r a
chorus rehearsal. Plenty of fresh air will not only enable your chorus
to sing with better intonation, but will allow them to sing for a
longer period without fatigue. (We are tempted to add a corollary to
this proposition: namely, that sleepy congregations are not always due
to poor preaching, as is generally supposed, but are as frequently the
result of a combination of fairly good preaching and a badly
ventilated auditorium!)

[Sidenote: _A CAPPELLA_ REHEARSING]

In directing a chorus rehearsal, have your singers study without
accompaniment much of the time. The organ "covers a multitude of sins"
and practising without it will not only enable you to discover
weaknesses of all sorts but will help the singers themselves
enormously by making them more independent, improving the intonation,
and compelling them to make cleaner and more definite attacks and
releases.

[Sidenote: THE VALUE OF A SENSE OF HUMOR]

Finally, in concluding both this chapter and the book as a whole, let
us commend once more to the conductor that he cultivate "the saving
grace of humor." This quality has already been commented on somewhat
at length in an earlier chapter (see p. 8), but it is in the rehearsal
period that it is most needed, and the conductor who is fortunate
enough to be able to laugh a little when annoyances interrupt or
disrupt his plans instead of snarling, will not only hold the members
of the organization together for a longer time, because of their
cordial personal attitude toward him, but will find himself much less
fatigued at the end of the rehearsal; for nothing drains one's
vitality so rapidly as scolding. A bit of humorous repartee, then,
especially in response to the complaints of some lazy or grouchy
performer; the ability to meet accidental mishaps without anger; even
a humorous anecdote to relieve the strain of a taxing rehearsal--all
these are to be highly recommended as means of oiling the machinery of
the rehearsal and making it run smoothly.

But of course, even humor can be overdone. So we shall close by
quoting the Greek motto, "Nothing too much," which will be found to
apply equally well to many other activities recommended in the
foregoing pages.

APPENDIX A

REFERENCE LIST

I. GENERAL:

Berlioz, _The Orchestral Conductor_. A short treatise full of
practical suggestions. It is found in the back of the author's
well-known volume on _Orchestration_.

Weingartner, _On Conducting_. A sm