The rubber has hit the road for choral groups this fall, as we meet after a year and a half’s hiatus, share space and air, plan concerts, wrestle with the possible and the impossible. It’s a brave new world, as each ensemble tries various solutions to the problems that confront us all.
Chicago Chorale is fully masked, fully vaccinated, and halfway through its preparation period for our Christmas concerts, December 11 and 12. We rehearse at Hyde Park Union Church, our home for the past several years, and I continue to be grateful for the acoustic properties of the church’s sanctuary, though we now tie ourselves in knots to utilize them. Venue, whether for rehearsal or performance, is a very special component of a choir’s sound— not only does it amplify and focus the choir’s sound for the listeners, but it is the space within which the conductor hears and evaluates the choir, and the singers hear themselves, and to which they respond when modifying their production to “fit into the sleeve of sound,” as Robert Shaw used to say. I was privileged to watch my college conductor, Weston Noble, and Mr. Shaw himself, time after time, as they prepared their rehearsal spaces before rehearsal, adjusting the curtains just so, moving the chairs a quarter inch this way or that, building temporary platforms because a singer had to be located just there to make the proper contribution. And with both conductors, it could be a frantic nightmare when doing a sound check in a new venue before a concert— adjusting an unfamiliar space so that it would enhance the choir’s sound appropriately. On one particularly memorable occasion, in the chapel at Rocamadour, in France, I had the misfortune to be placed in front of a large wooden box, which amplified my voice to a degree that had Mr. Shaw tearing his hair out and yelling at me for my “immodest voice.” He was mollified only when the offending box was hidden behind several blankets, muting my offending voice. His stage manager and all-around factotum, Harry Keuper, often commented that Mr. Shaw was “toilet trained at the point of a gun,” as he helped in setting the chairs.
The Centers for Disease Control and the American Choral Directors’ Association, which issue guidelines about how choirs should sit and stand and breathe in these fraught times, were not around when Hyde Park Union Church was built, the chancel steps designed, the pews bolted to the floor, the railings fixed in place, the air exchange system installed. Spaces are too narrow or too broad, too straight or too abruptly curving— and totally inflexible. Each Wednesday I spend two hours setting up, lugging chairs around, trying new configurations, eyeballing the 3-foot rule, trying to keep Chorale’s initial voice placement intact, making sure singers are not acoustically isolated or otherwise placed where they cannot function productively. And during rehearsal, I keep my eye on the singers to be sure that they, like me, are not so irritated with their masks that they unconsciously pull them down. And I keep my eye on the clock, so that active rehearsal periods are not too long, and breaks too short.
All of this while breaking in sixteen new singers, trying to enable social rapport and cohesion, learning new music, motivating the group to enjoy and look forward to rehearsals, and working toward a polished performance.
Through all of this, Chorale has, miraculously, been having a good time. We have extraordinary new singers, who contribute beautifully to our sound and our morale. Our repertoire is challenging, as always, but enjoyable to sing. And we continue to ride a wave of relief and euphoria that we are able to do this, and that the Wednesday night Zoom meetings are a thing of the past. The Covid 19 pandemic is unforgettable, and not in a good way; but we are excited about what lies ahead. Music does make everything better.