New Book!

Hi Liz,

I just followed a link from Tom Metzger's site (www.owningthestage.com), and found your site.

I'm intrigued by your book's subject matter, and I'm wondering if you and I agree or disagree. Here's an essay I wrote on one aspect of the conductor/choir relationship -- you'll know pretty quickly whether we're on the same page. If you'd like to correspond about it, I'm always interested.

THE DIRECTOR’S FACIAL EXPRESSION

Have you ever witnessed a choral director desperately attempting to “breathe some life” into a somewhat passive or disengaged choir? The director’s arms waving wildly, their face contorting, their eyes pleading or demanding... “People, COME ON! Please! PLEASE be expressive!!!,” their every pore seems to be shouting. Alas, most of the time this is ineffective, leaving directors exhausted and frustrated – even though they might try to hide that from the choir as they give a suppressed nod of “Good job, folks” once the song is (finally?) over.

For directors to take such an approach makes sense, for it continues to be the dominant notion that they are responsible for the singers' facial expressions and emotional connectedness. WHILE THEY CONDUCT. How are directors supposed to do this? Here’s one published quote reflecting the established pedagogy: Facial expression and eye contact are two of your most important tools. Use them constantly.... Use your eyes and face to tell the choir what expression you want them to put in the music.... When the music ends, show an expression of appreciation and approval[!].

While it is true that humans tend to reflect the facial expressions of others, this advice is misguided. Even if it worked well, it would lead to inauthenticity – ultimately failing to have a genuine impact on the audience.

The key here is that Emotional Contagion results in one person “catching” what the other is authentically experiencing. For example, if a singer asks Mother Mary to deliver peace and healing to the children of Darfur during the singing of Ave Maria – and the singer's objective is sincere in-the-moment – then the audience members will get that authentic Ave Maria-related thought and feeling from the singer's face.

On the other hand, if the director 'makes a face' which they want the singers to emulate, THAT face is not communicating the desire for Mother Mary to save the children. THAT face is communicating the desire for the choir to be facially expressive! This can’t be helped – what’s really on the mind is really on the face!

So, when a director makes faces to guide the singers’ expressions, the initial face in the human-connection chain is inauthentic – if by inauthentic we mean "disconnected from textual meaning." The singers pick that up and either unconsciously model it (modeling inauthenticity), or they realize that the director wants them to be more expressive, and they attempt to do so. Their objective then becomes, "To sing with more expression and / or make the face that my director is making.” So, they remain disconnected from authentic connection ... and so does their audience. (Of course, what more frequently happens when directors make those faces is that singers ignore them; they’re too busy concentrating on technical elements, or they’re uncomfortable with the request –perhaps realizing that ‘putting on a face’ will be seen by the audience for exactly what it is.)

INSTEAD of trying to affect them externally, directors might consider empowering the singers to connect authentically to text and music. So, what’s a director to do, then, with their own face? Certainly, directors can allow themselves to express their own music or text-related thoughts. Joy, serenity, pathos, peace.... They might also allow themselves to be affected by the singers, if that effect is genuine rather than forced.

Or, they might buy into the singers' notion of who they're singing to, playing the part of Mother Mary in their Story. This, however, is more difficult and ultimately unnecessary -- the singers will do fine as they try to impact their Other, as long as the director isn’t trying to simultaneously impact them!

Choral singers as expressive artists in their own right – just like soloists in that regard. The end result of this approach is that the audience members will be watching the first generation of authentic emotional connection, and will then be able to respond authentically as well.

But the impact on the director may be even more significant: When doing a workshop in which directors experienced what it was like for the choir to affect them rather than the other way around, one director said, “That was a completely different experience. I didn’t have to worry about the singers’ expressiveness anymore. I was free to make music with them!”

All my best,

Tom