Isn’t this an interesting and somewhat disconcerting sight? It reminds me of the children’s chorus from Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera Hansel & Gretel, right after the evil witch is thrown into her own oven, which then explodes – which in turn brings into view all of the children she has captured- who are in a strange state of quasi-sleep, with their eyes closed, until Hansel and Gretel are able to break the witch’s spell and fully awaken them. The sight you see had nothing to do with a witch’s curse… but rather was a neat moment from this morning’s Large Group Choral Contest in Kenosha. These young ladies are in one of Tremper High School’s treble choir (directed by my sister-in-law Polly Amborn), whom I accompanied at the piano. In this particular contest, one of the three judges hearing the performance goes up onstage afterwards and gives a verbal critique and conducts what amounts to a miniature master class of sorts. In this case, the judge working with this particular group thought it would be interesting to see how the ladies would do if they sang one of their pieces (which happened to be unaccompanied) with their eyes closed – – – which meant, of course, that they would not be watching a conductor or each other in order to stay together; they would have to rely on listening closely to each other – both to their actual singing and even to their breaths – to have any hope of staying together. And in fact, they did! It was quite remarkable to see and hear this. And although the judge didn’t come out and say it in so many words, what this exercise demonstrated more than anything was that there is absolutely no substitute for thorough preparation. It was only because these ladies knew this piece SO profoundly well that they were in a position to sing it “blind” as effectively as they did. It was an electrifying moment- one I hope these ladies will remember for a long long time. (I know that I will.)
I played for a total of five choirs at Large Group this morning- three of Polly’s groups at Tremper and 2 groups from Lakeshore Academy, directed by John Nepper- and almost as interesting as the wide variety of choirs was the wide variety of the three judges who listened to them and critiqued them. And as I watched those judges do their thing, I was reminded of the handful of times that I have been in a similar hot seat- listening to a choir and then needing to get up and say something that will make sense to them and (one hopes) help them sing even better. I found it very difficult and am very appreciative of anyone who is able to do that well. The three judges today were all up to the challenge, but each did it their own way. One woman was enthusiastic but fairly businesslike in her approach, yet coming up with some very creative tools to get the results she was looking for. (She was the judge who had one of Polly’s groups sing with their eyes closed.) Another woman was downright giddy – actually saying “yay! yay! yay!” as she darted from her seat at the back of the auditorium up to the stage, and working with the groups in ways that elicited lots of laughs- but also exciting improvement, especially as she encouraged them to feel the music more freely in their bodies.
Finally, there was the one judge that I already knew – a gentleman from Milwaukee named Lee Jacobi, who is the minister of music at First Congregational Church in Wauwatosa. I was thinking that my upcoming 25th anniversary at Holy Communion was a big deal until I read that Lee Jacobi has already celebrated his 30th anniversary and is going strong. But beyond that, he has a very fine reputation in Milwaukee as a force in choral and church music beyond his own church- and he is one of the best judges I’ve ever seen at Solo & Ensemble. I really enjoyed watching him work today and especially marveled at how beautifully he balanced talking the students’ language (joking with them and establishing a very comfortable rapport) versus speaking in his own mature and fairly intellectual language, with which he really challenged them to think afresh about the songs they had just sung. And with one of John Nepper’s groups, in which the gals outnumber the guys 4:1, I loved how Lee didn’t dodge the issue but confronted it squarely- lauding the guys for singing as strongly as they did and reminding the gals to think about balance. . . something that’s so easy to do when you’re excited. (I must confess that it was also kind of fun when Lee told the two Harborside choirs how lucky they were that “the famous Greg Berg” was playing piano for them. I must confess that most of the students didn’t seem all that convinced or impressed – this is the first time I’ve ever played for them, and I’m sure that most of these students don’t know me from Adam – but it was still fun to hear it said.)
There’s a lot more I could say about this morning, but I’ll limit it to one other matter. I think most people know how much I admire Polly and the great work she has done at Tremper. One thing I noticed for the first time today (or maybe it’s more accurate to say that today is the first time I fully appreciated this) is that when her groups are receiving their oral critique, Polly is standing right there- listening carefully- and when the judge in question asks the choir to try something, she tries it right along with the choir…. be it some physical gesture or whatever. It never dawned on me until today that what Polly is doing is demonstrating for her choir kids what it means to be completely open and receptive to the suggestions of a relative stranger. And when it comes to a competition like this one, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about being heard by someone who’s listening to your singing with fresh ears, watching with fresh eyes – and offering their own fresh perspective on what you’re doing, and their own ideas… some of which might seem rather strange! One of the judges, as she cajoled a choir to try something a little bit out of the ordinary, said something to the effect that “if you feel a little stupid, that’s good!” I think the point she was making is that a singer who can’t stand the thought of stepping out on a limb, beyond their own tight box of comfortable familiarity, is not likely to achieve much in the way of exciting breakthroughs. So let’s hear it for Feeling Stupid!
One more Eye Opening Experience at Large Group Contest.