First the things I really do like: Gareth is young and enthusiastic and he genuinely and passionately believes, as I do, that community singing is good for people and should be available to everyone. His beliefs are powerful and positive and I totally and wholeheartedly agree. The things he says are true and wonderful and lovely. And his enthusiasm makes it real for the singers he recruits. That's great.
In fact, Gareth does a lot of things right. He wants to bring classical music to the masses, but he uses pop music as a gateway (one of my complaints about Glee is that real art is nowhere to be seen, but Gareth, while he acknowledges the challenge of getting newcomers inside classical music, is interested in art). He teaches competently, and is a sweet guy who clearly wants what is best for the kids he's working with.
But.
He's trained in musical theater, basically. He does not have, so far as I can tell, training as a music educator much less as a conductor. And that shows. I'll wait until I see more episodes before I get specific in that regard, so I'm not judging based on just five minutes of edited rehearsal footage. But, I have written over and over again on this blog that many things are required for success in conducting. Gareth has most of them. The thing he lacks is the most undervalued of all: training. It is the thing most conductors lack, frankly. I mean, speaking of community choir conductors and church organists and the well-intentioned people who get into leading choirs because the choir needs a leader and they have some musical training, so they get sucked into conducting. That's Gareth's story, too. And it's a shame. Because some training could really benefit him and his singers.
There's more. Besides, Gareth's lack of conducting training, there are some reality problems with the show. The words that follow are the responses of my husband, with whom I agree, but who is probably more entitled to these opinions than I am:
My administration's never given me support like that. They don't think I'm a boon to the school--just a distraction from the real curriculum. [The principal and other administrators do not even attend his performances, in which three hundred students participate and a thousand family members make up the audience.]
I'd like to see him do that without a camera crew and the carrot of a free trip to China at the end.
Of course all those parents are thrilled to see their kids in choir: they don't have to spend eight months fundraising to send the kid on a trip to go sing.
Okay, now I'd like to see him do that every day for twenty years.
And so on. My husband has done it every day for twenty years. He takes his auditioned Chamber group on tour every year, to Europe every other year. They fundraise. They get grants from the town and from local businesses. They have a booth at the Harvest Moon Festival on the town green every fall. They purchase music and perform two concerts every year, plus singing at the elementary schools, Memorial Day ceremonies, etc. They sustain a program, playing the long game. They sing quality repertoire--Faure and Mozart!--in addition to some gateway pop.
I already wrote my ode to music teachers. I have to say, my strongest feeling after watching the first episode of The Choir was that it cheapens what those professionals do. I mean, I know, it also celebrates the value they bring because is showcases how powerfully music affects the singers, how the experience touches them. But to celebrate the fast-and-furious, short-term success of a one-off season just doesn't take into account the marathon longevity of a career music educator.
Maybe he'll talk about that later--about establishing a program and maintaining it.
But, in the absence of that acknowledgement, I found it hard to watch. But I found reflecting on it interesting. So I'll keep it on the DVR and write about next week, too.
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