The Cecilia Ensemble is the region’s premier high school treble chorus and Grand Monadnock Youth Choirs’ (GMYC) only high school ensemble. As we approach our international concert to Italy later this month, I am swirling with confusion and love and so many emotions as choral music ground me, allows my students to soar, and challenges us all. Choral singing is more than just making music, as you may have experienced yourself, and as you’ll read in my reflections below. Together, we are rallying with all of those who are struggling through difficult times, especially those who have attempted suicide. We are here, all together, with you.
Dear ones, choral singing is special in so many ways. From the first peoples, we have always sung together. Singing is a journey of beautiful sounds in unison and in harmony. Singing together involves every single person engaged at their highest potential. Although we create music as individuals, audiences and singers are unified in a transcendent space.
Beneath the beauty and chaos, singing invites us to develop our own illimitable potential. Individuals in high school are developing billions of connections both within their thought-centers but also within their relationships to each other and with the world. High schoolers seek truth, meaning, justice, and respect. These individuals are constantly balancing the many aspects of their lives including their social interactions, emotional strength, educational commitments, and self-care. At times our balance can be thrown off; these moments of imbalance offer the greatest potential for growth. Growth-mindset is a recently developed theory replaces “can’t” with “not yet.” Through “yet-ing” in choral music, young singers unlock the potential to see challenges as growth opportunities. We embrace our imperfections, explore music and technique using a variety of approaches, and celebrate actions and not inherent traits.
Making music together is not only an act of beauty and excellence but is an opportunity for renewed connection and is full of potential. Every time Cecilia Ensemble makes music, it is a new performance. New ideas, thoughts, and feelings, are conjured within the singers during the performance and demand to be nurtured uniquely at a moment’s notice. The most beautiful music is cared for lovingly, prepared with dedication, and performed as free artists who are expressing a new idea and telling a new story every single time.
It is for this reason and so many more that I urge you to listen closely to each piece. Singers may recall a joke, or a touching memory, or even a loved one who is distant or deceased. Although you cannot hear their thoughts, you will feel their personal connections to the poetry and music in their song. You will see that beauty on their faces. Music itself is captured in scores and on staff lines, but performers must breathe it into life. This music will never be the same twice; it is happening in the Now within the transcendent space. This is precious and wonderous.
Esther Rhoades is artistic director of the Grand Monadnock Youth Choirs. You can learn more about the choirs at www..GrandMonadnockYouthChoirs.org.