Bad Pork

I am fortunate to have an intern at choir this semester. He really took it on the chin at the last rehearsal as the accompanist tried to follow his lead. I wonder he didn't just quit on the spot! He is a good musician, but new at conducting. He does very well for as little experience as he has had so far. Once he does get some experience he will be excellent. His musical ability is solid.

He has been conducting one piece each month, and I try to select a piece that will offer him a single challenge rather than a plethora of difficulties. This month perhaps I did him the disadvantage of selecting a piece the choir worked very hard on last year, a piece we sang at the Cluster Choir event. They did a great job of singing my interpretation of the music.

Unfortunately, the intern heard the music in a somewhat different vein. He tried to convince the choir to do it his way, and the choir was willing. But when the accompanist had a hard time with it, things began to fall apart. I wasn't sure whether to intervene or just let him learn on his own. Sometimes the best way to get something is to struggle with it yourself.

In the end, I did make a small suggestion, and he said his instructor had told him the same thing. He tried it and it worked.

This morning though, I got a call from him. Turns out he had some bad pork and had been up all night being sick. So much for conducting the piece. I feel bad that he put so much work into it and won't even be able to try it out. Well, back to the drawing board. It is as much a learning process for me to find repertoire that will help him as it is for him to learn how to meet the conducting challenges of each score.