During his lifetime, Robert Shaw was widely accepted as the unofficial Dean of American Choral Conductors. As such, he was in a firm position to remind choral singers of their responsibilities to their ensembles, and even more importantly, their responsibilities to the composer and the music. 

I’ve never forgotten his lectures on the subject, which came in both written and oral versions. They were always sincere, heartfelt, and often stinging, for they usually came in response to a less than acceptable rehearsal by his chorus. Those of us in the chorus often felt ashamed following such admonitions, as we were reminded that the music deserved no less than our best effort, and that we were risking the success of the upcoming performance and showing a lack of respect for our fellow singers when we came to rehearsal less than fully prepared. It was also noted by most of us that Mr. Shaw always came to rehearsals fully prepared, and it therefore seemed only proper that we should do likewise.

Once following a rather challenging rehearsal with my own chorus in which I felt an inordinate amount of time was spent correcting notes and intonation, I was led to write a note to my singers. First, I told them that much good had been accomplished as we fine tuned (both literally and figuratively) a number of spots in the music. The progress made during the rehearsal was substantial and I appreciated very much how hard everyone was working. Still, much of that work should have been done outside of the rehearsal and that brought me to my next point.

I addressed the importance of corporate and individual responsibilities in a choral rehearsal. This was something Robert Shaw discussed often with his singers, and it recognizes that what we present to an audience is a group effort made up of personal contributions. We know that in a choral performance we want to present a unified whole. But prior to achieving that unified whole there is an individual responsibility that must be accepted by each of us. Our corporate responsibility as a chorus to honor the composer and the music will always be controlled to a degree by each singer and his commitment to that corporate responsibility. 

The adage about a group being only as strong as its weakest member resonates strongly in choral ensembles. We become our best self (chorus) when each singer decides it really depends on him or her!