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Essentials in
Direct and Teach
Coffee Talk!
Charlie Metzger, CDD Committee Chairman and baritone with Antique Gold, 2006 Senior Quartet Champs, addresses the issues of various levels of directing techniques in a light, conversational style.
Updated: 9/27/2007 4:38:11 PM
Directing Levels
(Overheard in a quiet corner of the coffee shop at a recent barbershop convention)
Well, my friend, I hear you’ve taken up the barbershop baton again after a hiatus of several years. How are you doing as a director anyway?
Well, it’s difficult to know, very clearly. I’m so busy when I’m directing that it’s really difficult to tell. When I’m teaching the chorus, I’m preoccupied with the progress that the guys are making and the difficulties they’re having, and although I know that a lot of what they do is related to what I do, I’m still not really always sure what I’m doing that’s positive and what I’m doing that’s negative. I hardly have any attention to spare for those kinds of thoughts.
Well, I bet you’re clearer about it than you think! For starters, try thinking of yourself as a beginning director. What do you see yourself doing back then?
Well, if you put it that way, I guess I can try that. I remember spending a lot of my time and energy noticing that my gestures were only half learned and unclear. The guys didn’t get a lot of what I was trying to communicate – and they sounded like it too. I had a hard time looking at them and being inspiring because I had not learned to do that and listen and think at the same time. It wasn’t easy!
What were some of your obstacles about listening while directing?
I especially wanted to sing along or at least lip the words. I guess, deep down, I knew that they got better information from my mouth than from my hands. It must have been really confusing for them.
You certainly grew aware of some of these issues. What brought you to the conclusion that some things needed to change?
I learned that the guys sing so much better when they see me standing, breathing, and holding myself like a singer. That’s a really powerful unconscious message for them to use their whole bodies to support, sing without tension and resonate like they should.
What did you work at next?
After a while the directing patterns became automatic and I learned to use them effectively rather than slavishly. It’s nearly always more effective musically to give less information rather than more and save the full directing pattern to signal changes in tempo and places where the rhythm breaks the usual pattern.
What did you work on in regards to directing a ballad type song full of rubato?
I learned to direct differently when lyrics became the dominant message in a song and a rubato approach became important. I eventually became comfortable with moving free-flowing music from important word to important word while maintaining a freer sense of flow within the rhythm of the music.
It sounds like you were starting to get the hang of it!
I did and I also found that I got to be a better teacher. I began to listen more effectively and I was able to be helpful in a variety of ways rather than have only one or two strategies to improve things. I even got past trying to solve most problems by addressing vowel sound match – I think that was the only helpful thing I knew to do at one point!
Wow, you accomplished a lot to get to that point. It sounds like most everything really came together and you were much more effective!
Yes, it was something like finally getting all the stuff I had learned together enough so that I could really make it mine. I realized at one point that the next thing I had to do was learn to do less in order to be more effective. It really isn’t about me, after all. Really, it’s about the men of the chorus listening to each other with more intention to use what they hear. Encouraging all of that to happen for them was the next big challenge, and I’m still there; but making progress!
That’s amazing! Do you have any idea where to take the chorus and yourself next?
Well, while I’m working on all that, I keep the next goals in mind. While I direct more and more naturally and have to think less and less about the directing itself, the music comes to the fore. That’s beginning to happen. The chorus is becoming more and more aware of their ability to sing well all the time and not need the constant reminders. I learned a long while ago that what I show them is what I get back; and I really want to keep on learning how to show them what the music really is about at each moment. I think my life’s work as a director is clearly cut out for me and that I’m going to work happily forever to become a more accomplished musician in barbershop.
Well, keep the coaches coming in and maintain your habit of attending all the workshops and music schools for directors. I’m really glad the chorus supports you in learning everything you can!
Video really helps too, especially the videos of the director directing in competition that have been made recently. I learn a lot from watching them as well as listening to some of the chorus members who advise me. It’s great that they are willing to share the adventure with me!
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