Running After You: Faculty Voice Program & Choir Directors Training Program Wrap Up

I have been home almost a month now. It's hard to believe. I still feel like I just stepped off the plane. However, there is just so much that happened during my last weeks in India. May we rewind?

I decided around the 20th of March that it was time to go home. After deciding, I still needed to direct two different Kottayam Mixed Voices concerts, one on April 1st and the other on the 7th, so I decided to leave as soon as those were finished. We still needed to wrap up of all of the programs and tie some loose strings. With MUCH help, I was able to formally finish a lot of things. But after deciding to go home, sticking around for three additional weeks was very challenging. These were probably the most emotionally intense weeks of my time in India- an intense emotional blur, with far too many decisions and goodbyes to internalize while I was there. There was much to do in little time and so suddenly my schedule was full.

Anyhow, once I had decided I was leaving, I was afraid to tell everyone, afraid of what they would think, afraid that they would try to convince me to stay, afraid of how I would explain....just afraid of such a daunting task. But everyone was incredibly supportive- far more than I could ever have anticipated. Gigi Sir, in his ever-calm, even-keel, manner, had always said that "there is a solution to every problem." He saw this decision as the right and natural solution to a problem, and from then on, bent over backwards to help me complete everything I needed to. Vimal Sir was also so supportive and did everything in his power to help me complete the programs, just as he had been helping me every step of the way all year. Dear Ann, Rinsy, and Sheny encouraged me to do what was best for me and to not be afraid of going home, and they were right by my side during difficult hours. They laughed and cried with me. I will always love them as sisters. After all, they reasoned with me, the academic year was ending and the college was closing soon anyhow, as were many of my programs. They helped me with my decision and then to stick to it when I wavered. I was surrounded by many caring voices of love and reason, imploring me to not be afraid. To all of you who supported me, both near and far away during that time, thank you for encouraging me in doing what was right for me in a time where I was unsure and overwhelmed. I cannot express how thankful I am to you.

Work on the book for the Choir Directors Program came to a halt. (At that point, I had about 3 or 4 chapters written). We had originally decided that a video and audio component would be necessary to supplement the book, especially in explaining and demonstrating vocal techniques, warm-ups, and the conducting elements we had covered in class. So I spent some significant time before I left videorecording all of this for the choir directors' use. This was with Dr. Aswan, of Harp n'Lyre's, help. It was pretty funny doing a lot of the teaching and lecturing again but just to a camera. :) So now we've got about 4 to 5 hours of video of me explaining this stuff. I hope it will be useful.

We finished up the Faculty Voice program. Before concluding the program, we reviewed all that we had covered all year and had a kind of informal exam so that I could evaluate what all they had retained, and they also filled out evaluations on what they had thought of the course, what was most helpful, what was least helpful, suggestions, etc. The feedback was excellent and most encouraging, and the "exams" showed that most of the student retained much of the basic music fundamentals we'd learned. But far more importantly, we had spent many hours together and bonded. In those last classes, I was acutely aware of the enthusiasm and the devotion of the faculty. We sang even when the power went out, and had class by the light of our cell phones. When the sound of the rain made it hard to hear, we huddled closer together and sang louder. Ben and Steve, the youngest students, picked up everything we'd learned all year in about two weeks, and caught everyone else up. :)

As for the Choir Directors Program, we finished it up by compressing all of the information into two or three more highly-concentrated sessions. Our last classes were really great- I felt like we had finally achieved our goal of creating a forum where opinions and questions were freely expressed. I was proud and happy to stand back as the students took on a much more involved role. We spent a lot of time discussing rehearsal strategies and techniques: what the rehearsal environment should and should not be, how to rehearse, how to pace the rehearsal...and how to really teach and rehearse a piece of music well-what to do when and what not to do when. After lots of discussion, I felt like there was a lot of new knowledge shared that the choir directors were excited to implement.

During our last class, the class was instructed to lead and explain as many warm-ups as they could without any help from me or from notes. I left the room while they discussed and brainstormed, and came back to discover that they had successfully remembered every warm-up I'd taught them and could lead one another in them! We spent the rest of the session in a kind of choral-troubleshooting session: "Common Problems in Your Choir and How to Fix Them." I encouraged them to bring their choir's unique issues to the table to discuss. As each issue was presented, they were encouraged to discuss their own solutions based on what all they had learned before I gave my input. I feel that I have been able, throughout the entire course, to supply them with many of the tools they will need for their choral "toolbag."

Additionally, we arranged two make-up days for students who had missed classes so that they could still learn the material.

Before qualifying for their certificate, each student completed a comprehensive take-home exam of everything that we had learned since Day 1- a lot of material. We also had a separate conducting exam. All in all, our course ended being about 50 hours of instruction.

So from November to April, here's what all we covered in the course:

Kodaly rhythms and hand signals
Warm-ups: understanding and leading them
Voice training
Sight-reading and rhythm-reading
Listening to good recordings to identify and break down "the good choir sound"
Listening to local recordings to discuss what to improve and how to improve it
Common pronunciation errors in singing
The basics of choral conducting (this was the majority of the course)
Expression, phrasing, and text painting
Score preparation-developing an "Aural Image"
Executing the Aural Image
Structuring your rehearsal
Rehearsal strategies, environment, pacing
Rules of singing-(diphthongs, consonants, etc.)
Common problems and how to fix them

They also filled out class evaluations and I was blessed to have excellent feedback. Everyone expressed that the course had been extremely helpful, informative, and a great opportunity. Most remarked that they had really appreciated its structure and highly-organized nature, and that it had also been enjoyable and eye-opening. One faculty member wrote, "This was perhaps the most organized course I have ever attended, or ever will attend."

I'm writing these things not to toot my own horn, but to express my complete awe at just what an awesome opportunity this was. Truly, I feel that God really blessed this course and made it everything it was. It became so much more than I ever expected. I fumbled my way around, having never taught a course before. It was only through His grace that it was a success. I am so proud of my students, their hard work, and all that they learned and taught me. God awoke such a deep passion in me for teaching this course.

Because of His grace and the success of the program, it was decided that the Choir Directors Training Program would continue next year, as well, still as an official certificate program through the college. I am proud to have founded this and I hope that the seeds I planted will be able to grow and flourish far into the future. I hope that the book I'm working on will be a way to continue to share my knowledge (limited as it is) with the choirs of Kerala. I hope that this is just the beginning of much learning and sharing- and much beautiful singing.

Last Faculty Voice Training Program session

Front row L to R: Susan Miss, Rachel Miss, Ajitha Miss, Ben
Cinny Miss, Shobhana Miss, in the back, Mary Chandy Miss, Rebecca Miss

Photos from last CDP class: