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CHORTEACH

A Delicate Balance— REPLAY

Caring for the Music

and the Singers

by J. Dennis Morrissey

J. Dennis Morrissey is a past president of Illinois ACDA. choral rehearsal.
I conducted in-person interviews with twelve success-
Editor’s note: This section will appear in each issue of Chor- ful college/university choral conductors from my state of
Teach and will preview a past article from the archives. You Illinois, all of whom, as I will explain, care for both the
can view the full archives at acda.org/chorteach. (You must music and the singers. I use the word successful to describe
be logged into the website with your username and pass- choral directors who have made at least one appearance
word.) Following is a preview from the Spring 2021 issue. at a national or regional ACDA conference, conducting a
choir she or he rehearsed on a regular basis. Clearly, these
conductors could not be successful without caring for the
I’ve often marveled that some choral conductors can music. That they also care for the singers is evident both
consistently and even aggressively strive for choral excel- from the reputation each conductor has established for re-
lence in rehearsals and performance but without under- specting the humanity of his or her singers and from my
mining or damaging the relationship with their singers. personal observation(s) of each person in rehearsal.
These conductors have achieved what I call a delicate I am indebted to the conductors who supported this
balance—caring for both the music and the singers. This study by graciously consenting to be interviewed: Karyl
balance would seem particularly challenging to maintain Carlson, Illinois State University; Scott Ferguson, Illinois
at the college/university level, considering the attendant Wesleyan University; Joe Grant, University of Illinois
pressures that likely accompany frequent and musically de- at Urbana-Champaign (retired); Brad Holmes, Millikin
manding public performances. In an effort to glean some University; Mary Hopper, Wheaton College; Jon Hurty,
insights, I decided to undertake a study. Augustana College; Eric Johnson, Northern Illinois Uni-
My purpose was to explore the ways in which successful versity; John Jost, Bradley University (retired); Lee Kessel-
college/university choral conductors work to establish and man, College of DuPage; James Stegall, Western Illinois
maintain a balance between striving for musical excellence University (retired); Jeff Wilson, Greenville University (re-
(caring for the music) and valuing their choristers as human tired); and Ramona Wis, North Central College.
beings (caring for the singers), particularly in the context of the

ChorTeach Volume 15 • Issue 2 31 Winter 2023