It’s essential that your ensemble is engaged in at least some musical decision making.
We spent more than five minutes tonight debating the type of “t” the group would sing in the word “better.” Lots of great opinions and ideas came out, with a range of justifications.
How can I justify spending that much time on a simple decision? It’s certainly not the most efficient use of my time. But I explained to them three solid reasons I had in mind.
- It’s always insightful to hear the range of opinions that are expressed about a musical decision. It makes you work harder to support your own opinion, and it makes us all aware of the diversity of thought in the ensemble.
- It’s a great reminder of the vast number of important musical decisions an ensemble needs to make – and to be great, an ensemble needs to consider and make decisions about many aspects of every measure of every piece they perform.
- I want my students to be confident making musical decisions down the road, not reliant on someone else to make them all for them. I think this will empower them to find more ways to make music beyond scholastic ensembles.
Of course we can’t take that time on every decision. But once in a while, it’s worth using a musical moment to zoom in on minutia and then zoom out to a broad perspective.