Right is right and wrong is wrong.
That’s what we’ve learned throughout school – there is a right answer to every questions and if it’s right today, it will be right every single time it’s asked. 8×9 is always 72, a subject always needs a verb for a complete sentence, and Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Sadly, that just isn’t true in choir. I mean, it’s broadly true, but it is also true that what was right a week ago might be wrong now. Right and wrong aren’t so easily or consistently defined in the choral rehearsal.
What was good enough at the Fall Concert won’t be good enough in the spring.
The interpretation we decided on might change if we’re missing two tenors, or if the hall’s acoustics require them to change.
Good intonation is much more subtle, variable, and can be right or wrong in any moment.
Interpretation, style, balance, vowel choice, word pronunciation. So much can be right in one instance and wrong in another – in the very same ensemble.
It’s frustrating, at first, not to see the ensemble’s work as being in a binary black/white world. It’s seeing that giving up the binary gives us access to a world of color which gives us the strength to operate without the reliable right/wrong mindset.