In fact, the question can hardly be called idle. Now you find yourself in a warm company, where the regent does not understand the singers, twists ropes out of them, in return receiving disgusting singing and disrepute throughout the diocese, and you will involuntarily think about the philosophical questions of existence. At the same time, a great regent is able to make the choristers so fall in love with serving God that you can’t help but be amazed at how the destinies of some musicians can literally be marked from above. Interesting service to God in the choir, full of amazing discoveries, depends 70% on the talent of the regent, and I would like to make a couple of reflections - “what is he like, an ideal regent...”
Of course, it is difficult to expect that I will be objective in my article. Everyone needs their own from the regent, and I have my own views on the regency. But why not dream together? What if our thoughts coincide?
Why am I not a head guy?
Why am I not a head guy? Because, unfortunately, a different system of singing reigns in the modern Church.
Headmen were in the Orthodox Church at a time when:
- liturgical singing was a very harmonious system and included not only audible singing, but also knowledge of the exact laws of connecting the movement of the heart with the movement of the voice;
- when liturgical singing was declared a special discipline of the body, soul, and spirit;
- when the right spiritual life was proclaimed to be the cause and condition of a rightly constructed melody, and the singer was to become a kind of instrument of the Holy Spirit, and singing was to become theology in sounds;
- when liturgical hymns were not composed by composers, but were the fruits of the prayerful feat of monastics (for example, many people know the miraculous hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos “Agni Parthene,” which angels sang in a dream to Saint Nektarios of Aegina, who recorded the melody and all 24 verses of this hymn).
As a result of the breakdown of traditions, much has been lost today, and the system of liturgical singing has turned out to be supplanted by music, mostly composed, which is observed even in many monasteries; and people often come to the choir and church choir who are not churchgoers, which affects the quality of services.
The ability to fall in love with music...
Oh yes, this is literally the very essence of my dreams of a class regent.
For this quality, I am even ready to forgive the regent for the absence of all other qualities. Yes, yes, working with a good regent should not be boring and every work coming out of his hands should have an exciting and mysterious story behind it. I understand that in a single choir a chorus of cynics can gather who will look at the regent with sad, bored eyes, saying “stop your drooling already, let’s sing what we need to, serve the allotted hour and go home.” But this is already too advanced a situation, and we are not talking now about what an ideal church choir should be, we are still talking about choir directors. Therefore, for now only about the requirements for the regent. And the regent MUST love the works performed and be passionate about the choir work.
It's simple. If you yourself do not love the works you perform, you will not be able to convey this feeling to your choristers. And a piece performed without love is akin to a press release. What kind of “one heart” is there if there is no creative magic in the choir. But how cool it is when everyone is simply interested in singing a piece “like the last time” - on an outstanding creative surge.
I heard on the Internet a brilliant phrase from one regent: “Sing in the choir as if after the service you will die and the current service is your last chance to justify yourself before God.” What will your singing be like in this case? The truth is that one must always serve in this way, and it is the leader of the church choir who transfers the energy for such service to the choristers.
This advice is probably easier to give than to implement. In fact, “my mother sent her daughter to the regency school” and a student from such courses suddenly understands that music is interesting insofar as... What is more interesting is the spirit of the service, some kind of church cycle (or even simply marriage to a priest) rather than the beauty of the musical material. Well... This is already very good, because at least such a regent has a love for service; all that remains is to allow the flowers of zeal for God to sprout within himself - the desire to decorate the divine service with beautiful, soft-sounding chants that turn hearts to God.
What I consider important in church singing
In such circumstances, as regent, I am concerned about three main aspects:
- the style of the chants themselves, which the choir director freely chooses at his discretion from the huge number of notes available today;
- character, manner of singing;
- the internal state of the singers, their awareness of the ideological, confessional, spiritual content of each musical element and each word, the awareness that the process of performance itself is a consequence and manifestation of a specifically tuned human spirit.
In selecting the repertoire, I am guided by the fact that the chants give as little opportunity as possible for the singers to demonstrate their voices. St. Augustine says in his Confessions: “When it happens to me that the singing touches me more than what is sung, then I confess that I am grievously sinning, and then I would like not to hear the singer.”
St. says the same thing. John Chrysostom in one of his conversations: “The servant of Christ should sing so that the words he utters are pleasant, and not his voice.” In one of Archimandrite John Krestyankin’s letters to his spiritual children I found the following lines: “...professional singing rarely carries a living voice that reaches the Lord. You must have your heart turned to God. Only then will no one pay attention to your singing, but everyone will follow you to God.”
As for the manner of execution, we have the 75th rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (VII century), which has not been canceled. The Holy Fathers decreed: “We wish that those who come to the Church to sing do not use disorderly cries, do not force an unnatural cry out of themselves, and do not introduce anything incongruous and not characteristic of the Church: but with great attention and tenderness they offer psalmody to God, who watches over the hidden. For the Holy Word taught the children of Israel to be reverent.”
This is the key word for us: everything must be sung reverently in the Church. One person recently said: he was standing at a service in one of our churches, praying, and suddenly the soprano began to squeal, he wanted to run away, the prayer collapsed. We must remember that the Church is not a concert hall or a theater, but a prayer meeting of believers. There is no place for emotions in the temple, otherwise spirituality is replaced by soulfulness. Some parishioners also sometimes sin with this when, while singing the Creed or Our Father, they try to outshout others and even the choir.
Good professional...
Professionalism is a gain and that’s why I put this point in third place.
Since in this block we are talking about purely professional things, it probably makes sense not to wander too much in thought and give a brief and concise description of those professional qualities of the regent that you simply want to see in him. Ideal for reading sheet music.
You can’t even imagine how tedious and uninteresting the rehearsal will be with a regent who cannot sing his own part and cannot hear whether the others are singing correctly. Sight reading is mandatory for the regent. Practice, what else can I say. Maybe I'll write an article on how to do this. If you don’t have sight reading in perfect form yet, get ready for rehearsals. Thoroughly. Well, don’t forget to learn everything related to the theoretical and musical part.
Musical taste and knowledge of the capabilities of their choristers.
If you have 4-5 people in the choir, and you take Chesnokov, you are either a genius or an overly enthusiastic person living in your own world. You need to take works based specifically on the capabilities of your composition. Moreover, your taste should allow you to find these works (for example, on the Internet), sifting out a lot of musical garbage, which, alas, is in abundance. Repertoire is a good half of success. And a regent with good taste knows how to select this repertoire.
It’s almost a shame to mention the need to have good hearing and a pleasant timbre of a voice, since it seems obvious that the regent must be a musically literate person, able to solfegge, set a distinct tone, and have an understandable conductor’s gesture. It’s easy to study, study and study again.
Stress resistance.
Yes, this is also professional quality. Emergency situations often arise in the choir. The rector, who becomes unstuck from any problem or a piece of work that has just sounded disgusting, considering the service irretrievably ruined, must get rid of such character traits. A good regent is akin to a surgeon allowing a patient to die on the operating table. This is life and not everything works out well right away. If a surgeon, in any difficult situation, fell into hysterics near a prostrate patient, the mortality rate in the hospital would increase sharply and I would not seek to be treated by this doctor. And you?
About discipline in the church
The question of discipline in the church, of the deanery of singers in the choir and choir is also important to me. Our singers often believe that their purpose is not to pray, but to perform singing work, during which they can behave quite freely, allowing idle conversations, jokes, even laughter during the reading of the reader, correspondence or negotiations on a cell phone. In some churches, during the Six Psalms they even go out to smoke. Moments of reading are perceived as a break from work.
The church choir should include not just professionals who want to sing for a certain fee, but also those who value the Church and honor its holiness. I hope that in our church the Lord gathered just such people in the choir. I love them all very much and every day I remember their health at morning prayers, I order services for them on holidays and when they are sick.
All our singers periodically participate in the sacrament of confession and receive Holy Communion. Before the start of each service, we ask each other for forgiveness and blessings. During rehearsals and singing, we prayerfully turn for help to our temple saints, to the patron saint of the Ural singers, the Holy Martyr. Vyacheslav Nevyansky, as well as to the patron saint of all singers, St. Roman Sladkopevets.
And so that the singers have a perspective for striving for self-improvement, an idea of the ideal, I wrote commandments for our choir that I can share.
One mouth, one heart...
Under this beautiful phrase (or more precisely, an excerpt from a prayer) lies the essentially simple and cruel truth of life.
Most regents DO NOT live up to their rank and are simply called by a name other than theirs. And in general, they chose the wrong profession. What do you think, what does “one mouth, one heart” mean? Oh, well...many people will easily convince me..."how, they say...you don’t understand the meaning of this phrase"? I counter...most regents do not understand the meaning of this phrase. In any case, there is such a feeling... The initial thought is as simple as a kamilavka. In the choir there should be such an environment when everyone literally has one heart for everyone, the singers live as one family, breathing only praise to God. Well... Those are nice words, but they imply collective responsibility, okay? If choristers devote themselves to service, it would be great if the regent in return would at least delve into the troubles and difficulties of his team, wouldn’t it? Otherwise, the question arises about the incorrect work of the “one heart”, because it works somehow surprisingly one-sidedly - only for the image of the regent/his status/salary.
If you are a regent, how well do you know your choristers' struggles in life? What do they love, what makes them sick, what makes them happy and what makes them sad? The truth is simple - you must, you must, as a regent, take an interest in the life of your team. Of course, the question arises: “why does the regent need this?”
The answer is obvious - to help and support your choir members in word and deed.
You, as a regent, are obliged to communicate with the rector and work with him on the subject of financial assistance to one or another singer, or on the subject of finding the ideal rate, searching for various material incentives. If a regent is able to get a good singer a good salary, this is by definition a good regent, because he does not put the singer in the awkward position of a humiliated petitioner, but allows him to concentrate on work. Here I would like to clarify this point. The work of the regent in this matter should be two-sided and also applies to the team. For example, it is very appropriate in advance, before problems and notorious temptations arise, to demonstrate your concern to this or that singer, saying, “I went to the rector, tried to get you a bonus, but so far they don’t give a bonus to anyone at the parish, because the difficulties are of such and such order.” This process is reminiscent of communicating with a child, to whom the mother explains why she cannot buy this or that toy. Oh yes, the right regent in my dreams is very reminiscent of an experienced educational psychologist with great authority in the parish.
Support cannot and should not always be expressed financially. Very often, just a kind word, a warm gesture, a grateful look is important. People of art are often surprisingly ideological and ready to work for pennies with the proper moral motivation. Phrases addressed to the singer like “I am very happy to work with you, you are a very valuable member of our team” work with a bang. But regents are often very stingy with such words.
Dear Regents. It costs you nothing to say praise. Yes, such praise will not be born naturally and not immediately and not on the first day of work. Perhaps the young regent will experience some constraint when trying to follow my recommendations, but he will master the path. Starting today, in a few years you will be a master of church politics and a specialist in resolving any conflict situations.
"Ten Commandments for Ideal Singers"
- On the way to the temple, say prayers (including the prayer of those going to church, “We rejoice in those who said to me: Let us go to the house of the Lord...”).
- During the service, listen to the words of prayers and Holy Scripture, do not allow extraneous conversations (except for those comments and instructions that are necessary during the service); raise your mind to Heaven.
- Remember the great responsibility of singers before God and people - through our lips parishioners offer prayers to God.
- Set the principle for yourself as the basis for angelic singing in church: “God should not be sung with the voice, but with the heart.” Do your best as if this is your last service.
- Do not start singing in anger, irritation, or without forgiving your neighbor.
- Keep all fasts whenever possible, including Wednesday and Friday.
- Approach Holy Communion at least 4 times a year, that is, during each of the fasts (or preferably once a month), in order to have spiritual reinforcement and not become an enemy of Christ.
- Appearance correspond to the appearance of an Orthodox person. For women: a skirt to the ankles or below the knees without deep slits, sleeves no higher than the elbow, legs covered with knee socks or socks.
- Remember the commandment “Blessed are the peacemakers, for these shall be called the sons of God.” Recognize the virtues of others and be forgiving of the shortcomings and weaknesses of others.
- Follow the advice of St. Rev. in all circumstances. Ambrose of Optina: do not judge anyone, do not annoy anyone, and express your respect to everyone.
With love, your regent"
In general, our choir is very friendly.
One of the singers, Anastasia Pronkina (this is my daughter), wrote a poem “Dedicated to my beloved choir...” . Here is the poem:
Should the regent be a believer?
Ideally, yes.
Because without spiritual content, without an ideological shell, the choir can easily slide into a banal musical “hack job” for making money. This often happens and old choristers become banal “hack workers” looking for a better rate. And it’s like, what’s wrong with that? The musician wants to earn money, and not from a rich life. The fact is that singing in the choir is very difficult work. And if you remove the spiritual component from it, the singer deprives himself of a very important ideological element - the joy of serving God. Yes, a professional musician often acquires an equally professional cynicism from a difficult life, and I really feel pain and pity for the musician’s brother. But at the same time, I understand how the idea of serving God can warm, delight, and give meaning to life.
In fact, any salary sooner or later ends up in your city's sewer system. But joyful parishioners, a rector happy with the singing, and personal satisfaction with the process remain for life. This is a somewhat more complete joy than the taste of just eating a sandwich or an apple.
I am aware of how great the difference is between the existing regents and the image drawn in my dreams.
Yes, it's hard to be a fan of your business. Yes, it is difficult to become an outstanding professional. But you have to dare. To love your work so much that you give it the best hours of every day, to love your choristers so much that you give them the cream of your heart. Fantasy? Poetry of the Silver Age? Maybe. But you need to dream. For the ability to dream is in many ways what makes us human.
The singer will sing on the heavenly choir...
