“Inter-School Young Choral Conductors’ Competition’
Just had a fascinating experience participating in a choral competition for high school –aged conductors. Boy, did I ever participate! When I arrived, my colleague and friend, Ingrid Kõrvits informed me that the choir was dreadfully short on tenors. I was drafted to sing (a baritone that can fake a young tenor sound using light head voice and falsetto on the higher notes). I am so glad I sang! I had a blast sitting with the tenors and just behind the altos. My Estonian is good enough now that I can catch page and rehearsal numbers and basic musical instructions. My section mates would quietly translate when the need arose. I could tell that they enjoyed speaking English. They appreciated that I was making an effort to use Estonian as well. Three hours passed quickly.
The concept of the Muusikakeskkool (music high school) is
perhaps unfamiliar to many stateside. These schools include grades 1 through
12. In addition to a core curriculum (Math, Science, Estonian, English, etc.),
every student is required to study an instrument and play or sing in an
ensemble. Solfeggio classes and Kodaly based instruction are required in the
primary grades. ‘Majors’ include instrumental and choral conducting, applied performance,
and music science (music theory). Muusikakeskkool, where I have been
observing and teaching, has dormitories that house students that come from
other parts of the country.
Today’s competition included a total of nine contestants
from three different schools. Each contestant chose from a selected list of
choral repertoire for their twenty- minute rehearsal segment. A volunteer choir
numbering about 50 (grades 9 through 12) sight-read the music, some of which
was standard Estonian choral repertoire. Their sight singing was very good.
They learned quickly, sang in tune and responded well to the prompts and cues
of the conductors. Conducting lessons start (as I understand it) in the 9th
grade. Skill levels and rehearsal
strategies varied widely, but overall, these young conductors performed at a
level that would give our collegiate aged students a run from their money! Many
used only a tuning fork for pitch reference. SATB pitch cues were routinely
given by the conductors for different starting places in the score--evidence of
good preparation and sophisticated ears. Gestures were polished and musical. It was clear that conductors had thoroughly
studied their scores; they often demonstrated concepts by singing various parts
for the choir. Female conductors were as ease when they sang a tenor or bass
part to demonstrate concepts to those sections. All pieces were a cappella; the piano was used
infrequently.
From my vantage point inside
the choir, I imagined how I would rate these contestants and what sort of
comments I might make to encourage them. I saw habits that I recognized from my
own rehearsal experience, particularly when I was starting out:
- Delivering verbal feedback and feeling out-of-breath
- Delivering a cue and not ‘breathing with the choir’
- Providing too much verbal instruction and too little opportunity to sing
- Asking the choir to focus on too many things at once
- Giving a forte cue for a pianissimo passage, then chiding the choir for singing too loudly
- Following a lesson plan at the expense of being aware of what’s happening at present
- Focusing on one section choir while the other three sit idly (for too long)
- Not knowing what to say or do when the choir stops singing, especially when they sang well
- Unintentionally
disengaging choir from making music
by omitting the student voice: “how does
that feel…?” “What do you notice when
…?”
