[this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]
Your church or community centre sets up the concerts. Your committee deals with the finances and the social events. Your musical director teaches and conducts the songs. Your singers turn up every week to create the music.
But who does your choir actually ‘belong’ to?
The different roles involved in running a choir are often divided amongst a number of groups or individuals.
At the very least, most choirs have a musical director, a committee and an organisation which hosts them (e.g. a church or arts/ community centre).
However, some choirs — especially large, mature choirs — have many more roles: section leader, repertoire group, accompanist, assistant musical director, librarian, publicist, and so on. Each of these roles helps to define the flavour and public image of the choir as a whole.
Usually these roles can co-exist happily with everyone pulling together in the same direction. However, sometimes one or more factions within a choir begin to believe that they alone are responsible for the choir’s very existence. Without them, everything would fall apart. It is only because of their super-human efforts that the choir has achieved anything at all so far!
This is human nature and people are usually content with just ‘knowing’ the fact without it causing any friction. For example, all sopranos know that without them, any song will simply fall apart. But everyone also knows that the bass section is the vital element that holds every song together.
There is no harm in this, and in fact, it may help people feel proud about their role in the choir and make more of an effort.
The problem arises when these views become outspoken which can result in conflict.
The secret to avoiding such conflict is to always have the bigger picture in view.
If you’re given a responsible role to play in the choir, it’s obvious that your focus will be mainly on that aspect of the choir’s existence.
If you’re the treasurer, you will look at the choir’s activities in terms of money: how much will it cost? how much will we raise?
If you’re in the repertoire group, you will be concerned with balancing the types of songs that the choir sings: how many sacred songs did we do in the last concert? how long is it since we sang a Russian song?
Although it’s necessary to have this focus, sometimes people lose sight of the bigger picture.
Don’t get me wrong: some kind of administration and organisation is necessary for every choir. You will find the type that suits you. But you need to be aware of the balance between the nuts and bolts and daily administration of any group, and the need to create beautiful music.
In any artistic organisation there needs to be a balance between:
The first of these is about having a good time, and the second is about making sure that things work.
We need both. If things don’t function properly there won’t be any good times!
Without creativity and music-making, there would be no concerts. Without a rehearsal space, there could be no singing at all. Without free-ranging, fun weekly sessions, people wouldn’t want to join the choir. Without someone to collect the money each week, the choir wouldn’t be able to cover its costs.
There are several different ways in which this balance can be struck, and I’ll be outlining the two most common models next week.
Chris Rowbury: chrisrowbury.com
