Page 22 - CJNov_Dec24

An Interview with Stephen Cleobury

College is still quite distinguishable. Cleobury explains find a way of working quickly enough to satisfy the older
his philosophy of unifying an ensemble straightfor- ones while not working so quickly that the younger ones
wardly, emphasizing the importance of blending vow- are completely baffled. In recent years I’ve increasingly
els and volume. Although this simple statement about split them up into groups—the younger group and the
blending voices may sound very familiar to the reader, older group—so we can work at different speeds, and
it is an illustration that time-honored principles are work on solo work and semi-chorus work with the older
time-honored for a reason. Further, one may ask how ones, while the younger ones work at a slower speed on
Cleobury approaches vowel color in blending voices. basic repertoire.
In the interview relating to the 1999 recording of
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the Rachmaninov Vespers, Cleobury emphasized the Do you have an established pattern for prepar-
order of approach to language in singing, suggesting ing a piece over several rehearsals? For exam-
that vowel colors are not abstract nor subject to the ple: when do you introduce text or articulation/
whim of a director. Rather, the vowel colors directly phrasing in the process?
precede from the sound of the language itself.
I’m told that the parts of the brain that deal with
text and that deal with music (pitch, and so on) are dif-
Category 2: Rehearsal Technique ferent, so you’re obviously having to engage all that. I

think I can probably best answer that question by saying
What are your priorities in planning a rehears- it depends on what the piece is—on what we’re doing.
al? In some pieces, you go straight for it, and other pieces
may need separating out in the ways you described. It’s
Firstly, that it should be conducted in the most ef- not a definite pattern. It depends on the piece, and of
ficient manner possible, so that means that indeed you course also it depends on the ability of the people you’re
have to plan it, as you’ve said. Secondly, there’s a sort directing.
of predictable trajectory of attention span, as it were,
particularly with the children. Each morning I have a A few years ago, there was a much-talked-about
rehearsal with the choristers of King’s, which is fifty- piece in Gramophone regarding the twenty best
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five minutes duration. The first five minutes, we’re get- choirs in the world. Many British choirs were
ting everybody warmed up and switched on, ready for on the list, including yours. What do you think
the work, and then I would expect to do the most valu- contributes to the perception of British domi-
able work, say, within the next thirty to forty minutes. nance in choral music? And how is the British
So, if I’m wanting to teach a new piece or something system of choral training different from the
that is particularly taxing, that would be when I would American system?
do that, and then I might try to finish with something a
little bit better known. I don’t think I really know enough about the Ameri-
I think you have to know your group, and you have can system. I know that here, there’s an enormous vari-
to have a plan. You have to know what you want to ation in terms of what’s taught and how it’s taught. I
achieve. You have to help them feel they’ve achieved think certainly in the cathedral collegiate tradition in
something by not getting exceedingly delayed or bogged which I work and professional groups like the BBC
down at a particular point, knowing how much to say, Singers, quite a strong premium is put on the ability
how much to leave, keeping their interest. If you’ve got to sight-read. The advantage of that is you can learn
a mixed-age group such as I have with the choristers, things quickly. You can have a large repertoire, and you
you might have in front of you twenty-four children don’t get bogged down rehearsing the same piece for six
aged between nine and thirteen, and obviously the at- weeks on end, or whatever it might be.
tention span of those varies, and you’ve got to try and The other side of that coin is, of course, that we can

20 CHORAL JOURNAL November/December 2024 Volume 65 Number 4