You’ve got this!
Ideas that work for virtual rehearsal
By Nicola Bertoni Dedmon
T profession as we know it, and as intimidating or frustrating as online choir can be, it is crucial that he year 2020 changed our
choral conductors are able to create the best possible experience for our singers as the world navigates the pandemic. As I write this, I have completed roughly half of my semester entirely online. For context, I teach two auditioned choirs—one large and one chamber ensemble—at Fullerton College, which is a community college in Orange County. The experience has been more positive than I was originally expecting, and though I certainly yearn for the day we can all be together again in the same room, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to make music and further the precious sense of community our choirs have always fostered. The students are learning and progressing in their skills, and I do genuinely feel that they have benefitted from this experience, despite the fact that things would be much easier were we together physically. I have learned many lessons and tricks along the way, some through failure. I hope that sharing these lessons and tricks with the CCDA community may make the prospect of teaching choir online less overwhelming and yield a higher rate of efficiency and success within each rehearsal.
The broad brush: General suggestions
Don’t forget the reason we’re doing this in the first place. If I have learned anything at all from this
Leading the Way
pandemic, it’s that choir exists for reasons beyond just performances, festivals, and awards. Of course, these are important goalposts for students in normal circumstances, but they are not the reason people want to sing together; otherwise our rosters would currently be empty. I encourage my colleagues to view choir right now as an activity that provides personal and mental enrichment, rather than a competitive sport of sorts. Your choir/program is the only one that matters right now, and comparing your process or product to another school or organization is a dangerous road to travel. Some programs have far more resources than others, and their finished virtual product will look cleaner as a result. Some programs will be permitted to return face-to-face sooner than others, which opens up a clear competitive conundrum. We are entering a time during which the playing field is even more skewed than it usually is, so try not to get lost in all of that. When designing your online choral curriculum, it’s important to focus on the unique needs of your singers—for example, how much repertoire can they handle while still feeling successful? Perhaps it is much less than usual. We have to be okay with that. I find that teaching choir synchronously (in a live, scheduled manner) is much more effective than doing so asynchronously. It is important that singers come together and connect at least once per week, since connection/community is one of the pillars of choral singing. In March, I tried giving my students assignments to complete on their own, and the results were quite poor—it was a lonely experience for the
Cantate • Vol. 33, No. 2 • Winter 2021 • 15
