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Views from the Choir Loft

How to be a Good Choir Member?

Andrew Leung · June 28, 2018

CTL How to be a good choir member BOUT A MONTH AGO, I led my choir in our very first concert. As the director of the choir, it was a pretty intense experience. There are always a lot to think about during the process of organizing a concert, not only in musical aspect, but also logistically. And there were lots of uncertainty as the choir was preparing the repertoire for the concert. There were times when I worried about whether we would be able to learn all the pieces in time and sing them well.

I must admit that i freaked out a few times when rehearsals didn’t go well. Here are some tips that I sent to my choir members as I was stressing out:

1. Practice may not always makes perfect, but it definitely make things better! As a member of the team, we are all responsible to learn and review what we have rehearsed. Every team member must do their homework in order to not waste time and make rehearsals efficient.

2. Be prepared mentally. Being ready to sing will help the choir rehearsal to run smoothly. It is a good idea to prepare our minds to sing before rehearsal. It is a good idea to start running through the music in your mind an hour before rehearsals, even during travelling, to get into a musical mode psychologically. In an actual performance, we do not have a second chance to start a piece over. Our mind need to be able to concentrate and be engaged with our music right away.

3. Watch the conductor! Do not bury your heads in the music. Look up! Pay attention to the conductor’s directions!

4. Mark your music! And sing it according to your markings! Making the same mistakes over and over again is definitely not helpful.

5. Be good musicians. E.g. keep your music tidy and in order, don’t chat with others when the conductor is giving instructions, don’t use cell phones during rehearsals, etc.

Our performance ended up really well. The choir was ready to perform. Many people came to our concert and filled up the whole church. Our audience enjoyed the program of sacred music very much. It was a very prayerful night and we successfully introduced the traditional liturgical music to many.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Andrew Leung

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

19 January 2021 • Confusion over feasts

For several months, we have discussed the complicated history of the various Christmas feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the feast of the Holy Family, the Epiphany, and so forth. During a discussion, someone questioned my assertion that in some places Christmas had been part of the Epiphany. As time went on, of course, the Epiphany came to represent only three “manifestations” (Magi, Cana, Baptism), but this is not something rigid. For example, if you look at this “Capital E” from the feast of the Epiphany circa 1350AD, you can see it portrays not three mysteries but four—including PHAGIPHANIA when Our Lord fed the 5,000. In any event, anyone who wants proof the Epiphany used to include Christmas can read this passage from Dom Prosper Guéranger.

—Jeff Ostrowski
6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski
2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Ambrose and Prudentius took something classical and made it Christian; the revisers and their imitators took something Christian and tried to make it classical. The result may be pedantry, and sometimes perhaps poetry; but it is not piety. “Accessit Latinitas, discessit pietas.”

— Fr. Joseph Connelly (1954)

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