Stop Playing It So Safe!

The other schools look at your school as the model. Other schools confess their admiration by saying things like, "I hate them." "They are stuck up." "I think we're better." You have a rotation of music that you cycle through every two, three, or maybe four years. When you teach these pieces, you go from Keanu Reevs to Morgan Freeman. (Turn into someone with talent.) All can be perfect and you can still be failing.

How many times do you perform new music? Too many music teachers pick music that they know their students can perform. I have heard of a 90-10 rule where the director picks music that their groups can do 90% of it right away and they will have to work on the 10%. It is somewhat genius. You are bound to be successful, all the kids feel really good while singing it, and you can work on "polishing".

I think too many directors have wandered down the rabbit trail of theories and forgotten what it was like to sing. When I was in college, my conductor, Rene Clausen, decided to pick the Russian "Schnittke Choral Concerto" for the Concordia Choir to sing on tour. When we first started, we absolutely sucked. It was one of the hardest pieces the Concordia Choir has ever done. It took a lot of extra sectionals and a lot of extra time. For four years, Clausen would pick a movement of the Concerto to perform on tour. It stretched us and yet it was something we took tremendous pride in. He was, and is, a master leader. Bill Hybels says that, "A leader is someone that takes people from here......to there." We were different people after we absorbed that piece. You need to stretch your ensemble and you need to stretch yourself. Not for every piece you do, but you should have something in your program that makes your audience say, "Wow. I can't believe you did that." "I'm speechless." (Note: If you were speechless, how did you say that?) Kids should be giving high fives and shouting, "We did it!" after they get out of earshot of the audience. They should be telling stories about how in different moments throughout the piece they were thinking this and then they felt that and on and on. Ever go hunting? After it's done, the way someone describes "The Hunt", there's this adrenaline and reflection on the many details. Take your ensembles on "A Hunt" and challenge them. Then after they have killed the piece, they will not talk just about the music, but from a perspective within the music.

I really love to play examples of pieces we are going to be doing. When a student says, "You really think we can do that?" there is tremendous joy in saying, "Sure you can." Some pieces you love, but will scare you! Be daring! Do your want to do a daring performance somewhere unusual or somewhat unconventional? Do it! Go for it! Dream big! It will test your leadership! Don't get me wrong. There are pieces that are years away for my groups, but when we do get there, they will have been prepared to make war.

Accept hard obstacles. Thrive on them. "But we don't have enough students to do four-part music!" How many do you have? "We have twelve people." Well you only need four to sing four-part music. Stop choosing music for the teacher you are now, and start choosing music as the teacher who you strive to be. Afraid of doing a piece because it's too secular or too sacred? Do it. Make some waves or ruffle some feathers - at least you are being relevant. Someone once said that "A Ship in Harbor Is Safe, But that Is Not What Ships Are Built For." You are the captain. Your ensemble is the ship. Take them out to the deepest part of the sea.

But what if we fail? “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” - Denis Waitley