Passion, Mastery and Platforms - Three Tools Needed to Excel in Music

_{My church - The stage}

Yesterday had a few choiresters in my church running to one of our area headquarters for an impromptu rehearsal. I didn't see it coming at all. With so much exhaustion from my already stressful day, I found myself running in the rain to the church. All soaked, exhausted and hungry, I arrived and tried to squeeze-dry my dripping wet clothes.

As expected, we started late because a lot of singers arrived late. I'll assume it's the heavy downpour that caused it but deep down I know lateness is something that is significant in this particular choir. A hungry child had to find a means of eating, I was starving badly. I found a shop where I got bread, fried groundnuts and a soft drink. This was the first error.
I know so well I'm not supposed to eat certain things if I am going to sing because certain foods affect our voices and give it a croaky sound but I still ate what I ate.

_{Some insteuments}

The rehearsal started with prayers as usual, next we began to warm up our voices using really simple songs and we did lots of modulation. This is the part of singing I love most, when a song is taken a tone higher and it just goes on and on. But only if the alto singers (which I'm one) are comfortable with the key and it's not too high at the beginning. Tenor singers looked really stressed during the warming up exercise, they had to stand to be able to sing the part perfectly as the modulation progressed. It was a funny sight though.

The rehearsal began properly after this. We rehearsed a song titled My Help Will Come From You using key A. The lead singer tried insisting on key F as she claimed to be comfortable with it but the director said Music is not about singing what you're comfortable with. So we all adjusted to key A and we started singing. Some people sang, others didn't, others sang in between, others lip sang. All of these they director noted. After the first two times of singing from beginning to end, he decided to address us.

_{Early birds waiting for latecomers}

He welcomed us all once again and thanked us for turning up on such short notice. He went on to inform us that an event was coming up this Sunday and that's why we were asked to show up for a brief rehearsal. He told us about some great guests that will be coming and that we can't afford to embarrass him or ourselves, which I agreed with. If you had read about my concert experience you'll remember I had said we usually have a problem with keys. Keyboardists will give us a different key on the D day or fall off his key as the song progresses leaving the choir to their fate as we make a mess of our melody. He urged the instrumentalists to be in unity with the choir. They shouldn't be carried away by what they're playing but listen to what the choir is singing as well.

_{The Director addressing us}

Few things he said while addressing us struck me. First he said:

The beauty of the choir is not in the charisma of the lead singer but in the strength of the choir.

He said we shouldn't rely on the lead singer to make a song perfect. A lead singer alone cannot bring a song to perfection as long as it's not a solo. We as the choir are the backup singers, if the lead singer does her part well and we miss ours, the song will definitely be messed up. He mentioned some of us are unserious and distracted and not everyone was singing earlier. Personally, I feel not everyone knows that there are no small roles in music. Maybe sometimes because a person wasn't chosen as the lead singer but they have a powerful voice too, they'll relax and leave the rest of the choir to their fate not knowing that their voice is still very important and needed. The director also said the impact of the song should be seen in our expression because the congregation would be fixing their gaze on us. If we don't seem to enjoy what we're doing, how will they enjoy it?

He talked about singing with strength.

_{Lead singer}

This category was for the people in the choir who come out and rest on the chair and leave the singing to certain people. They are the lip singers who you see their lips moving but will never hear their voices. They leave the song for few people to scream their lungs out and it makes me sad. Why do you decide to join the choir if you're not ready to sing? They make a song sound lifeless and rehearsal hours get extended because we never dismiss if we don't score a song perfectly. The director urged all of us to do better, to be in unity and sing with all our strength.

The most important things I took out from his address to the choir was what he said about excelling in music.

He said to Excel in Music, three tools were needed - passion, mastery and platforms.

Passion is the longing in us for what we are doing. It is that which stirs in us and keeps us interested in music. If you don't like music, you're not interested, you're not passionate about it, you cannot excel in it.

_Saxophonist

He went on to say that passion without mastering the art of music is also useless. There's no point in being passionate about music if you're given a mic or given your instrument and whatever you produce isn't pleasant to the ear. It's a Shame! To passion add mastery. Mastery he said comes from consistent practice and I'll add dedication of time and attention too. You cannot master anything if you don't practice consistently, if you're not dedicated.

After one's passion and gaining mastery, one needs a platform to show their musical skills. Churches, concerts, clubs, parties, streets... All musical artists need a stage. Only and unless your purpose of venturing into music is just for personal pleasure then good but if you are into music as a career, you cannot excel without a platform. If you have passion, mastery of the art of music yet no platform then you're not excelling. You know you're excelling when people are eager and love to hear from you, when you're called to entertain people. All these I learnt in one rehearsal and I thought to share.

_{Drummer boy}

Our next rehearsal has been scheduled for Friday and the result will come on Sunday evening which is the day of the occasion. I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything will go well and I'll bring details after we're done.

_{All images used in this post are mine.}