BCS Connections & Reflections no. 9: Last week, Gerry Sousa and the BCS Board made a video of live, spoken updates, along with music, for all the BCS singers. This email contains notes from that video and will reveal the behind-the-scenes strength and dedication of the BCS board, along with Gerry’s plans for fall choral activities that will respond to our yearning to reconnect with each other and with you, through choral music.
We welcome input, questions, and ideas from all of you who read this email. Thanks!
An Extended Intermission …
Gerry Sousa, Music Director:
It’s been four months since our last rehearsal with its energy and drumming. We know now that we’re in for a far longer haul than we first anticipated. We don’t know how long the current restrictions will last. We do know that our overriding concerns are for health, safety, and caution. These concerns guided us in our initial decisions in mid-March, and they will continue to guide us in the uncertain times ahead. We have been following the recommendations from the medical community as well as our professional affiliated organizations and will stay in contact as things evolve. For BCS, this is going to be an extended “intermission.”
Our mission is vital and essential. We are going to return when the time is right and the path is clear. The energy and drive that has built this group over 50 years has remained intact as the board has continued to meet their responsibilities with renewed energy. The foundation currently being laid for the future is strong. We are securing grants and awards that will ensure that we can emerge strongly from the pandemic with a long-term plan in place for vibrant and rewarding music-making.
We are a vital organization; we are preparing for the future; we have hope.
We want to share some of this extraordinary and exciting work with you.
Pat Slabach, Board President:
Thanks to my fellow board members and everyone working behind the scenes to keep us going during the shutdown. The board continues to meet on a monthly basis via Zoom to work on short-term goals and the long-term goal of when we can sing again.
Lisa Kurz, Vice-President:
The hiring committee reviewed some very promising applications for the Development Director position. Unfortunately, the pandemic arrived just as we began the interview process. After discussion, we decided to postpone the hire: at this time, it would be extraordinarily difficult both to fundraise and to actually get to know us as an organization. We continue to stay in touch with our top job candidates, and we’ll resume the process once we are on track to perform and fundraise again.
David Rohlfing, Treasurer:
As you can imagine, budget planning is very difficult at present. Therefore, we have two different budgets: 1) a minimum budget that assumes no concerts this coming season, for which we are partially funded now; 2) an optimistic budget that assumes we would have a spring Messiah Sing-Along with orchestra and May performances of Considering Matthew Shepard, and would hire a Development Director to start in January 2021. This budget assumes we also fundraise in a similar way to other years. The reality may very well fall somewhere between these two budget extremes.
Carole MacKay, Fundraising chair:
We have had much success with grants this year. They will go toward: 1) Considering Matthew Shepard’s production and marketing; 2) mitigating the impact of COVID-19; 3) 2020−21 season operating expenses, and 4) the first year’s salary of the new Development Director. Reimbursement grants for marketing and venue rental will still be valid if we perform Considering Matthew Shepard next year.
Looking ahead, we plan to apply for a capital expense grant to cover half of the cost of purchasing choral risers. After 50 years of borrowing risers, we feel it is time to provide our own; we also need them for performing Considering Matthew Shepard in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
Jan Allen, Communications chair:
Most activities are on hold until next spring. Our BCS Annual Corporation Meeting will be held virtually on September 1. We hope to have a spring Messiah Sing-Along, and we have reserved the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in hopes of performing Considering Matthew Shepard on May 8 at 7:30pm and May 9 at 3pm.
Bernie Zoss, Long Range Planning chair:
Succession planning: a broad outline is in place for an orderly process of succession planning. Gerry has assured us he will give us plenty of advance notice of his retirement plans. The process of choosing his successor will likely not be straightforward, because Gerry has done so much to shape the identity of the group. We hope to use the resources of the IU Jacobs School of Music to help us in the process.
Mission Statement: updated drafts of our mission, vision, and values statements will be voted on at the September 1 meeting. Once approved, they will be posted on our website.
We plan to use the 50th Anniversary as a jumping-off point to talk about what kind of group we want to be and how to stay vital in terms of programming and community engagement in these changing times. We need all singers’ input to make sure the long-range plans reflect the wishes of the group.
Abigail Gschwend-Harris, Community Engagement chair:
Although the pandemic halted our outreach activities, we sang for a total of approximately 600 people this past season, including two schools, traditional holiday events in Bloomington, the College Mall, Meadowood, and a Pride film festival. Thank you to all who sang at these events!
Abby Henkel, Little Green Light program:
We recently purchased a subscription to Little Green Light (LGL), a donor database for nonprofits where we can store data for any constituent or group that has interacted with us. It will keep all our information in one place and reduce errors. It is secure, user-friendly, affordable, efficient, and I can vouch for it because I use it regularly in my day job. Ian Pottmeyer is combining all our data into one spreadsheet to import into LGL. Once it is set up, I will train a number of us to use it for our various needs.
Gerry Sousa, on future possibilities, and in closing:
Like many organizations across the country, we have been struggling with how to keep our group together. Choral ensembles have a particular challenge in assembling because of the aerosol contamination that stays in the air and spreads the virus. Many ensembles are exploring ways to rehearse in-person: using specially-designed masks, social-distancing protocols, and unique rehearsal configurations. I don’t believe any of those are particularly safe for our group, so until there is more research, we are going to wait before using those in-person solutions.
In the meantime, there are several ways we can proceed with making some kind of music, despite being apart, and we intend to launch a series of activities to engage singers at the beginning of our season in September. Here are some possibilities that are being considered:
1) We might have vocal classes where we explore music together. You might prepare music in your home, and then we might sing it together. We can put together a 30- or 45-minute presentation, done asynchronously.
2) We might have a series of online lessons about musicianship, sight-reading, or vocal technique, accompanied by materials that take you through a structured series of basic music lessons. We don’t normally get to do this during in-person rehearsals where we are concerned about repertoire.
3) We could meet virtually just to keep us all talking together, maybe talking about Considering Matthew Shepard, maybe rehearsing it, or suggesting how you can rehearse sections at home with practice mp3s.
4) Let’s make a virtual choir production! There are virtual choir projects popping up all over the nation. I personally feel the most exciting thing about making music for us is making it together, being in the same room at the same time, experiencing the social interaction and the dynamic feeling that comes with being together and experiencing that part of music making. That being said, there is something about putting together one of these presentations that, if nothing else, would be an archival experience for us that would recall this time. We are probably going to explore doing and making one that everyone would participate in. It would be a fun exercise, and the product can be quite effective. It takes some engineering.
5) We may possibly do some socially distanced rehearsals, possibly holding them outside. However, I’m very cautious about that.
All of these ideas are ways that we can think about keeping ourselves in activities over the next span of months as we figure out when we’re going to get back together again.
And down the road … when we finally emerge …
One of the first things we’ll do when we come out of the pandemic is to resurrect Considering Matthew Shepard. It is optimistically slated for May 2021. As we know, we are at the service of the pandemic, rather than having any control over it, so we do not know how or when we can get together. If we can perform in May, we would probably start to assemble it in March.
I’m equally concerned as to whether an audience can assemble in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, so there are a lot of ifs; however, when we resurrect it, we have the grant money to mount a production worthy of the piece and one of which we will be proud.
So, we are in a holding pattern until we know more. One constant is that we need to stay together. That is important. And we need to feed our souls. The activities I’ve outlined will give us some interim ways to sustain ourselves. We all need to work together to keep this organization alive. I can’t emphasize that enough. During this intermission, it’s really worth it not only to us, but to the people who will come after us. So many people have put time, effort, love, and money into this organization over the past 50 years, and we need to work together to keep it alive in this time of challenge right now. Keep singing; and keep your hope alive. Be kind to each other. And be safe. The second part of this video will inspire us and give us a model for what we want to do.
Musical Offering
Two performances are combined here into one video of a pre-pandemic BCS performance and a recent virtual performance by a New York City choir and orchestra.
Video 1: Sure on this Shining Night by Morten Lauridsen, live from the BCS Our Favorite Things November 2019 concert; overlaid are photos and videos from a February rehearsal, shortly before the COVID-19 lockdown.
Video 2: a virtual ensemble based in New York City performs How Can I Keep from Singing by Robert Lowry. The Podd Brothers Virtual Choir and Orchestra perform, with music arranged by Adam & Matt Podd. The video was edited and produced by Joe Gabriel.
