Summer Singers Score!

The Seventh Annual Michael O’Neal Summer Singers performed Bach to Broadway to a wildly appreciative audience this past Sunday afternoon.  Nearly 750 audience members heard 150 singers perform a program ranging from choruses of Bach, Handel and Haydn all the way to musical theatre selections from Man of La Mancha, West Side Story, The Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables.   The variety of our programming in that concert is analogous to the variety of backgrounds of the Summer Singers membership.  I’ve enjoyed conducting this non-auditioned chorus each summer in part because of the vast background of singing experiences represented.  The Summer Singers chorus includes individuals who might never be comfortable going through an audition procedure for our regular chorus membership to singers who are professional musicians and just don’t have the time to participate in a chorus during the regular season.  When you take these two extremes and add singers who are at every level between the two, you have The Michael O’Neal Summer Singers!  I love working with these folks for a number of reasons, not the least of which is their obvious joy in making music, and making it to the best of their abilities.  As I told them in the warm up for our Sunday concert, in choral singing we often experience the Gestalt theory of the “whole being greater than the sum of its parts.”  In other words, we are able to accomplish something together we could never achieve individually.

For seven years my summers have been immeasurably blessed by my work with these wonderful and dedicated singers.  This summer was especially rewarding.  My sincere thanks to all of them.

Community and the Brahms “Requiem”

Community is one of our major “buzzwords” these days.   Facebook and Twitter have become an important part of the lives of many people, and some persons may even consider them to be essential to a happy existence!  While many of us can remember living happy and fulfilled lives prior to the creation of “social media” there is no doubt that “connecting” through these electronic methods has become part of our society.   David Brooks, the excellent columnist of  The New York Times, has even written a new book entitled The Social Animal, which has its premise the human need for connection, friendship, and love.

As all of us in The Michael O’Neal Singers quickly approach our performance of A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms (Sunday, March 13), I am reminded of the importance of community in our group musical performances.  Our 130 voices, including two excellent soloists, will combine with a 44 member orchestra to “recreate” one of the greatest choral/orchestral pieces ever written.  It struck me in our chorus rehearsal last night that something very amazing takes place when many of us gather for a shared purpose (especially when that purpose is as meaningful as this music).  The text, personally selected by Brahms, is designed to comfort the living as opposed to offer a prayer for the dead.  The poignancy of the words, combined with the shear beauty of the music, has affected our chorus in a number of ways.  Most of our singers, in fact, will “dedicate” their performance to someone who has played an important role in their lives.

From time to time I remind my singers of the “Gestalt” of our music making, or the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.  What we could never accomplish as individuals we are able to do as a group of singers.  Now that’s what I call community!

Why We Sing

From time to time, I am invited to speak at local civic organizations.  I sometimes choose as my topic the reasons people sing in groups like The Michael O’Neal Singers.  I point out that in Gestalt psychology we are reminded that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that this is certainly true in choral music.  While the individual contributions to a choral ensemble are each significant, the resulting choral sound is more than those combined individual voices.  Along with the musical attributes of melody, rhythm, harmony and form, which we strive so diligently to achieve in our choral performance there does exist also the non-musical considerations of a sense of community, shared purpose, and emotional and intellectual growth.  In my talks I always mention reasons MOS members have shared with me as to why they sing.  Their reasons are poignant, uplifting, encouraging, supportive and thought provoking.  I share with you now a few of their comments:

            “I must.  I look forward to Monday evenings with a hundred and fifty plus like minds and souls…I know that there have been many Monday nights that I showed up for rehearsal not in the right frame of mind, but after warming up, things of the outside world seem to just fade away for that short two and a half hours.  And when it is over I feel like a new invigorated person.”

            “All my life, as a preacher and teacher, I have worked to find words appropriate for my task.  Although words are essential, they are not adequate in getting at the deepest realities of life…I sing because there are those deep realities of the human heart which can be experienced and expressed in no other way.”

            “There is an almost indescribable joy you feel deep in your soul when you sing.  Most of my adult life I ignored this gift…Now that I am singing again, I don’t know how I got through my younger years without it.  I no longer feel the void inside me.”

            “For reasons which I do not know, and for which I certainly cannot take credit, God gave me a voice that can sing.  Not to use it in His praise would be ungrateful.  Not to use it for the immeasurable pleasure I get from it would be a terrible waste.”

            “As a CIO, I work in an office environment every day and get much satisfaction by using my mind to solve problems.  When I am on the treadmill or lifting weights in the morning, my body is being stressed and it helps me start the day running.  When I play golf, and my mind and body work in tandem – I get a lot of satisfaction out of scoring well.  But when I sing!  My mind and body work together to produce the correct sound, words and rhythm – but there is an added dimension – my soul.  Singing for me is a total commitment of mind, body and soul – and in making that total commitment I feel renewed.”

There is no way I could say it more effectively than these folks.  Music helps us become complete human beings.  If indeed the soul is an integral, albeit invisible, part of who we are – should we not care about its nurture?  I believe the arts in general, and most specifically choral music, provide us one of the best ways to encourage that nurture.  It has been suggested that the arts provide a window through which we can glimpse the Divine.  It is my hope that the music of The Michael O’Neal Singers will help create windows through which we may glimpse visions of truth, beauty and fulfillment.