Belonging and Becoming: Life as a TPC Scholar

As we approach our March performance of Elijah, Jackie from our MarComms Team sat down with Ben Miller and Ben Hendry-Watkins to discuss their initial experience of being TPC scholars.

First, I asked them what they most enjoy about singing with a choir like ours; what

unique contribution they hoped to make to our ensemble’s sound; and if there were

particular skills they’d developed in their first term with TPC.

Ben Miller

I haven’t sung in a choir this big for a while so I had to learn to blend in while singing with

confidence. It’s quite difficult to judge, particularly with such a large tenor section. My

German has also improved – Harry was very keen for the German to be correct.

Ben W

It’s interesting how you approach singing with a big choir like this compared to singing a

solo piece. There are similarities; for example doing the really basic things that help convey

meaning like clarity of diction. You always try to over-emphasise the indications the

composer gives in the music because what comes across is never as clear as you think. You

have to over-communicate to come across.

BM

With a lot of things I do, you arrive at a venue, rehearse the piece once and then perform it. With TPC, it’s great to spend time on the music; you get a chance to work more on the bits that make

it special, rather than just the notes. And it’s nice to sing with a group of people who are

very supportive and very friendly.

BW

Normally I sing in a conservatoire/educational environment and the elephant in the

room is that everything’s being assessed; you’re working on improving all the time. At TPC

everyone is committed to music-making and to improving but you’re free to try things out;

no-one is judgmental so there’s less pressure. And, whereas singing professionally you

sometimes encounter people who are singing a particular work because they are being paid,

I enjoy singing with people who are just passionate and enthusiastic about the music. It

reminds me why I wanted to get into music in the first place.

“…there shouldn’t be a hierarchy within a voice section but a presence to guide the music…”

BM and BW agreed they didn’t see themselves as section leaders; they felt there shouldn’t

be a hierarchy within a voice section. But they try to be a presence in the section to try to

guide people along in terms of notes, particularly in Elijah where some of some passages are

quite tricky. One of the benefits of coming through the English choral system is that you’re

not too bad with sight reading which always helps when you come to a piece of music for

the first time.

Then I asked them about their experience of the December concert.

BW

I’d sung the Mozart Coronation Mass quite a few times before in church services but

never in a concert environment where the demands are slightly different. Where I sing on

Sundays the text is so familiar to audiences that it’s easy to become complacent.

Communicating liturgical Latin text to an audience in a concert setting is more challenging.

In the Bach, it was good to sing something with a really defined role – often in Bach cantatas

the characterisation is more ambiguous – and where the music was quite challenging.

BM

For me it was the same with the Mozart Gloria. In a concert you have to perform to an

audience rather than just in church setting, where you’re doing it to God! And in church, you

never sing Credos so some words were new to me. And Mozart does have fun with the

words. The Bach I had sung before but it was interesting to do it after seven years to see

how my voice had changed. I was the announcer of the bride and groom so had to be very

enthusiastic. As an English-speaking singer, I’ve had to learn to sound more German, to

make it feel more direct.

And finally, their experience of singing Elijah

BW

To make the performance of Elijah interesting, you have to find moments of contrast.

A lot of it is so loud that the choir has a real challenge to find the lighter moments in the

work so it doesn’t sound all the same. Concert day will be interesting in terms of vocal

stamina; we start singing a new movement each rehearsal and, in the basses, we keep

asking ourselves how we will manage the rehearsal and the performance.

BM

I’m really enjoying it. I’ve done some of Mendelssohn’s choral standards like How Lovely

are they Messengers but never a big work. It’s great fun; and it’s challenging in a different

way from the way Bach or Mozart are challenging. It’s a very different soundscape, and

often a lot louder, which gives rise to the challenge Ben W was talking about. It feels similar

to opera – it’s very dramatic. I almost want to be on stage in a chorus shouting about Baal!

To hear all our Choral Scholars singing with the choir in Elijah, join us at Cadogan Hall on

Saturday 28 March; tickets available from the Cadogan Hall website.