Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the choir director podcast, the essential resource for choir directors, conductors, and vocal leaders who want to build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences. Well, welcome back to the choir director podcast with me, Russell Scott. This is episode 23. And yet another fantastic week here in the studio, receiving so many great messages of support, asking questions, and responding to some of the fantastic advice that we're getting from our amazing guests over the last few weeks. So thank you so much for getting in touch. Keep those messages coming. I do hope to share lots of these with you in the coming weeks ahead. Well, today's guest is Jeremy Matthias, Artistic Director of Choir of the Sound in the Seattle area. And he's not just a conductor, he's a vocalist, he's a vocal coach, and he's served as artistic director for Choir of the Sound since 2011. I had the pleasure of working with him last year when my choir headed over to Seattle, and we had the most fantastic experience from this quite extraordinary choir and an incredibly talented choir director. I thought it would be wonderful to talk with him today and share some of his practical singer-friendly habits that you can use with your own choirs. And indeed, for those members of choirs that are listening, this will be absolutely fascinating. Well, a very, very warm welcome to my very special guest all the way from Seattle in the United States. A big welcome, Jeremy, to the show. Thank you so much,

Jeremy’s Journey Into Conducting

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Russell. So let's start, let's start by uh, you know, let's let's take it right back and and talk about you first. And and, you know, you do some amazing work, and you, you know, you you work as a you've trained as a singer, you work as an amazing choir director. I've had the pleasure of working with you and your amazing choir, choir of the sound. Tell me how it all began and give us a little bit of history and a bit of background on on you.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Sure. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Jeremy Matthias. I have the privilege and pleasure to serve as the conductor and artistic director for Choir of the Sound, uh, where I've served since 2011. Um I, since I was a kid, um I've been involved in music and singing, and I've always known that music was going to be a part of my life and my livelihood. And I knew eventually that being a leader in music was going to be a part of who I am. So um thinking back to when I was a kid singing, and I would often, my mom reminds me, I would get out a little footstool in our living room and queue up music and then go and start the music, stand on the footstool and conduct my orchestra or conduct my orchestra and choir. Uh, I have very distinct memories of doing that. Um and so once I got into the realm of figuring out what I wanted to do after school, uh, music was a natural fit for me. So I dove straight in. Uh I knew I wanted to be a conductor of some kind. And once I settled on uh being a choir director, being a director of um this instrument that we each possess, but when put together, when you combine your voice with the voices of so many others, it becomes something so much greater. Uh and I think it's, I believe it's the greatest instrument in the world, uh, is the is the choral instrument. Um so I was training in undergrad and then uh realized I needed to go to graduate school to continue my training in conducting. So I went to the University of Washington in Seattle, uh, where I trained with Abraham Kaplan and Jeffrey Bores uh in um choral conducting, uh Peter Arros in instrumental conducting, and started my my career and um making connections in the greater Seattle Puget Sound area. Um, and that was roughly 2005. Um began working at some uh some small churches and then eventually worked my way to Choir of the Sound in 2011, where I've been ever since. Um fun fact, when I first uh knew found out about Choir of the Sound, this was probably 2006, 2007. Uh, I only knew a couple of the members of the choir. This is a roughly 90 to 100 member choir. And a couple of these members were in my church choir. They said, you should come check out Choir of the Sound. We have a show this weekend. So my husband and I went to the show, and I distinctly remember leaving the theater that day, walking through the parking lot, and looking at my husband and saying, Someday I'm gonna direct that choir. And it was it was a mere, I think, four years later, uh, that the the director retired, and then uh here we are today.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Wow. That's a great story. It's it's interesting what you say about conducting

Choir Compared With Orchestra Technique

SPEAKER_00 5:20

and and orchestras and choirs. Do you think do you conduct your choir as if it's an orchestra?

SPEAKER_01 5:28

I I don't necessarily think of my choir as an orchestra, but I I can see where the parallels will be drawn. Um I almost would liken, I would almost liken a choir more to an organ than an orchestra. I I can see I can see both correlations, but it seems it seems to me the the basic sounds that you have from an organ are very similar to what you can get uh with a choir. Uh, but I will say that when the entire choir is moving and breathing together and following the director, it is a musical experience like none other. And I I think that's what makes it the greatest instrument that we have, is is the human voice. And you put them all together in a choir, and you you you can't beat it.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Because there's no no single voice that sounds exactly the same or operates in exactly the same way. No, different sounds, obviously different voice parts, but everybody has their own sound, their own timbre, there, you know, the the the different dynamics in the way that they approach music and and and you know that uh that that's why I asked you the question about the orchestra, because because I I often look at a uh a group of people and I think, well, each one of these is a is an is another instrument. It's it's the same same group of instruments. Just like you would look at a string orchestra, you know. It's the same group, but each one's making a different sound. It's almost like a choral instrument. It's a choral orchestra. And um it's funny because I I think I think it it shows in the way that one conducts as well. You know, whether you are conducting very much uh together, pulling the whole thing together and moving it in the direction you want it to go, or whether you are literally trying to pull different sounds from different areas of the choir.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Yeah. Uh I I actually try to go for both. There are certain times when I want those different different sounds from different sections, or maybe it's just a different sound from the entire choir. Um, I would add that uh I think the general practice in instrumental conducting is to conduct slightly ahead of the beat. And so the the orchestra is anticipating there, they're they see that you're giving them uh you're giving them that ahead of the beat, that time before the beat. Whereas I think most choir directors and choirs tend to be right on the beat together. There's I don't believe there's a right or wrong way to do it, but I've just over time I I've noticed that between different types of ensembles.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

That's very interesting, actually, because of course when you're when you're conducting an orchestra, and we we've we've both can conducted orchestras and musicians before, we we often we often do anticipate because because you know musicians are waiting for a cue, they're waiting for an upbeat, they're waiting for a speed indication, they're waiting for a dynamic. And often you don't have anywhere near the amount of rehearsal time that you've you've got with your with your own choir, week on week on week on week, who know exactly what you're gonna do and you know exactly what they're gonna do. And so you do it together, you're part of the choir, you're part of the group. Whereas with an orchestra, you're standing in front of an orchestra, sometimes you're working with them a great deal, but sometimes you've only just met them and you have a couple of rehearsals and you're you're on the stage. Where so they need to know exactly what you want from them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

That you you hit the nail on the head right there. And I think uh going back to spending that more um detailed time with the choir, you like you said, you get to rehearse with them on a regular basis. You know them, they know you, they almost know what you're gonna do, uh, but you still change it up, right? You still change up your interpretation, and um you never know how uh the mood is gonna strike you at a a specific phrase. One day is gonna be different than than the other, and your choir, your choir will be ready to go with you.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

It's interesting, you you spoke about uh about different sounds

Translating Style Into Vocal Choices

SPEAKER_00 9:30

that you like coming from the choir, and you like creating different sounds. So how do you how do you start with that? Because the the choir have a certain sound, their own identity. Each choir has their own sound. You stand in front of them at a with a brand new piece of music, and you're thinking, I know what I want, I've prepped this, I've listened to it, I know exactly what I want. How do you go about getting the sound that you actually want them to make?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

It starts with um knowing what the human voice is is is capable of, what what the human voice can do, and being able to communicate to your singers how how to get there. Uh it's not just a matter of saying, I want this tone to sound dark or I want this tone to sound bright. Uh it's a matter of translating that to oh dear. Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

I'll pause just for a second. Hang on. So it's interesting what you were saying about um getting a different sound out of the choir. So getting the sound that you want from the choir. You know, it could be a brand new piece of music, you've done your prep, you've listened to it, you're ready to stand in front of the choir for the first time, and you know exactly what you want to get. And every every choir has its own sound. You know, you know, you know your own choir's sound. You're gonna stand in front, you know what you're gonna get, but you want something very specific for this particular piece of music. What are your what are your steps for getting that sound that you're looking for?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Well, uh, you mentioned this earlier, but or at least we've talked about this as number one, knowing what you want. If you don't know what you want, what sound you want from your choir, you're never going to get it. Or you're just gonna spend all your time struggling to get it or figure out what it is. So if you're talking about a more classically oriented piece, I I'm I'm thinking of Mendelssohn's Elijah because we're going to be uh performing that next year for our fifth as part of our 50th anniversary. Um and you want a very different sound singing Mendelssohn's Elijah than the show that we just completed, which was a show of pop hits from the 60s and 70s and from Southern California. And so there's a there's a big difference in how you produce that sound uh and how you blend that sound together. So it for me as a director, it's a matter of where voices are on the risers. But then when it comes to the individual singers, as a director, you have to know how to translate. So if you say, I want this tone to be uh more, more like a pop singer, well, what do you mean by that? Well, I want it to have a little more airy, breathy sound. I want the placement to come a little more forward, not so far back. Like in Mendelssohn's Elijah, we're gonna sing with a more classical tone, taller vowels, and the tone's gonna be a little further back, not dark, but just further back in our in our mouth. And um that's just one example of how we can get different sounds from our choir. Now that's talking more of a generality, like for this song, we want this kind of sound. For this song, we want this, so on and so forth. Then there are the intricacies within the songs themselves, where you can say, this section right here, basses, I need you to be, I need you to sound like a string bass. And this is how we're gonna do that. We're gonna use our lips, we're gonna use bursts of air, and we're gonna be very, uh, we're gonna really attack those notes. Um, we did something like that just for our Laurel Canyon show. And uh, we I just needed more clarity from the bases through this one section. Um, and I said, you know, do it this way, and they responded immediately, and it was exactly what we needed at that spot. Um, that was less of a sound we were going for, and more of a uh a rhythmic clarity to keep to keep things moving, to keep us together, because this was an a cappella piece.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Do you think it's important to set the sound that you're wanting from your choir to make of a specific specific piece right from the outset? Or do you think it's better to learn the piece first, get to know it, and then start applying style, feeling, dynamics? Which way round do you do it and why?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah, I think it I think it really depends, Russell. Um if it's a more familiar song, then I want to tell them up front, this is the sound we're going for. If it's a less familiar song, I think it's less important because familiarity, immediately people gravitate towards what they know, whether it's the rhythm or the the tone of the sound or little ornamentations that uh an artist might do. Um it really depends on on the situation on the song. But in general, I would say the sooner you can communicate to your choir the sound you're going for, the better. The less work you have to do as a choir director, the less time you have to spend in your rehearsals going over that specific sound you're going for and getting to the more granular, granular details that you want to get to.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Now, it you you do a complete mix of music, and I want to we'll talk about your shows in a minute because they are amazing. Um I've seen I've seen this online. I mean, I've seen all the dancing,

Programming Pop And Masterworks Together

SPEAKER_00 15:33

I've seen all the props and the sets, and it's just amazing. But you you do a complete mix of music. When we worked together uh a year or so ago, uh we were doing mainly pop and rock music, some show tunes, uh it was great, and and and you did some a cappella stuff, and and it was beautiful. It was just beautiful to listen to, and very different styles of music that we worked with together. But you doing things like Pigint, which you've done in the past, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and then you're singing 60s and 70s Southern Californian pop songs. Um how does that work? How do you you know there'll be people listening to this choir director saying, Oh, that's impossible, they're not they don't sing classical music properly. They can't be they can't be doing that. They're singing pop and rock, they're not serious, you know. There's different styles of choirs and different ways of singing. Um you're doing two very different things and and you have different singers, you know, the the the in in that they aren't just singing one style of music. You know, most most choral singers will either go to a classical choir or they'll go to a more contemporary choir or they'll go to an a cappella choir. You've got people doing both. How do you find those people? And how do you get them to do a mix of everything? And what do they like most? You know, how are you how are you coping with doing two different styles of music?

SPEAKER_01 16:50

And and the honestly, the answer is different for every choir member. Uh, they find us because number one, they see the variety, they see the versatility, and that is a draw. They see the production aspect, and for some people, that is a huge draw. Um, they see the versatility and they see that we we we have a classical concert every year, and that is a draw for some people. Some people, they are waiting for that classical concert to come, for that masterwork to come. I would say that it's it's possible for any choir. It's possible for any choir and director, but with choir of the sound, it was built into our DNA. When this choir started in 1977, it was essentially a night course at a local community college. And the director said, We're gonna perform masterworks. So for the better part of the first 10 years, all the choir sang were masterworks. The board of directors came to the dire to the artistic director and conductor and said, We need to change things up, broaden our horizons. Let's introduce jazz and pop music, uh, folk music. And so they brought in uh an associate director who could help with that transition to jazz singing. And now it's it's uh it's our hallmark. It's who choir of the sound is. We're known for our versatility. Not just that, we're known for doing it well, for singing classically, for singing masterworks very well, and for singing uh pop shows about Laurel Canyon very well. And you do, you do need to have separation between the two. You can't approach a pop show like you perform a classical, like you approach a classical show. Vocally, you're gonna wreck yourself. Um, you know this as well as I do. And so starting each concert set, each concert run, each show run with that first and foremost. Let's think about our onset, let's think about how we approach singing, especially for this music. And let's let's uh let's change it if we need to. And usually we do because we're going from one style to the other. We go from holiday, which has a mix of both, to our classical and then back to our pops. But I would say um that yeah, it it it is a draw for everybody who is a part of this choir to be able to experience so much variety within one group and to do it so well together. And I'll I will also say that with the right collaborative pianist, accompanist, and associate director, it makes it that much easier to accomplish what we do.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Yeah, you're very fortunate to have some really great people as part of Choir the Sound. And I you know I had the pleasure of working with you and and the choir, and and they they were just they were just lovely, lovely people. Uh, and we we still talk about them to this day because they were they were alike my own choir, they were very serious about what they're doing. They want to do their absolute best. They they they they want to impress you, they wanted to impress us, but they were equally completely and utterly welcoming and relaxed and chilled about it all. How they get that balance, that's that's down to you, clearly. But they they they were just uh an amazing group to work with, and watching you perform was was a wonderful thing. Now, this you know everyone's gonna say just gushing over them at each other, and it's you know, it's not about that, it's about appreciation and really understanding each other's choirs, I think. And I think there's nothing better than working with another choir and watching another choir director work and watching how singers uh react to to different styles and ways of of working. Now you also add in much more than just singing. Um, as I said earlier, you you know, we I've seen I've seen videos of some of

Teamwork Behind Big Production Shows

SPEAKER_00 20:43

your shows, and they are mass productions. I mean, this tell you you need to talk about this, you need to tell us how you do this, how do you pull this all together? You've got singing, you've got dancing, you've got movement, you've got acting, you've got color, you've got props, you've got costumes. How do you do all this? It's you've got an amazing team behind you.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

That is exactly it. That's exactly what I was gonna lead with, Russell. Uh, teamwork makes the dream work. Um, there's there's no way I could do all there's no way any director could make all of this happen. Again, going back to what I said earlier, um, it's built into our DNA as far as we've done this for a long time, but we also have some of the most dedicated people in our choir that I know. Uh, not only do they, like you were saying just now, they want to be good singers, they want to impress uh the director, they want to impress their audience, they want to entertain their audience. But we also know what it takes to make all of this happen. It starts with our board of trustees, and then we have teams from there. We have our marketing and publications, uh, we have our recruiting and outreach, and then we have our production team. Our production team is a very busy team for our holiday and our spring pop shows. Once the quarter starts, once we start rehearsing for that show, they take another night each week and get together. So they're meeting two nights every week. And once we get about four or five weeks into the quarter, they start rehearsing dances. We have uh some uh choreographers in the choir already. Um, and we also hire out for some uh choreographers. And all of our dancers, well, most of our dancers, I should say, are from within the choir itself. Every once in a while we will we will hire a maybe a professional solo dancer, or I think we've hired like a trio before. But that is something that has been a part of our DNA. And I think the reason it has been so successful, not just because of the people, but because of the way that it can uplift and highlight the music. What's the word I'm looking for? I want it to, it needs to complement the music. It doesn't need to stand apart from the music. It needs to come support the music, highlight the message, the feel, give a little sparkle and pizzazz of its own. And it cre it adds all of this entertainment value to the show in that one moment. And without all of those people meeting all those extra hours and doing all those extra dance rehearsals, not to mention all the logistical stuff of show week loading in risers and sets and lights and all of this stuff. There's so much going on. If we didn't have the the community, the membership, the roster that we have, it it wouldn't happen.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

It's interesting. I was talking to another guest recently about how to be innovative with production, with concerts.

Show Choir Light And Selling Vision

SPEAKER_00 23:43

And uh he was talking about the fact that he would uh that they would hire a um a swimming pool and they'd go and sing because it's the most amazing acoustic in the swimming pool uh area. Not not in the pool, around the pool. Sure, sure. From the seats above, watch it overlooking the pool, you know. Um they'd have an amazing um they'd create a themed evening of choral singing around the water and around uh within that environment, and with that amazing acoustic of singing, you know, it's like singing in your bathroom, you know. It's it's great. How you're you're looking at this a slightly uh slightly interesting way as well about innovation and trying to come up with something that's really appealing for an audience and uplifting for an audience and giving them not just music and singing in a concert, but an experience, a true experience. And I think that's uh an amazing thing. And I think a lot of choirs are looking for different ways now, different kinds of projects. I'm always I've always been like this. I I don't just want to turn up and just stand in a hall and sing. Um we want to deliver an experience to the audience. Now, sometimes we do that, we all do that. We stand in a church or we stand in a hall and we deliver that, but sometimes we want something a little bit different. You must you must have enormous amounts of rehearsals to do what you do, and there is some similarity, I suppose, between the idea of a show choir, and I don't know how how big that is in the US. We have show choirs over here. Show choirs are all about singing, dancing, moving, uh, you know, all at the same time. Um and it's it's an art. It it really is. It's very difficult for for a lot of choral singers to move as well as sing. Yes. Would you would you would you see yourself as a show choir? Is that how you would position yourself?

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Uh that's tricky. Um, because on on some days I would call us a show choir, and other days I wouldn't. Um, I I think the the typical association with being a show choir is that there might be some sacrifice of singing for showmanship, right? And I I want to be clear that you can have both, right? You can have good singing and good showmanship. They don't always go hand in hand, though. That's that's just a reality of it. Uh, I think we do a really good job of doing both really well. I would also say that in a typical show choir, you're gonna get a lot more movement from the choir itself. And and while our choir does move, we don't do a ton of chorography. We especially don't do as much as we as we used to do back, you know, back in the day. Uh, but almost almost would consider us show choir light, something like that. Um just just because, again, going back to our versatility, we we can we can be a show choir for a set on on a on a show, and then we can do a set that follows that that shows showcases how good of singers we can be. Uh and again, the two don't need to be mutually exclusive. They can absolutely go together, but you need the right people and the right leader, the right director to make that all happen.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

And I think the difference is that that that you've got you have performers. It's not just, you know, they're not just singing, they're not just dancing, they're not just moving, they are performing. And I'm sure that you know there are some people that don't move. You know, there's always choirs with people that don't move. You have the best of both worlds because you you you you you kind of cash in on the people with these additional talents, these additional abilities to be able to dance or to act, or you know, soloists, just as soloists stand out from choirs, it's exactly the same. You're getting the people that are great at what they do and utilising them and giving them the opportunities because I'm sure they they love doing what they do. Do you find it difficult to motivate others to get on board with with with the ideas, with the concepts? How would you, you know, how would you get around that? How how would you get around a choir, perhaps a choir director who who really wants to get you know their tenors are moving or their bass is moving or their sopranos and altos doing different choreography at the same time or whatever? How do you motivate people to do it that aren't really you know in that way inclined?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Yeah, that's that's difficult. Um you need you need to sell it. You you need to be a salesman for your vision. Uh, and going back to vision, we talked about when you introduce a song, you need to know what you're going for. You need to hear it in your head before you're telling your choir and before you're leading them. Same thing goes with this. You need to have a vision for these people that that they can very much see with you so that they can strive for it as well. There's gonna be people who have physical limitations and just can't get to the same level. And that's that's completely fine. We incorporate those people as well, and we want them to be part of what we're doing. Um, but I I think you really, not I think, you you have to, your vision has to be clear for you, and it has to be clear to your choir. In my case, uh in our case, I should say with choir of the sound, we're fortunate that we have this production team. We have other voices that people can can hear, that people can be coached by. And so as often as possible, I'll ask one of those other voices to get in front of the choir and encourage them. Uh, because, you know, you know this as well as I do that hearing the same voice over and over, people tend to tune you out.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

What are you saying? What do you mean? It's true. And that's why I love working with other choir directors as well, because often you could be saying the same thing in a slightly different way, and they'll just take it just like that.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

I I love when you in Next Stage came over last year, just watching you work with them. I learned so much from watching any choir director with their choir, but especially you, because you have such a good rapport and relationship with your singers. That was clear from the very beginning. It's usually pretty clear from the beginning. If I go to a rehearsal, watch a director with their choir, you can tell if a director is struggling to get their singers on board, or if if they're, you know, they're they're linking hands and arms and they are ready to conquer the world.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

That's really kind of you to say. I really appreciate that. Thank you. I um I drill them hard, I have to say.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

I've seen that side of you too.

Humour And Being Human In Rehearsal

SPEAKER_00 30:24

But it's part of the fun, isn't it? I mean, you know, you as a choir director, we all want the best for our singers. And I'm, you know, uh you one would hope that every single choir member, you know, respects you and loves what you do because that's what and that's why they are there, because they watch you and they they're inspired by you. And I think we can, you know, I think all choir directors can say, pretty much say that, that the and if they if they can't say that, if they can't say that their choir aren't inspired by them, they they're they're in the wrong job, I think. Because that's what our job is. It's to inspire people, it's to motivate them, it's to get them to do their absolute best, perhaps not doing what they do for a living. It might be our living, but it's not necessarily their living. How do you how do you add the comedy in? How do you keep it light-hearted? Because you're you know, you're producing a whole production number here. You know, you've got you've as I said as we said, it's not just a concert, it's a production. How are you keeping the energy up and how are you keeping the motivation up? Because I'm sure lots of people who try this struggle.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Yeah. Um I I try to be, and this is something I'm still working on and growing into. I try to be as authentic, authentically me as possible, number one. Um, and so that includes sometimes giving uh a little insight to choir members about who I am. Like we're rehearsing something, and all of a sudden we stop and I say, Oh, this reminds me when I was a little boy, blah, blah, blah, blah, something happened. Um, there's there have been a number of those instances. But just being being human with your choir and not always being the director up in front, barking orders, telling people what to do, motivating people, being one of them, because you are one of them, right? You're a person just like you're a singer just like them. Uh you've experienced life just like them. Uh don't be afraid to laugh at yourself. Be willing to laugh at yourself. If you make a mistake, everybody else is waiting for you to laugh, so you might as well laugh too.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

I think so. And I I I you know, everybody makes mistakes. We all make mistakes. You know, we we do things to a very high standard, we do things professionally, we do sometimes we're working with amazing musicians and singers, but everyone, as you say, is human, and I think people want to see that side of you. I think people want to see that you you you know, you're taking yourself very seriously, but you're you're taking the job, the role very seriously. But again, then you don't take yourself so seriously. You have to laugh and you have to show a human side because otherwise they just think it's very much uh almost like a dictatorship. And it's not. We're here to help them, we help to inspire them, as I said, teach them, direct them, and ultimately to use our vision to create what we're looking for in a concert. But they're doing the work. I mean, it's they're the singers, they're producing it ultimately.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Yep, absolutely, and being able to motivate them from rehearsal one all the way until that moment

Pre Show Focus And Accountability

SPEAKER_01 33:23

before you go on stage. I once worked in a chorus as an associate director where the main director actually had the choir, you know, in the in the green room before the show. We're getting ready to go on the stage for this holiday show. And he looks at the choir and says, Well, this show's pretty much done because the audience is here, we're good to go. And that was his message to the choir was essentially, let's just go out there and I don't know, mail it in. It felt like it felt very uninspiring. And I've I've always remembered that because there are times when you need to be that ultra motivation, that ultra motivator for your choir. Um, one of those times was when I took choir of the sound to Benaroya Hall, which is our big hall here in Seattle, and we were collaborating with a number of other groups. I think it was three or four other choirs, and then an orchestra, we would all come together for Carmina Barana in the second half. In the first half, each choir got their own set. And so as we were backstage in the green room, I gathered my choir. I stood on a chair so they could all see me and hear me. And I said, We are about to enter a grand stage in a grand hall for a fantastic audience. Let's not lose our focus about what got us here. And everything that we know about being good singers, we have to go do now. We can't go out there for ourselves to enjoy the space and enjoy the singing. We need to go out there, be good singers, like we know how to be, to perform for our audience and give them the best experience possible. And I think it was our second number. We ended our second number, we cut off, and the sound is just reverberating through the hall. And you hear one person in the hall before the applause go, Wow. And the choir to this day still talks about that motivation, that speech before going on stage at Benaroya Hall.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Yeah, and I suspect they they hear that sound still, and that that in itself probably motivates them. That's probably muscle memory thing. It just sort of just as soon as they hear it, they you know, they go into that mode. And do you think uh how how how much does accountability play a factor in all of this? Because each choir member, when they're when they're performing, when they're when they're going on stage, they're responsible. I I I drill this into my inquiry a lot. They're each and individually responsible for delivering a part of the jigsaw of this whole jigsaw puzzle, this whole choir, this whole performance. How do we how do we uh take more responsibility? How do we how do we motivate people to take more responsibility and be accountable for what they're delivering on stage?

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Well, and especially uh you and I work with community groups. We're we're not working with a choir full of professionals, right? So these are people who likely have another another gig. They have a full-time job, possibly. Um, this is something that is additional on their time, right? So we're we're thinking about that. But in motivating people, I I remind my choir that singing is the ultimate team sport and that it takes each one of us, whether you think of it as a spoke on a wheel or simply a team. I I like to use that sports analogy. I it doesn't resonate with everybody, but when I start talking about singing being the ultimate team sport and the ultimate uh showcase of uh teammanship, that's not a word, uh sportsmanship, of sportsmanship and being there for each other. And then there are times when I stop a rehearsal and I say, This entrance right here, Sopranos or tenors or whoever the case might be, I need you all to be singing on the beat. Right now, you're all hesitant. Don't be hesitant, be bold, because your neighbor's gonna be bold as well. But you all need to be bold together, and then we are living into being a team. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

I think that's a great, a great message. Uh, and a great, I think I think it's it's a great way to end this this uh time together today. Uh, it's been amazing talking with you. Um, what a great, what a great, a great interview it's been. I don't even class

Closing Thanks And Ways To Connect

SPEAKER_00 37:58

it as an interview, it's a chat. We've had a great time talking together and and sharing these wonderful experiences and advice. Uh, I'm sure all our listeners will find this inspiring and motivating and invaluable. Uh Jeremy, I wish you all the very best uh with Choir of the Sound and everything you're doing. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. It's been an absolute pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Thank you so much, Russell, for taking the time and for uh talking so highly about Choir of the Sound. And I wish you and Next Stage all the best in your future endeavors and truly hope that we can all come together again uh in a few years. I hope so.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

The wonderful Jeremy Matthias, all the way there from Seattle. Another fantastic guest, and I I have had the privilege and honour of speaking with so many great people over the last few months that since we started the podcast. And we've got some incredible guest interviews lined up for the next few weeks ahead, and of course, those special episodes of my own advice and tips on my own experiences working in choirs for the last 20 years or so, which I can't wait to share with you. Thank you so much for listening to the choir director podcast. It's been wonderful having you here today, and if you found today's conversation valuable, please take a moment to leave us a rating and review. It genuinely helps us reach more choir directors and grow this community together. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you know a fellow director who'd benefit from today's conversation or any of the amazing guests we've had on the show, please share it with them. It means the world to us and it could make a huge difference to them. To stay connected between episodes so you never miss a thing and receive exclusive content, do join our mailing list. Link is in the show notes. And if you have a question about today's topic or any of the topics that we're covering, perhaps a question to our guest or something you'd love us to explore on a future episode, you can email the studio or leave us a voicemail. Both links are waiting for you in the show notes. Well, thanks again for being part of the Choir Director Podcast. I'm Russell Scott, and until next time, goodbye.