Monday, August 19, 2024

How to get off the concert treadmill — 8 questions to help give you perspective

Some choirs (believe it or not) are already researching new songs for their Christmas concert repertoire in August. Some even begin rehearsing their Christmas concert in the summer!

If you feel like you’re on an endless concert roller coaster and want to get off, here are some thoughts that may help.

Not all choirs perform. Some choirs perform every month. Most choirs lie somewhere in between these extremes.

But no matter how often your choir performs, it can sometimes feel that you’re always preparing for the next concert — rehearsing, finding songs, checking out venues, designing posters — and not getting around to singing just for the joy of it.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that you have to put on a concert regularly. You can lose sight of the fact that you have options.

On Facebook recently, a choir director was asking for some ‘interesting’ Christmas song ideas because they were getting bored with the same old repertoire. My response? “Just say no.”

It is possible to not do a Christmas concert (just because you’ve always done one, or everyone else is doing it) . Or if you do one, not feel pressured to come up with fresh Christmas songs every year. You could make the concert one of general winter songs (or summer, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere). Or simply do simple a cappella arrangements of well-known carols. Take the pressure off and rediscover the joy of why you wanted to perform in the first place.

Here are eight questions that can help you stand back and reconsider your concert schedule.

  1. why has your choir chosen to perform? See Should your choir perform live? – arguments for and against
     
  2. can you stop doing public performances entirely? See Choirs that don’t perform.
     
  3. are there alternatives to full-blown concerts? See 7 ways to share your choir’s singing without making a big performance of it
     
  4. can you re-present previous concert repertoire in more interesting ways? See How to keep your performances interesting
     
  5. can you make up a varied concert repertoire from songs the choir already knows? See Choosing the right songs for a concert
     
  6. is there a way of keeping perspective so your concert season doesn’t become too stressful? See “It’s only a show!” – keeping perspective when preparing for a concert
     
  7. could you get away with singing the same songs at your concert every year? See What is the right balance between new and old songs in your annual concert?
     
  8. are you bored with your existing repertoire? See 10 ways to breathe new life into old songs
     

Chris Rowbury


 

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