"Melanin Messiah Notes: Confessions of a Rogue Basso Continuo Player"

"Melanin Messiah Notes: Three-Year Confessions of a Rogue Basso Continuo Player"

Three years ago I got a call to play a “Messiah gig”, which for most string players is a common holiday season musical experience. (For most orchestral players, if you're not playing Messiah, then you're playing Nutcracker!! Either oratorio or ballet!!) These gigs usually involve one two-hour rehearsal and the performance—also of about two hours’ duration.  A violinist once told me that she played sixteen different performances of the oratorio Messiah of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) in one holiday season...done by that many respective choral groups!! While I have been hearing the music of this work as long as I can remember, my first-hand performing experience of this work began during my graduate school years three decades ago, and they continue today!!

In the "orchestra"--I played as cellist of a string quartet, along with a pianist (a rehearsal necessity for most choral ensembles) and an organist. (Organists have a traditional “odd instrument out” position in such productions, depending on the availability and capability of an instrument. Most organs are electric and/or electronic for performances and tend to be played…TOO loudly.)  The choir was a “community” ensemble, directed by an elderly woman whose conducting “technique” left me with more than a few surprises, which I discovered with surprising astonishment and sometimes even fearful trepidation!! The choir sings for the love of the music and the cooperative experience of singing together. While its membership is racially integrated, it should be mentioned with emphasis that the majority of the ensemble is comprised of African Americans. This matter will receive additional comment later.

The rehearsal began with the gradual arrival and participation among all performing forces (minus the organist). The choir was of “late middling age” (they're mostly senior citizens--I just don't think that they have all moved to those communities of downsized apartments). I doubt very seriously that there were any members who were above 85 years of age (but there may be!!). I only recall noticing one or two members who appeared to be less than forty. All of the soloists were drawn from the choir, and sang with moderate vocal distinction. While the work opens with an instrumental Overture, the rehearsal began instead with the opening recitative and aria for tenor, “Comfort Ye”. Such is not a problem generally--in fact, it’s a rather “user-friendly beginning”--except for the tenor soloist. It was at this point that I began to discover exactly HOW the choral director communicated her musical intentions and directives to the choir and instrumentalists. She did not “conduct” in the way expected by most musicians; she used a choral-piano score sitting on a music stand RAISED HIGH, but kept her hands close to the stand--making it very difficult for me to see and follow her conducted gestures. Now “those gestures”--didn’t always pertain to the rhythms, meter, tempo, mood and character of the music…OR even the tone of the text!! This made for a “guessing game” that I had never encountered before!! When I tried to ask a few questions about her conducted intentions, I failed to get helpful information nor any clearer indications upon repeated rehearsal.

The largest ensemble issue I encountered was the matter of tempo establishment and maintenance—which is not unusual, given the demands of Handel’s imitative writing in so many of the commonly-sung choruses. The conductor “conducted”—not to the instrumentalists but to the choir…even to the extent that she would even stop conducting during the orchestral postlude to seat the choir--following the choir’s “exit”--but before the music of the chorus had finished singing. While such a motion didn’t disrupt the performance, it wasn’t entirely necessary; it didn’t save very much time in performance, and might be viewed as a “LESS than GOOD directorial habit”. ALL…and I do mean ALL of her conducted cues required the strangest measure of “visual guesswork” on the part of the instrumentalists—because she kept her hands so low and the music stand so high!! She gave little to no clear preparatory beats, which serve to indicate the conductor’s intended tempo. Since the choir never sang in the first measure of any chorus, the job of “catching the tempo”…fell to the instrumentalists. Therefore, the practice of this “community” choir pretty much excused any excesses of tempo (often due to the technical limitations of the pianist, upon whom the choir is HIGHLY dependent!!). The instrumentalists are brought in ONLY for the rehearsal the day before the performance--which is but a run-through, NOT a rehearsal. In fact, MOST rehearsals involving orchestral musicians are really run-throughs, which is both a reflection of good choral and conductor preparation, but not always a guarantee of the most effective degree of musical learning.

Needless to say, that first year was a doozy!! I learned how difficult the conductor was to follow, but in the second year I learned…how to solve a few musical problems without frustrating the limited abilities of the conductor!! At this point I must pause and describe the design of the performance space, a church sanctuary. The pulpit and choir loft occupied the majority of a triangle-shaped area. The choir occupied three rows of the loft, but sat nearly ten feet behind the strings, who were all but trapped between the immovable pulpit lectern, the conductor, and the large pulpit "thrones" against a low wall that separated the main pulpit from the front section of the choir loft, which was humanly unoccupied but taken up instead by a trap drum set and other unused electrical instruments of “praise-band worship”. The piano and organ were situated at the opposite “points of this triangle”, which made visual and acoustic coordination difficult. At the “rehearsal-through” (which the organist did not attend, it wasn’t necessary for me to stay seated next to the organ where I had been the previous year...'remember my previous comment about rehearsals?), I took the proactive “liberty” of moving away from the traditional seating of the string quartet to sit next to the pianist. Once I got seated next to the pianist, I assured her that I would try to match her left hand on every beat. Once that happened, the sense of rhythmic stability and coordination for everyone...solidified almost immediately. The adjusted seating choice of mine had a mixed advantage: I was able to match the attack of the piano sound with immediate consistency, but I ended up with a rather uncomfortable sitting position...on the steps leading up into and from the choir loft itself.

The one issue that didn’t get solved was the sight problem between the first violinist of the string quartet: while the conductor was hard enough to watch and follow (or not!!), the first violin had to play with her back to the pianist and me. The only way avert such a blind playing situation would’ve been to use an organ loft mirror!! Fortunately there was only one bad moment of coordination, and hopefully there were ten great ensemble moments to offset that one!!  Even though I was able to play right with the pianist (who wore bangles on her right arm that jingled as she played!!), the challenge of “maintaining ensemble” between the choir (who were seated some ten feet behind the instrumentalists), the conductor (who maintained her hand and stand positions) fell to the “New Rhythm Section--#CelloArtBlakey and #Ms88Keys”!!  The challenge of the second year’s performance--watching, anticipating, coordinating, adjusting…and when necessary “usurping the choreographed attack”—made that performance both memorable and even downright “insurrective”!!

The next “lesson” I learned from that Year Two experience involved navigating the tricky matters of vocal phrasing during the recitatives and arias: some recitatives contained completely unforeseen moments of flexibility, sometimes connected to a key word, a pitch or place in the vocal ranges of each soloist. The “rehearsal-through” was the only time and place to hear, learn and “catch” these idiosyncrasies..quickly!! The soloists have practiced these nuances all throughout the year “beyond the point of habit”, but the expectation of instrumentalists is that all these nuances resonate as clear as day because this work is so…“familiar”. So the demand of correct and “sensitive” accompaniment and ensemble amid this MOST unique coincidence of performance circumstances fell to me. (It’s the strange, hidden curse of bass players; somehow, singers in bands are known to complain the most...'about the bass player!!).

Year Three’s performance turned out to be the “victim” of two strangely fortunate events: the original performance date was postponed due to a water leak that caused flooding in the sanctuary. A substitute venue was located, but a recent "winter storm" caused all events in the area to be cancelled. The relocated and rescheduled event took place three weeks later. The secondary venue sanctuary was a larger and more resonant having more open and flexible space. Sight lines between instrumentalists were all more direct, and all were able to be seated more closely together. The conductor’s technique hadn’t changed ('neither better nor worse), the choir sang like they knew how ('they've found a tempo that they could maintain and stuck with it!!), and the instrumentalists, on predictable occasions, had to: a) watch for what we may see and be expected to play with; b) anticipate that which will be expected but not necessarily conducted; c) coordinate that which may be helpful to all involved; d) adjust to the need of the vocalists, from the recitatives and arias to the full choruses; e) and when absolutely necessary, “usurp” the choreographed “attack”, in the defiant interest of forcing clarity in moments that can’t be redone.

The Unexpectable…and Ineffable...

The effect of the music upon the audience, regardless of the “rehearsal-through challenges”: I’ve often remarked to my students and colleagues that “the music is most often the result of gracious adjustment IN THE MOMENT, and not always a repetition of details gained only through practice, repetition and rehearsal.” (Translation: we can practice and rehearse until we are blue in the face, but the most important use of that time is gaining an acquisition of ultimate intimacy so that WHATEVER HAPPENS, the integrity of the learning process remains constant, sometimes leading to a higher and deeper level of musical expression...that would’ve been impossible to attain otherwise.)  The audience was profoundly moved by the performance of all involved. The host pastor of the church spoke of his desire to sing in the chorus himself—a GREAT indicator of moving interest in future activity!! I believe that the venue made the greatest difference in the quality of interaction between all performers, all previous challenges strangely notwithstanding!!

NOW to the Lesson: What Have I Learned In And Through All This??

1.     “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. The message of the music—the story of Messiah and His glory--is greater than the musical score itself. In the formalist arm and aim of the Euro-American classical music tradition (where “access to and the wield of information somehow inbreeds privilege”), this second message gets lost amid our desire to excel and be appreciated.

2.     Stability and Consistency are greater than “Perfection”. When musicians can get to a place of stability and consistency in rhythm, ensemble coordination and expression, all other matters shrink in importance. (They don’t disappear altogether; they just shrink.)

3.     Even the technical limitations of the conductor, and the "habitual" singing of the chorus…can help make us better musicians. When those choral tempi sag to painful slowness, there is still an opportunity to play with great musicality.

4.     Usurping the downbeat…or the tempo should happen “as a last resort” in the defense of ensemble stability.

5.     Knowing the score, and knowing your part…makes a HUGE difference. But “knowing the score…ISN'T KNOWING IT ALL”… (Gracious scholarship instead of knowledgeable egotism and vanity). Be Great to Work With, instead of just Being a Great Player…

The Larger Matter--Considering the Importance and Meaning of Maintaining This Tradition In The African American Community: It goes without saying that the present time is quite unique in American history; it isn’t new, and yet much of the cognitive dissonance which has plagued American history appears to have a strange newness to it. Our African American cultural traditions are also in unique flux as well; even the function and flow of previous traditions have changed. As the traditions change, so the functional relevance and meaning of those traditions also undergo both resistance and change. In another blog project in progress, I'll discuss the challenge of uncovering the history of the earliest documented performance traditions of Messiah by African American communities in the United States. Documented evidence of such performances among white American denominations can be found, but such traditions among African American denominations are less numerous, and not given copious or even historical coverage.

Parting Words: “I’m Sure Going To Miss You”… At the end of the performance it was announced that the conductor had given her final performance of Messiah. She was warmly applauded for four decades of directorate leadership of the community choir. As I was making my way out of the sanctuary, I paused to shake her hand and said (with less than veiled sarcasm), “I’m sure going to miss you”. She simply replied…”Thank You for all your help”, expressed with the same warmth and gratitude to me as in both previous years. The simplest and most sincere response for a job well-done is and always should be a word of gratitude, which also includes the expression “You’re welcome”. Whatever changes await us ALL as change ensues, the one fact of which I am convinced is that my short-order assistance, even in the throes of the “rehearsal-through” are greatly and deeply appreciated. The only other and larger challenge that remains is that of helping to bring a generation who sang this music in church or in school…back to it, regardless of how much or little technology help to make it “functionally relevant”.

In the meantime...may the Prince of Peace...be with us all!!