[Perform-Talk] Choral Staging Logistics

[Julie A. Orozco]

Hi everyone,

 

I cross posted, so apologies if you see it in multiple places. I am a music
director at a Methodist church, and we have a small choir that I conduct. I
am having a difficult time working with them on standing in the right places
when we sing, and I would like some advice. 

 

We have a choir of about 10. Depending on the piece we are singing, they
either sing in the choir loft, on the stage in a semicircle, or on the stage
and the steps to the stage in lines. I know that singing in the choir loft
would cut out all these problems with moving around, but I don't hear them
as well when they sing there, and if our choir is too small, they don't hear
as well in the loft either. I like to be able to use our formations on the
stage when I can. We have a number of problems with this, and I'll list them
below. 

 

I tell them where I want them. Like, I will literally say their names and
give them their order, and they will not end up in that order. 

I have asked one of our paid singers, section leaders, to draw a diagram on
the board for them. She does, and we still have the same problem as above.
They don't follow it. 

This problem is only made worse by the simple fact that I cannot make eye
contact, I cannot see what's happening on the stage and redirect, and I
cannot use gestures to show them where I need them to be. I do not have
usable vision, but I cannot speak while we are up on the stage. 

 

Here are some solutions I've come up with. Some of them have sort of worked.


 

I have asked one of our section leaders to do what I can't on stage. She has
the job of directing them and making sure they are where we have decided. I
trust her implicitly with this. But some of the members don't follow her
lead. 

We have rehearsals where we practice in the sanctuary. I've taught them
stage directions because those help me communicate where I want them without
having to point or say over there. This usually helps, but this year, the
choir seems particularly resistant to being shuffled around. 

I have had diagrams drawn and gone over them personally with the choir. I
have memorized where everyone needs to be, gone over it, and memorized it.
And still, we have people not going where they are supposed to, people
standing back from the microphones, etc. 

 

I am not sure how to address this and how to manage it. It makes me feel
anxious that this is actively out of my control as a director. I can't see
what's happening on the stage as our singers are getting into place, and I
don't see a way I can change that. Short of teaching my choir telepathy,
there is no way I will know what's happening while I'm taking my place to
conduct before our song. 

 

Has anyone directed a choir and dealt with this before? What did you do? I
don't think it would undermine my authority to ask a section leader to take
point on this while we are on the stage, but I do have that nagging fear
that this would somehow confuse the choir, since the director should be
doing this part. Choirs only have one director for a reason after all. 

 

Thanks for any thoughts you have,

 

Julie

Julie A. Orozco MM, JD