now, run it through.

Next week be prepared to start the process over again. Never assume that today’s victory will save tomorrow’s battle. A performance is best reserved until all the fighting has stopped.

If sleep, boredom and general unrest is desirable it can be quickly induced by the run- through technique followed by the painfully obvious. On the other hand...Keen-ness, prosperity and pretty good tuning to boot can be achieved by sustaining an energy of your own, willing them to match yours; making more demands than can be met instantly; and by the relentless onslaught of information pouring out of you.

Focus the attention of the group on the musical and textual needs of the piece and not on yourself. Make them want to do what you ask, not because you ask, but because what you ask is most sensible and unavoidable. No tyranny.

La-la; loo-loo; or bum-bum may be used effectively as a tool to introduce new material free from the encumbrance of words. However, don’t do it for half an hour. Loo-loo is especially taxing on the voice, quite boring and basically a waste of time unless used sparingly.

Don’t keep bashing at the hard bits. A first reading must accentuate the positive.

Don’t keep stopping the group after every mistake. A first reading is a first reading.

Don’t keep them standing all night.

Don’t keep them sitting all night.

Don’t yell at the tenors. This thankless job is difficult enough. Love them. Nurture their F’s and G’s. An average tenor has, maybe, three or four good F’s or G’s per practice. Don’t make them sing them all on a first reading.

Don’t yell at the altos. These poor creatures are usually frustrated sopranos and must at the best of times be handled with kid gloves. Encourage them to overcome this most mundane of parts by feeling the melodic rise and fall of their line. If this doesn’t help, find a way to make them feel good about themselves: Perhaps a subtle comment about their constant good looks. Psychology is everything.

Don’t yell at the basses. Basses have inferiority complexes which stem from being underneath the rest of the choir. Encourage them by having everyone sing the bass part. When nobody else can do it any better they will take heart and realize their special calling. Next time through will be almost perfect.

Don’t miss an opportunity to yell at the sopranos because, after all, anyone can sing a melody. It should be almost right, right from the start. These people are generally the most fidgety because they have to listen to everyone else practice harmony parts. Relieve their boredom by getting them to sing along with the others as they rehearse. This will also prove a humbling experience for them which is beneficial for the management of their inflated egos.

If you follow these suggestions your new music will be learned more quickly; your rehearsals will become more interesting; you will become more popular; your male pattern baldness will stop; and in short everything in life will become a thing of beauty and a joy forever, until next week.

(Originally published in the Nov/Dec 1995 issue of THEME)