Episode 3: A New Hope

So, choir again. I was looking forward to it all week, since I felt we made some really strong progress last week.

So I got there, and I had a strange feeling. The traffic was poor, and Tim Horton's was packed as if they were handing out free booze down in East Hastings. However, I was underterred in my resolve to get the Timbits necessary to ensure a strong start to the choir, and waited.

So I got there at about 2:40, a tad on the late side (choir starts at 2:45), and the place was deserted. Yes, I know that part of this effect stemmed from the lack of risers, but something didn't feel right. One of the tenors came to me, and was unsure whether he was going to stay. As well, a soprano had a paper due on Monday, and needs the time to devote to school work today. And augmented by the rather slow trickling in of the rest of the group (eg. only 6 others were there), I was rather worried about the future of this project.

The tenor apprarently has pretty busy weekends with work. I can tell he wasn't totally sure, and that he kinda wanted to stay, but just wasn't fully committed to the time necessary after school. He felt like he would let the choir down, and may screw the choir over. I was slightly on the same note (unsure about the choir's future), but, ultimately, the decision was his. I'm not a fan on guilt tripping and whatnot, and I'm determined to treat everyone here as adults: they make their own decisions, and they need to evaluate the choices they make.

Anyway, I also found that one of the basses wasn't fully committed to this, in the sense that he never fully signed up. The future was looking bleak indeed.

Eventually, I gathered everyone around. It was 2:53pm. I had to lay it out. I can feel the "storming" stage (organizational behaviour talk) kicking in.

"Alrighty. I need to know what's going on. This choir is something that we are all a part of, and we are a team; each one of us is just as important as the next, and we need to be here in order to make this work. We are all spending 2 hours a week to do this, and I'm wondering what your thoughts are. Ultimately, if this choir were to work, I think it's only fair that for 2 hours after school on Friday, the choir is your top priority. Is this a fair expectation?"

This feels very reminiscent of my time with the Acoustix, where people showed up late, skipped, etc. Yes, we were all working, etc., but as you go through life, you start needing to prioritize. And that's what was said. The Acoustix, for 2 hours on Monday, needed to prioritize that time ahead of everything else that's under your control. And work is important, but is 2 hours really going to make a difference? If so, so be it. Otherwise, you need to be here.

So this is pretty much the same discourse as half a year ago.

"Anything under your control, homework, hanging out, etc., if possible, needs to be lowered in priority. Yes, homework is important, but will these 2 hours make that much of a difference? If so, I'm not going to stop you; school should come first. But in the end, I'm asking: can you all prioritize these 2 hours on Fridays?"

I got the commitment I want from the 6 people that were going to stay (so the bass, tenor were out, and the soprano would miss this rehearsal, which is fair). I was somewhat uncertain whether we can go on, but the other still missing people (1 soprano, 1 alto, and 1 alto turned tenor) weren't here. The rest of the group vouched that they can catch up quickly, so we proceeded.

Ran warm-ups, and it was okay. A melancholy note to start on, but a new light is ahead. I have their word. Partway through warm-ups, the rest of them showed up, and I gave them the same spiel.

We have a game, folks.

Ran Sweet Surrender. Sounded pretty good. The bridge needed work, but that's the part that we spent the least time on. We are almost at the tweaking stage. All the fundamentals were nailed down, and memorization and polish will come later.

The light at the end of a tunnel is indeed the other side, and not some guy with a flashlight.

By 4pm, (so about 45 minutes of work on the song itself), we sounded good. I got Carrie to sing the solo so the rest of them know what it would sound like, and we were rolling!

Played California Dreamin' (finally got a copy of our concert from way back), and started on it. Decent progress. I learned from the last time I taught this piece, to skip the first 4 barts till later. And we learned pretty much up to the bridge in the rest of the time (it's not a hard song).

It feels good to get this going. The storming stage was earlier than anticipated, and lasted much shorter than it could've gone. We are fully at the norming stage.

A New Hope is upon us.