How many times do you get one (or maybe two) public performances of a piece? It’s rampant in the curricular choir, when each quarter or semester is spent learning repertoire to be presented at the quarterly concert.
Then, it’s the end of the semester, or it’s on to new repertoire for the next concert.
But consider: at last week’s May 1 Spring Choir Concert, my group, the Rockford Aces, gave performances #3 & #4 of Loveliest of Trees by Jeremy Fox. That’s following the World Premiere on April 9 and performance #2 at State Solo & Ensemble on April 13. They also did a studio recording of the piece on April 22.
Each performance was better than the previous one. More heart, more attention to detail, more musicality.
They grew with each performance. And that makes sense: as much as you rehearse, the experience of sharing the music with an audience completely changes the dynamic, and needs practice, too.
So: the more opportunities we give our choirs to perform together, the better music they will make. We need to give them many performances if we want them to achieve true, consistent excellence.
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