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Essentials in
Singing Skills
Canning the chatter. Should you
Steve Rafe discusses the leadership issue of riser discipline.
Updated: 10/1/2002 10:30:00 AM
by Steve Rafe, Member, International Marketing Committee
Chapter officers tell me people tend to talk too much at rehearsals and don’t pay attention enough of the time. People start talking. Someone asks for quiet. A few moments later, the chatter begins again. Once more someone calls for quiet, perhaps a little louder. If the pattern continues over the evening, or over several rehearsals, the one who calls for quiet may soon be shouting or lecturing. And yet, the problem persists.
Chapters have even invoked “rules” for who can speak, and when. Some leaders have
chastised their members for seemingly showing rudeness and disrespect for the person speaking. Even when admonished to “Just do as you’re told” and “Hold your comments until later,” members continue to swap comments, joke, or “disobey” in other ways.
Don’t beat a dead horse
If you’ve tried lecturing the chorus because men talk when they should be listening and the chatter continues, there is no point in continuing to lecture. In fact, some studies show that emphasizing an undesired behavior can make matters worse. When people realize your techniques don’t work, they have even less regard for your leadership.
Studies show that people tend to repeat and intensify their efforts of coping with a situation—even if their approach hasn’t worked. For example, if you can’t loosen a nut from a bolt, you use more force in hope that it may loosen. More likely, it will either remain stuck or it will shear off; in either case, the result is frustration.
If we were to say the nut and bolt were just trying to give us a hard time, people would think we were neurotic. However, people often say this about their relationships with others. Perhaps the bolt can be freed with vise-grip pliers. Perhaps it can be sprayed with a solvent. Perhaps the bolt can be cut and re-threaded. Perhaps we might be better off to get a new nut and bolt. More often than not, problems in life are like that. They have many causes and there are many possible solutions.
We need what behaviorists call “requisite variety.” It means having the various tools or techniques required for the situation. Remember the old saying: “When a man’s only tool is a hammer, he acts as though every problem in life were a nail.”
Why people are rude
Most unproductive talk on the risers occurs when chorus members don’t understand what someone is trying to put across. Members may be confused by the way the information is being presented, or they may be overloaded by too much information.
To understand their perceived rudeness, it helps to consider the three basic drives that predominate in individuals, particularly within organizations.
People are motivated to varying degrees by their needs for power (leadership), achievement and affiliation. Some members have a strong need to influence decisions, other people or situations. Others participate primarily for the opportunity to set goals and achieve them—such as winning contests. Still others primarily expect barbershopping to fulfill their need for fellowship.
Where does this put us with “rudeness?” When talking replaces listening, the “affiliators,” or socializers, may be very much involved. After all, fellowship is their prime reason for being present and they enjoy being part of any conversation. They don’t intend to be rude, but once questions are raised and discussed, they may socialize rather than listen.
“Achievers” may be too busy listening—and often taking notes—to talk. But when they do, they are usually seeking clarification. They may be trying to find out what they might have missed or misunderstood—without intending to interrupt the entire chorus.
The “power” members often offer commentary in an effort to “interpret” the speaker for others who “didn’t get it right,” or “need help.” Amusingly, these are the folks who often try to get others to be quiet—even when they, themselves, have been talking.
Why hammers don’t work
Try to inhibit riser talk and, more often than not, you’ll only frustrate yourself. You’ll find yourself escalating from warnings to admonitions. Then from rules to threats, usually couched in language such as, “If you don’t ... , then you won’t ....”
When you hear a chapter member boast that his group “runs a tight ship”—probably a leader type—you may find that it is having problems retaining members, chapter meetings are poorly attended, or people leave meetings at the break. If none of these things happen, the chapter may have a high concentration of achievers rather than affiliators. Perhaps time will tell.
Even if the chapter has none of these problems, it may still not be home free. Eventually it may face a different problem: members who are willing to go along with just about anything they are told to do. While this may provide useful control for a chorus director in a high-achiever chorus, it may not bode well for the long-range administrative health of the chapter.
Individuals who allow others to tell them what to do and how to do it are often referred to “passives” or “super-agreeables.” A chapter with a large concentration of such members may not have the leaders it needs for the future. Super-agreeables are more likely to drop out than to complain or take action.
Using the right tools
We should acknowledge talking on the risers as being perfectly natural for the people who do it. The power people are trying to play a role by interpreting, the achievers are trying to learn, and the affiliators are just trying to be friendly.
If leaders recognize why spontaneous conversation occurs, they are better prepared to deal with it. Their own lack of clarity or completeness in messages, or a conflict with previous instructions, may be at the root of the problem. By improving in this area alone, chatter will be considerably reduced.
In many chapters, much of the music is only learned on chapter meeting night, although achievers are likely to work at learning music at home. So the music leadership team will need to make certain the teaching plan considers this. Lecturing men on the risers won’t do it.
Use all interruptions as opportunities to gain input. Try to determine the interrupter’s individual drive—whether power, achievement, or affiliation, then respond appropriately. Give power people a more active role in planning, organizing and teaching. Give the achievers more and better craft sessions, presented clearly and concisely. Provide affiliators with short, fun sessions and frequent opportunities for unstructured or informal singing.
Create an atmosphere that improves learning through better teaching, and that provides opportunities that involve and motivate all members. This should provide a good start toward managing interruptions.
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