Making Great Music with Limited Forces

What advantages are there to making music with limited forces?

To start, working this way allows us to focus and upgrade essential ensemble skills. It forces us to be intentional and attentive about nuances that can sometimes be allowed to slide in a larger group setting: unified vowels, crisp and clear diction, word shape, and larger expressive phrasing. More than this, working with a limited number of voices lets us pay greater attention to each singer—to basics like their alignment, their breathing, their phonation, and their intonation, but also their ability to anticipate the flow of the music and improve their audiation skills, the all-important ability to “listen louder than you sing.” Finally, working with limited forces, while not always easy, is an ideal way to foster independence in your singers and in your whole ensemble.

What are the biggest challenges of this kind of music making?

Hands down, it’s finding repertoire that fits the Sunday, the season, and the singers. But there are all sorts of possibilities, if you’re willing to look beyond what the composer initially intended (and that includes this composer, by the way). Want to sing the classics? Consider trying the soprano/alto duet “Den Tod” from Bach’s Cantata #4, with high voices on the top line and lower voices on the second part. A very singable English translation can be found at www.uvm.edu/~classics/ faculty/bach/BWV4.html.

Don’t have enough singers to do parts right now? No problem: alternate your singers by wherever their ranges are most comfortable to sing the unison chorus from Cantata #80, “And Though This World with Devils Filled.” Or do the same on the unison chorus from Cantata #140, “Zion Hears the Watchman’s Voices.” Both of these pieces feature familiar hymn melodies, but note that each will require the services of a competent instrumentalist. You might find a good violin or flute player from the nearest college or university music department.

What are the best ways to rehearse limited forces for maximum effect?

Once you’ve selected repertoire that will work well with the forces you have available, begin by isolating disparate musical elements and rehearse each of them in turn. Speak the rhythm on a fixed pitch on a neutral syllable. Then speak through the words out of rhythm entirely to get a clear sense of the argument of the text and to identify diction challenges (word shape, phrase shape, diphthongs, consonant elisions, vowel elisions, and so on) that will require careful treatment. Now, combine the text and diction with the rhythm of the music and make sure it is consistent before moving on to the next step in the process.

Live large, and move outside the choral box a bit

Do things you wouldn’t normally do. Try things you might not usually try. Experiment, fearlessly! Begin to build ensemble independence by consciously transferring ownership: if your singers are solid readers, send them the music in advance, along with some sort of recorded learning aid (homemade is fine), and ask them to learn their music before you meet to rehearse it. If your rehearsal space allows it, arrange your singers so they can easily see as well as hear one another: if you have four singers, place them in a diamond about 6 to 10 feet apart; if you have a larger group, consider grouping them in a circle to experience the power of making music in the round.

Take a chance on playing arranger by asking one person or small group to sing one phrase, another to answer it, and then the full ensemble the next. If you don’t have the voices to sing a piece in parts, substitute a melody instrument of some sort, such as handbells, glockenspiel, harp, guitar, or a solo stop on the organ. This approach also works great if you have a collection of hymn tune descants at your disposal and want to dress up the musical fabric in an out-of-the-ordinary way. (Note that all of these are safe ways to embellish the musical texture without releasing breath particles in the air stream.)

This idea of substitution comes from one of my heroes, the 17th-century composer and ever-pragmatic church musician Michael Praetorius, who told the choir directors of his day to freely use whatever instruments they had on hand (or could find) to mix and match if the desired instrument or singer wasn’t readily available. 

Finally, remember to pray

I (almost) hesitate to say this for fear of looking superficially pious, but it’s worth saying if only because I’ve ignored it in the past, and then usually to my peril. So pray. Pray for guidance and wisdom. Pray for courage to change and a calm spirit when leading others. Pray for God’s direction in your planning and God’s anointing on your rehearsing. Pray for those who sing for you now, and for the ones who will come to join you in the future. Pray for your congregation to be drawn closer to the living, loving God who speaks to them through the ministry of music that you exercise in their midst. This sounds like old-fashioned, simplistic advice, I know. I assure you that it isn’t. Prayer helps us to refocus attention away from our own egos and fears and back on the One who has called us—as well as the ones whom we are called to serve. In my 45 years of music making, it is the secret key and the missing ingredient. So try it.

In the end, limited forces don’t have to be limitations to enterprising conductors who are willing to see—and hear—things differently. Look at what you have around you, bloom where you are planted, and chase after excellence with all the passion you can muster. The results will surprise and please you, I promise!