Ensembles are the perfect place to build humanity.
We don’t have to agree on everything; indeed, it’s better if we have differences. It makes life more interesting that we don’t share the same worldview.
We don’t have to agree, but we have to work together. And because there’s no adversary, as in an athletic time, we can purely practice connection. We have common musical goal and share our voices to achieve that goal.
We don’t have to agree, but the longer we spend together, the more we tend to see eye to eye. We respect each other and listen to each other. Through the very act of singing we build relational capacity – to say nothing of the inevitable time spent together outside of rehearsal.
We don’t have to agree, but in the end we discover that more unites us than divides us. We do agree on the most important things. And as we practice listening to one another musically, we learn to listen to one another beyond the music.