Choirs should travel. This week, I’m making a list of the reasons why.
The growth.
Many academic choirs prepare a piece for a single performance, then put it away to move onto other music. There is educational value in it, but it overlooks one of my favorite opportunities for growth: additional performances.
A choir tour will have a tour program that will be performed multiple times over the tour. I have a copy of our Gold Company tour program from our 2000 tour of Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. We gave 22 performances in 21 days, and at the end, those singers were better performers together than any other choir I had ever been a part of. The repetition was the key.
It’s harder, at home, to find the opportunity to perform that often. The audience in your home town is limited, and they aren’t going to come to 22 concerts even if you plan them.
No, the only way to really engage the growth that comes from repeated performances is to go on tour.