I am impressed with Dr. Eduardo Garcia-Novelli and the array of strategies he employs in bringing out the very best from every member of the Carthage Choir – everyone from the gung-ho-teacher’s-pet-music-major-with-an-emphasis-in-choral-conducting to the physics members whose also on the tennis team who just likes to sing for fun and has never worked this hard on singing in his life.  The Carthage Choir is comprised of students from both of those ends of the spectrum and everything in between, and to get everyone within such a diverse group rowing in the same direction and with equal energy and enthusiasm is no small feat.   But it seems to be happening, at least to a large extent,  and I am profoundly impressed by what I hear in that choir room every weekday at 3:45.  They are singing well and managing to master some very difficult music.  I just hope that they’re enjoying being on the delivering end of things as much as I enjoy being on the receiving end of the equation.

Anyway,  as I walked into the choir room with rehearsal already in progress,  four people were standing up amidst the choir,  singing a lovely but tricky modern arrangement of “Love came down at Christmas.”  They sang basically two phrases,  after which the maestro complimented them on what they had done well and also made a couple of suggestions.  Then he waved for them to sit down and asked for four more volunteers. . . one from each section. . . to sing the next couple of phrases.   And I was impressed at how quickly and (almost) eagerly students leapt to their feet to volunteer each subsequent solo quartet.    And this was not like singing some Bach chorale or some hymn out of the hymnal-  this is singing uncommon chords with some awkward intervals and surprising dissonance – and doing so without the company of any of your fellow tenors or basses or whatever part you happen to be singing.   This is a case of losing the sense of blending into the group and losing the comfort of leaning on your neighbors and, instead, being completely naked, musically.   It’s truly terrifying if you don’t know what you’re doing – and actually quite exciting and gratifying if you do.   And the point of it, of course,  is to impress on every single member of the choir that they matter and that every single one of them needs to know their music well enough to sing it on their own.  And in many cases,  you don’t really know for certain if you know it well or not until you run this sort of a gauntlet.

I have to say that I was pleased that so many of the singers did as well as they did.  .  . and I was especially proud of the guys – and most proud of several freshmen who seemed to be not-the-least-bit intimidated by it all and sang very confidently and correctly.

I also have to say that Maestro Garcia-Novelli impressed me for his ability to find something positive to say in each and every case,  even when the quartet in question fumbled the snap rather than scored a touchdown.   He would find something nice to say about their diction or style and then of course find some way to also say that they need to know their notes.   The easy way to do this is to just lower the boom indiscriminately on every single person whenever they do anything wrong or screw up in any way. . . and there have been some famous choir directors around these parts who have operated that way, to the point of seeming to take delight in making their choir members cry because of the blistering criticism they would be forced to endure in front of their peers.   (I don’t mean at Carthage, by the way.)   But it’s the true master conductor who really knows their singers and knows how to get their best out of them.    For some it means some stern words or a glare – for others it better to use a lighter tough – for some you have to settle for what you get because their ability level might not allow them to do what you want them to do – and for some you just hand them the baton and watch them run with it.  It’s one of the most exciting yet unsettling things about directing a big choir –  that it’s a room full of unique individuals,  who nonetheless comprise one choir . . .  and it is the rare director who can make sense of all that.   Maestro Garcia-Novelli is such a director and I am continually amazed and impressed at the glorious singing he is drawing from the Carthage Choir.

pictured:   Rob West and Michael Chase under the spotlight in today’s rehearsal.  They both did well –  and Polly (their high school choir director)  would have been proud.