Chorus - Mr. Nemhauser

I realized, to my chagrin, that I have two weeks left in this semester and there are still four classes about which I must write, including two that don’t continue into the spring. Oops. Anyway, on with the show:

This is both a fabulous and an annoying class. It is, literally, a choir. We spend an hour and a half, twice a week, rehearsing choral music and will be giving a concert in April. It is required for two years for all piano, composition, and voice majors, so – thanks primarily to the last of these – we have the potential to sound quite incredible. Certainly superior to any choir I’ve ever experienced previously. However, in practice many people don’t treat it seriously. The only saving grace is that we have a phenomenal director. In fact, during the beginning of term when he was absent for two weeks, the entire thing almost crashed down in flames.
Mr. Nemhauser is doubtless one of the pillars of this school. He has been here forever, and teaches all of the non-academic voice-major classes. His conducting itself is perhaps not quite on the level of a professional choir director, but his command of the rehearsal is incredible. He tolerates no ‘monkey business,’ knows languages, choir vocal technique, and practice methods inside out. Though the point of the class is probably primarily to have players of non-orchestral instruments still involved in some sort of large ensemble, I’m sure we are also expected to pick up rudiments of conducting, so I am effectively learning how to direct a choir in every way short of majoring in it. I also get to play the piano accompaniment on several pieces.