i've often said if i could put congress in a choir and really give them the
discipline they need to make good communal song they would govern better
because people don't listen to one another and
that's one of the great life lessons that we do teach both in instrumental
and in in in choral music but choral music we have texts so that
we ask it's not just the music but we ask young
people we ask whatever age of singer consider what is
the poet saying and then how does this composer elevate
that text and bring new life to it and part of that listening is allowing
yourself allowing not just feeling like you have
to deliver something to an audience but allowing the music to touch you and
to transform you but it it's first of all asking can you
relate to this text and there are pieces that they don't
relate to instantly or they don't they don't always like
instantaneously what are you just saying words or do you understand
what you're singing about and when they get to that level
and and that's one of the that's one of the benefits of having a
program that's totally memorized and that is the tradition of the St. Olaf choir
because the the first couple of concerts yeah can i just remember the right words
but when they live with them as we do 15 16 17 concerts on a concert tour
seeds are planted in their minds and their hearts
and i've seen that not just with the choir
you know single choir for years i've worked with children when you start to
understand and you see they're getting it they're
not just singing everything correctly but they're seeing it with an
emotion they're singing with a joy or a sense of pathos
and and yes that listening skill that listening skill to match the same vols
to have um to agree on a centered pitch for a chord to tune and that sense of
unanimity that happens it's incredible and if that i learned
that as a boy in the american boy choir and those same traits when you can
transfer those same habits we had in the rehearsal
we transferred out to the field and it was a lesson of
so what do we do to make good music we listen to each other
we respect each other you know um and and and while there may have been stars
singers and star athletes we were better as a team we were better
as a choir when we worked together one of my
seminal influences in my life was a woman by the name of helen kemp
was a long time voice teacher and church musician
and professor at westminster choir college and her mantra was body
mind spirit voice it takes the whole person to sing and rejoice
when i first heard her do that in a workshop in 1978
i thought it was the stupidest cheesiest thing i'd ever heard in my life
and most likely is the most seminal bit of information has stayed in my brain
and has maybe changed the way i i work i'm a very challenge i demand a lot of
the singers that i work with but i don't do it and that's what they
have to start to learn to understand about me it's not because
i'm trying to impress people but if you can eliminate all the
things that the human mind and ear can be distracted by
and something more powerful happens in that music making and it goes beyond
entertainment there's nothing wrong with entertainment
you know but if a piece of music can be sung that will
lift somebody up who's down and and it shouldn't just be left to communities
where they can have wonderful community choirs and i love
i've directed community choirs for many years
but that should be an essential element in every
child's education and that they are exposed to music
they are exposed to for me their god-given instrument their voice
and if they choose then to to take on additional instruments that's great but
you should know how to use your voice that is an instrument that you don't
have to pay for it's part of who you are and your way of
expressing your joys your sorrows you know
when you don't understand that's when you build up defenses
i mean hammerstein had it right you know you have to be taught to hate and fear
and when you you give and this is what i love about working children when you can
give them and you show them the beauty of music of
thoughts and that people who maybe live 10 000 miles away from you share your
same heart share your soul that's where choral
music for me has become that bridge between people
and it unifies people i really believe that
that music education arts education but i'm going to say music education
is essential if we're going to have truly whole human beings who are alive
in body mind spirit and voice
you