Is there a more precious moment in the year than the annual pivot?
The pivot is the moment in the semester or the year when you transition from spending a majority of time on notes and rhythms to a majority of time on higher-order musicality. When you can step back from, “tenors, let’s try that again” and begin talking about phrasing and mastery.
In my experience, every ensemble hits the pivot at a different time. Indeed, many ensembles seem to drag their heels on their way to the pivot.
But once the pivot has happened, most singers realize there is much more fun to be had on the other side of it, and get hungry to get there as fast as possible. Keep enough of them from one year to the next, and watch the pivot happen even sooner the second year.
Students are accustomed to learning material just in time for the test. Just in time for the performance. Only with a little more experience do they realize that learning the notes and rhythms isn’t learning the material. It’s just the first step on the journey to learning the material.