Music Is Relationship

"To sing like this, in the company of other souls, and to make those consonants slip out so easily and in unison, and to make those chords so rich that they bring tears to your eyes. This is transcendence. This is the power that choral singing has that other music can only dream of." --Garrison Keillor

Relationships are the most important things that were ever created.  They are the very things that make us feel alive.  More so than any personal belongings, any amount of wealth, any amount of prestige, relationships going well instill life within us or drive us to the depths of despair when they go bad.  Even the drama of 4^th grade girls struggling through relationships proves their power over the human soul.

The most important relationship is between us and God, should we choose to acknowledge it.  It isn’t my purpose here to preach a theology but to recognize what millions of people all over the world have recognized:   That a relationship with a “higher power” brings purpose to life, meaning to existence and hope for the future.

Music is one of the most beautiful things created.  For those with whom it strikes the innermost chords of our being, nothing else touches us to the depths that music does.  It summons within us feelings of joy and even ecstasy and can move us to tears of overwhelming sadness and grief.  The beauty of the instrument or the voice resonates within us as nothing else does.  The message that music conveys enters our mind and is cemented there quicker than the spoken word.  There are very few who cannot recognize the beauty that music adds to our existence.

These ideas taught by Dr. Gary Bonner, Master Conductor, that Music Is Relationship and that The Process Is More Important Than The Product have resonated with me for years.  In my experience of participating in the creative process of music, particularly Choral music, I have found that void of relationship, music is a stale, cerebral, mathematical experience.  When the ebb and flow of relationship is allowed to embrace the creative musical experience, suddenly life is breathed into music and music becomes alive.  Author Robert H. Mitchell says “Intrinsic to this process are matters of relationship – that which is going on between persons – and matters of attitude.”

So in the creative process we realize that every step, every breath, every phrase and beat is as important as the final cadence.  Growth does not equal product, it equals process.  Look at any living organism and see growth happening in process.  When the process happens correctly the final product is wonderful.  The joy of leadership is to facilitate that growth process.

It also means that the process will never be the same twice because we are never the same twice.  When we allow our relationships to impact the musical process we watch music ebb and flow, because life ebbs and flows.  The impact of our relationships upon our music brings that music to life and the performer and the audience knows it. They may not know why the music feels alive, but they know it does none the less.

Relationship happens between the director and accompanist/orchestra, director and choir, choir and audience,  director and God, choir and God, audience and God.  These are the links that connect the pieces and infuses life to the music.  Unity in connecting these pieces is difficult to achieve by committee and often the process is unproductive.  Vision and direction typically comes from the top, the Conductor and disseminates to the others, particularly to the “cream of the crop” so to speak.  An interesting thing then happens:  As the “cream” rises to meet the challenge, share the vision, and bring the music to life, all the others rise with it.   Very few are left to drown below.  When the best of the bunch are challenged everyone tends to rise to the challenge.  Everyone then experiences the life of the music and the process of excellence otherwise not available to the lone participant.

With that in mind, in the process of music being relationship and creating music that is alive, the Conductor's role is to link the music with the relationships.  Thus, his primary role will be to help the music come alive for the singers and players.  He will do whatever is necessary to engage in relationship and connect that with the music.  So he will seldom be performing himself, but working hard to connect all the various aspects of the musical creation with the relationships important at any given moment.  This means that it is ultimately his vision that is connected to and all involved feel and experience the life of that process.  That may sound like a selfish process.  It is, however, a intensely unselfish process where music and emotion is given away to be scrutinized and devoured by all others. And hopefully enjoyed.

Relationships have such power over an individual.  As we cultivate relationships in the creative process we give power to our music.  And music becomes alive.