How do you decide what traditions to create, uphold, or discard?
Christmas is a lot about traditions – old and new. There are the family traditions, the congregational traditions, the traditions you have with a partner, the traditions our society holds on to.
Traditions are about living in both the past and present – the current iteration is made more powerful by imbuing it with all the past iterations.
This can be good and magical. It can also become difficult: in times of trauma or loss, or when the past no longer aligns with the present. As I love my traditions, I also open my heart to those whose traditions are no longer serving them.
It also makes me think more about the traditions I help maintain in my ensembles. Some traditions serve to enhance the ensemble and connect current members to a tradition of excellence. And there have been past traditions that I have had to let go because they no longer served the ensemble.
Often the traditions we build in our ensembles long outlast the changing membership of the groups themselves. We, the leaders, are the only ones who can really feel the weight these traditions have. So we choose them carefully, and maintain them only when they serve the present and future. Otherwise their weight is not a net positive to the ensemble. Students love traditions for tradition’s sake (for precisely the reason described above). But only the conductor feels the full weight, and only the conductor should decide which to keep.