Early Introductions to Mahler

Guest Blogger: Lloyd Randolph

This calendar year’s first rehearsal promoted a conversation between tenor David Styers and me about how we loved Mahler’s music and when we first heard it. We then were teenagers living in small southern cities (he in college in North Carolina and I in high school in Kentucky). Listening to classical music on the local university’s public radio station, we heard a work we didn’t recognize but were exhilarated as choral wave after wave swept over us. We were attentive when the announcer intoned, “Mahler’s Symphony Number 2, Resurrection.”

David’s and my separate but similar introduction to Mahler’s music prompts some observations. Obviously, music moves teenagers, and they can even be moved by some music from far away in time and space. By educating us about such music, public radio has enriched our lives and deserves our support, at least as individuals.

Our similar introduction to Mahler also triggers questions about my fellow choristers. The overarching question is this: what prompts nearly 200 with diverse backgrounds and interests to devote so much unremunerated time and energy to The Washington Chorus?

At least part of the answer, of course, is our shared love of choral music. But musical affection alone would not push us from consuming to producing music. (After all, we could just enjoy the music by attending concerts and listening to recordings.)

With this post I hope to kick off a discussion about why we pursue our joint music-making. By exploring this question with choristers past and present, and perhaps even our friends and fans, I hope to deepen our appreciation of the ties that bind us.

Here are some possible explanations that occur to me:

1) We relish working collaboratively on (sometimes) difficult projects.

2) We want to hone a skill or put to use a talent that at least some of us do not use to earn our daily bread.

3) We crave the limelight of performing before thousands.

4) We enjoy spending time with our friends (and for some, even spouses) in the group.

5) We think Monday night football (or whatever else may be on television) is tedious.

6) We want to learn something new (yes, Julian, perhaps even a bit of music history or theory).

Which of these reasons ring true to you? And what accurate explanations have I omitted?