I was in church the other day and teaching a lesson about missionary work... you know, sharing your faith with others. Well, in the lesson there was a quote by Elder Ballard and he said "you can start a blog in minutes." Well, in the lesson I asked how many people had a blog and a few raised their hands. I then asked if Elder Ballard's quote was accurate as far as they were concerned. One laughingly replied "yes, it's really easy to setup a blog, but not so easy to keep it updated". Boy, that sure rang true for me and this blog, but no longer. I'm going to keep it current and I'm going to really get podcasts and other content ASAP. Fortunately, now my Masters degree is pretty much done and I've changed my plans for the new company I was attempting to start so I'm more available again.
That being said, I wanted to share some exciting news about a new album the Intel Singers and Intel Orchestra is working on. After completing my Masters project in June, the choir & orchestra got to go to the beautiful St. Gabriel's church to record our first album over 4 long nights. For those who've done recording sessions before, I'm sure you understand what I mean when I say that they were very demanding, yet rewarding days. One of the best moments for me came when I had a chat with a small group of the singers at a break. They were very interested in things they we could do to further develop musically as a group and take us to the next level so to speak. It all centered around a question one asked about whether I can usually tell who the specific singer is that is having a problem when I stop to correct an issue. I replied that I could and this person's response was that I should just call out the person's mistake directly as it'd greatly enhance our rehearsal efficiency. We had a nice conversation about the pluses and minuses of this approach and I explained that I don't personally agree with his position.
In my view, publicly calling out a person's mistake can lead to them being embarrassed and leaving the group. And, that's not the kind of supportive and safe environment I want to foster in this Intel Choir. There are definitely settings where this can work, but I don't feel like this group would do well with that. Of course, in an orchestra I find myself forced into calling out specific individuals much more since... well, there's only one 1st flute. But I digress. Anyhow, this led to us discussing some techniques I've seen used in other choirs to help this. One of the best I've seen is to have people take responsibility for their mistakes and raise their hands when they know they made a mistake. The Portland State University Chamber Choir did this and it made it so the director didn't have to go back and review an issue if he knew the person was aware of the problem and would be able to fix it on their own.
What's your take on calling out the mistakes of an individual person?
How about techniques for the ensemble to take more ownership for their mistakes? And, any that translate well for orchestra?