In rehearsal this week a student asked about some musical moment – a decision yet to be made. “Is it going to be A, or B?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “But we’ll figure it out.”
Another student said something about it all working out if we trust the process. I think that’s true, but we are sometimes too vague about what this process is that we’re trusting.
Here’s “The Process.”
- Be curious about the questions and have a desire to answer them for yourself.
- Trust the musical intuition of the conductor and of the singers. All have something to add.
- Do the work to discover the answers, either in rehearsal by trying things, or out of rehearsal through research.
- Have a concrete sense of the time frame in which “The Process” needs to wrap up.
When we say, “Trust the process,” I fear we’re letting the weight off of our own shoulders. Instead, we should put more weight on! “The Process” is about digging in and doing the work. Ourselves.
That’s the only way to ensure the music is true – to the composer, and to the ensemble.