We need to remind ourselves that enunciation is not simply a technique, but also a spirit. It is not enough to follow the rules… Good enunciation comes with the desire to communicate—and that is not a technique but an attitude, a spirit. That is to say—unless each of us really loves each little sound; the disappearing vowel in a diphthong, the hummed consonants, the exploded “t,” the final “d”—unless each detail is precious to us—no set of rules can ever be effective.
~ excerpt from “Letters of Robert Shaw to his Collegiate Choral”
Robert Shaw was an American choral conductor (1916–1999) who left an outstanding legacy. His work, letters, and other writings inspire students of choral music to this day.
In choir rehearsals, working on details can sometimes seem tedious or overly particular—so it pays to remind ourselves why we do the work. It’s all about communicating to our listeners! And it matters.
It matters, first of all, because of the very messages we sing in church choir: we sing the great Story of God and where we belong in the Story; and we sing the Gospel of Jesus. This demands the best work we can do.
And it matters because people do listen. Our anthems are more than just beautiful music—the music carries the words that carry the meaning. The songs can touch people in a deeply emotional way—many times, someone shares that they were moved to tears, to joy, or to a new understanding of the love of God.
So it’s not about the rules—as Shaw wrote, “It is not enough to follow the rules.” It’s “an attitude, a spirit.” It’s the desire to communicate. Shaw, again:
Music is a language, and it is a means of reaching out to other minds and wills and hearts. How urgently do we want others to really understand? What does our music say? What does the text say, and how desperately do we want others to hear it? Because it is the will which seeks and establishes understanding.