ABSTRACT
George, an American friend, telephoned me one evening when I was staying in a hotel in Atlanta. He is a singer and choral conductor himself and was taking part in a singing course led by two “eminent” choral conductors, one English and one American. He was somewhat perturbed to report that therewere twodistinct styles of choral training and rehearsing in evidence. One of the conductors wasmaking the singers feel confident and encouraged by their efforts, while the other spent a large proportion of the rehearsal time castigating the choir for not knowing the notes, thus creating a feeling of insecurity and negativity among the singers. While both had high standing in the choral conducting fraternity, onemademy friend feel good and the other made him feel bad. The psychological impact of the rehearsal situation was dynamic. With another, perhaps less experienced singer, the result might have been more significant. George was able to handle and analyze the situation more objectively; he was a conductor himself and knew that he was able tomotivate and encourage his own choirs effectively.However, he had learned a salutary lesson from this particular experience, which supported his own intuitive thinking on the importance of creating an appropriate atmosphere in the choral rehearsal environment.
