Around the time y'all were having these discussions, what did the "shape" of the Quire look like?
Weeeell, it was a long time ago, so to the best of my recollection:
Approximately how often did you do gigs (and were they evenly distributed or lumpy)?
Four to six times a year I think?
How many singers were there, and what proportion tended to be available for any given gig on average?
We tended to field about 12 singers. I think the biggest was 16. But the guild email list – which shared with the instrumentalists – had a total of about 45 people at this point.
Did you maintain standing repertoire, or was music prepared for one gig and then set aside?
Mostly the latter – but we also reused reportoires. So, for instance, once you learned the May Day songs, you knew them, and they didn't change much.
Were you dealing with a wide range of skills and/or interest levels, or was there a common understanding of baseline expectations (have these skills, make this proportion of rehearsals, do this homework, etc)?
This is where things get really interesting.
At about the point this was happening, we were at a very interesting point in the group's development.
As far as skills, nominally, there was no official bottom edge to the skill set. However, pragmatically, in such a small group, every singer is very exposed, so you needed to have some combination of chutzpah, ganas, or skill, or it was a very aversive experience.
So while we didn't audition – all gigs were open to all – we wound up with a de facto skill floor. It wasn't very high, but it wasn't the complete bottom either.
As far as interest, and more pertinently expectations – the culture of the group.
Well.
When Master Henry came down from Ruantallan to visit us (this was prior the re-org), after singing in with us at a rehearsal, he told me, "I've sung with much better choruses. But I don't think I've ever sung with a group that was as professional."
We might not be very good, but: there, on time, with blue folder in hand, maybe water bottle, pencil, there to sing early music, no resistance to getting right down to it. Members did zany things like actually practice. Or prepare special personalized editions of the score to make it easier/better for them to learn/perform. Basically never had the slightest trouble with people showing up for the gigs they agreed to do. We're memorizing fifty lines of sung Latin for a fully staged play? Sure. Learning five minutes of three-part Russian with no discernable bars? Sure. Road-tripping where? Okay! Had people show up at rehearsals with 103F fevers rather than relinquish solos.
In the Quire, members took (and I hope still take) a much, much bigger share of responsibility for their own personal performance – and for the collective outcome – than in most amateur singing groups. Our rehearsals also worked very differently than any other small amateur vocal ensemble I've ever seen, which I think is primarily what blew Henry's mind.
There's a whole story there of how we got to this culture. I think swapping to this organization helped bolster it, because it reinforced that individual responsibility taking for the collective.
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Date: 2018-05-07 12:23 am (UTC)Around the time y'all were having these discussions, what did the "shape" of the Quire look like?
Weeeell, it was a long time ago, so to the best of my recollection:
Approximately how often did you do gigs (and were they evenly distributed or lumpy)?
Four to six times a year I think?
How many singers were there, and what proportion tended to be available for any given gig on average?
We tended to field about 12 singers. I think the biggest was 16. But the guild email list – which shared with the instrumentalists – had a total of about 45 people at this point.
Did you maintain standing repertoire, or was music prepared for one gig and then set aside?
Mostly the latter – but we also reused reportoires. So, for instance, once you learned the May Day songs, you knew them, and they didn't change much.
Were you dealing with a wide range of skills and/or interest levels, or was there a common understanding of baseline expectations (have these skills, make this proportion of rehearsals, do this homework, etc)?
This is where things get really interesting.
At about the point this was happening, we were at a very interesting point in the group's development.
As far as skills, nominally, there was no official bottom edge to the skill set. However, pragmatically, in such a small group, every singer is very exposed, so you needed to have some combination of chutzpah, ganas, or skill, or it was a very aversive experience.
So while we didn't audition – all gigs were open to all – we wound up with a de facto skill floor. It wasn't very high, but it wasn't the complete bottom either.
As far as interest, and more pertinently expectations – the culture of the group.
Well.
When Master Henry came down from Ruantallan to visit us (this was prior the re-org), after singing in with us at a rehearsal, he told me, "I've sung with much better choruses. But I don't think I've ever sung with a group that was as professional."
We might not be very good, but: there, on time, with blue folder in hand, maybe water bottle, pencil, there to sing early music, no resistance to getting right down to it. Members did zany things like actually practice. Or prepare special personalized editions of the score to make it easier/better for them to learn/perform. Basically never had the slightest trouble with people showing up for the gigs they agreed to do. We're memorizing fifty lines of sung Latin for a fully staged play? Sure. Learning five minutes of three-part Russian with no discernable bars? Sure. Road-tripping where? Okay! Had people show up at rehearsals with 103F fevers rather than relinquish solos.
In the Quire, members took (and I hope still take) a much, much bigger share of responsibility for their own personal performance – and for the collective outcome – than in most amateur singing groups. Our rehearsals also worked very differently than any other small amateur vocal ensemble I've ever seen, which I think is primarily what blew Henry's mind.
There's a whole story there of how we got to this culture. I think swapping to this organization helped bolster it, because it reinforced that individual responsibility taking for the collective.