We don’t need no stinkin’ director!
Posted by editor on Mar 12 2007 | Category: Motivation, Performance, Rehearsal
That statement is a crazy thing for me as a director to hear. But as our annual show approaches, I am reminded of some advice that I received from Dr. Paul Drummond, one of the faculty at Harmony University last year. [Harmony University is an annual music school presented by the Barbershop Harmony Society.] Dr. Drummond told the directors to get out of the way.
Huh? I couldn’t believe my ears. So I perked up and listened more intently.
He explained that during rehearsals, it is the job of the director and music team to teach the members each song, such as the dynamics, interpretive plan, and mood. It is in the learning stage that the singers must depend on the director.
However, as we approach performance time – and here’s the part that hit me right between the eyes – the job of a music director is to get out of the way and let the singers sing.
Wow! Could that be why I sensed that the guys are not singing with confidence? I’m good at the teaching part, but haven’t been so good at the letting go part. So I took his advice back to my chorus, and decided to make a change.
I am my own road block
Some members of my chorus had confided in me that they were not confident in the songs in last year’s show. My first reaction was to somehow blame them. After all, I was confident. I was prepared. It must be their fault. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Once I explained that I was going to gradually step back as the learning phase moved into the performance phase, the guys began to realize that it was up to them to carry the song. There were some nerves and uncertainty, sure. But after a while, they knew that I meant it. I could hear them slowly take command of each song. I could hear them start to rely on each other more. In short, they started to “own” the songs. Is this what confidence sounds like?
Wean Thee of Me
It makes sense. The more that I empower the members to take control of the music, the more each song becomes theirs. After all, the director makes no sound! In rehearsal, I am the director. On stage, I am the facilitator – helping to start and stop the sound, and to assist in the interpretive plan of the music. The rest is all theirs.
Thank you, Dr. Drummond, for waking me up. What I learned is this: When singers take hold of a song and I get out of the way, beautiful things happen. My chorus is proof, and I couldn’t be more proud.
2 Responses to “We don’t need no stinkin’ director!”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
on 19 Mar 2007 at 8:39 pm 1 twhitfield said …
If I understand him correctly, I guess I would have to disagree with Dr. Drummond. While I have experienced some times when my Director did get in the way, so to speak, it was usually getting to the coffee and doughnuts, or out of the parking lot. I never felt that I could not “own” the song just because he was up there waving his hands and grinning at me. I have always felt that he and I were a team, and needed to be connected visually, even though I may only be watching him out of the corner of my visual field, in order for his interpretation of the song to flow through me to the audience. While consistency of interpretation is appreciated, I would never want to merely memorize it, or take away the Director’s right to change it sutily, and spontaneously, from time to time. For me, beautiful things have happened most often when I and all other singers are “tuned” in and responsive to the Director’s every move and expression.
on 29 Mar 2007 at 9:17 am 2 editor said …
twhifield makes a good point, and I happen to agree with him. As a singer, I remember being in sync with my chorus director, and able to respond to his subtle changes while on stage. There is a lot to be said about that kind of connection.
What Dr. Drummond was saying, however, was that all too often the performance is about the director and not about the chorus. When the director doesn’t prepare the singers to be the star performers, then he or she does the group an injustice.
I am learning that a properly trained group of singers can understand and own the song, while still communicating through the director to the audience. The director needs to let that happen.