Unison or harmony?

I was struck recently in a conversation with another organist who was expressing consternation at the lack of progress with her church choir.  It seems that the choristers are resisting every little project, but especially singing simple hymns in harmony. I'm posting this here because my friend was in a real funk, so what follows is really a summary of what might have been said.

Early on in an organist appointment it's quite understandable to want to move and shake, be it improving the performance of the organ tuner or introducing new music at the main service.  Each of these will gain both friends and critics, and it would be worrying if things were otherwise in that department.  However, one of the hardest things to attempt is bringing new momentum to a choir of enthusiasts that has found a comfortable set of habits.

Choirs like this are often peopled by lovely folks who have variable levels of musical skill, and who are frequently ripe in years.  The loudest voice is often the only one trusted for any cantorial tasks, such as responsorial psalms.  Some choristers are there because they joined long ago and found a wonderful social group -- but rarely does their musical presence register in the form of a respectable sound.  Many choristers don't read music, so insist on wanting to "hear it with the music" before having a shot at something simple.  A group of ten might be divided into three who sing, and seven who are tagging along for the ride.  These are very challenging groups to nurture: the musical value can only be compared to a dormant seed which lies on the ground waiting for the right conditions to come along before it germinates.

There is also a critical trust issue.  All choirs have a unique ethos, and a new director is always going to disrupt this ethos in some way.  Most of the choristers will view their primary role as leading the congregation, and therefore regard themselves as congregants who practice in order to perform this important task.  I've lost count of the introductions to new choristers where the conversation takes a worrying turn with comments along the lines of "I really enjoy singing in the choir but I'm not a musician..."

In a situation like this, attempting to sing hymn tunes in harmony at the get-go is a very steep ask for various reasons.  Leaving aside the aural skills involved in tuning a chord well in a group, the skill most lacking among untrained singers is basic vocal technique.  Training the voice and the ear is a complementary process: it is only by teaching someone how to hear themselves through singing the great scale and basic agility exercises that they begin to master intervals.  The trust issue raises its head when singing in harmony doesn't go well: if anyone in the congregation remarks adversely (as they will), then the scenario is that the director set the choristers up to fail.

It is far better to spend six weeks teaching a small group like this the foundations of how to sing in unison really well.  It's a surprisingly hard thing to do, if you combine teaching them the basics of good breath support, beginning to access the head voice, and using good vowel shapes as part of the process.  And you roll in learning how to sing in longer phrases -- so many choirs sing hymns on a strict one-word-at-a-time basis.  Very soon, singing a simple hymn becomes a more challenging task than before, but also a much more rewarding thing to work on once improvements have been observed and praised.

If you combine this with systematic teaching about the stave, a much-improved choir will emerge over six months.  Then singing in harmony becomes a natural development from everything that has come before.