by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood
How do I choose music for the Spirit Choir?
Is it good music? Does it have educational potential?
Will the choir be able to learn it in time?
Do the lyrics reflect Unitarian Universalist values and the theme of the month?
Does it help to fulfill the choir’s desire for musical diversity?
Unless I am aware and comfortable with the choir’s strengths and weaknesses, I won’t be able to answer those questions. For me, the choir’s greatest strengths are enthusiasm, trust and openness, and soulfulness.
To showcase the choir’s enthusiasm I choose pieces with a strong beat like “Give a Little Love”, or “I’ll Be There”. It is much easier to try and tone down a choir that puts too much in than pump up a choir that doesn’t give.
The choir’s trust in me and in each other helps to foster stronger bonds between the members. We care about each other and can take risks and improvise and experiment. I am learning along with them. An example is our arranging “Go Down, Moses” and writing an open ending that we figured out together, collaborating on the choreography.