Over the years ACDA conferences have offered me many profoundly moving musical experiences. My reactions have included tears, smiles, joy, laughter and the occasional moment of heart-stopping awe. Every time I attend one of these events I am deeply impressed by the quality of performances presented.
Although the variety of choirs is considerable and all are admirable, the collegiate ensembles are among the most consistently impressive in terms of technical mastery. This is not surprising when you consider that 1) these are mostly auditioned groups, 2) many of the singers are actively pursuing degrees in music and thus have substantial training and experience, 3) most of these ensembles rehearse multiple times per week. Our collegiate choirs clearly have advantages which most other groups simply do not, and as a result they consistently bring us powerful performances of musically significant and effective repertoire. I am grateful for these precious opportunities to have my heart touched, my mind inspired and my life changed.
While the immediate thanks certainly go to the singers and conductors who prepare these performances with such dedication, the real heroes here seem to me to be the directors of the middle school and high school choirs which provide all the singers for these impressive collegiate choirs. After all, no one gets to college without ever having sung in a choir and suddenly passes an audition for the top singing group at the university—it takes years of training and preparation. All of that hard work happens in high school and frequently begins even earlier in our middle schools.
The directors of choirs at these “feeder schools” (the “farm teams” as I like to call them) do far less glamorous work: the seemingly endless rounds of teaching and coaching that prepare young performers for the challenges of advanced repertoire. The skills needed to thoroughly polish and refine a piece that we appreciate so much at an ACDA conference performance weren’t all acquired in the current semester at Esteemed State University or Legendary Choir College.
The collegiate superstar conductors that we admire and applaud deserve much credit. However, the middle school and high school directors who make it possible for that collegiate superstar to shine deserve some applause too. Why not thank one this week or take one to lunch? They will appreciate being noticed and valued and you will feel good about expressing your gratitude to a superhero. Don’t forget to post a selfie with one of them wearing a cape!
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I’m a *long* way away from middle and high school, but the musician I’ve been for 50-plus years owes so much to the teacher I had in elementary school! I was lucky enough to attend a school where everyone was expected to sing, whether you thought you could or not, and we had class twice a week (plus choral speaking once a week). We didn’t sing the pieces tailored to kids – we sang (and enjoyed) Schubert, folk songs, Gilbert & Sullivan as well as things like chorale melodies. Two concerts a year (all school levels participating) and since there was no instrumental program, even the Lower School joined in providing music for special events like graduation. Ted Hollenbach taught me (and others) to sing well and take joy in it, providing the groundwork for me to once again sing under his direction in Rochester Oratorio Society beginning in my freshman year of high school. Since then, I’ve sung in ensembles large and small in Rochester, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and the Washington DC area (including VOCE with Carol Hunter) – early music, major works with orchestra, and chamber works. Ted is long gone, but he shaped my life, and I am grateful.