APPLAUSE:
JOURNAL OF THEATRE AND MEDIA STUDIES

VOL. 1, NO.2, 2006

Department of Theatre Arts
University of Calabar,
Calabar 

THE CHORISTER AS A PERFORMER

Felix A. Akinsipe 
Department of Theatre Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Introduction
The fight and romance between the church and the theatre is a long one. However, the fact has been established that the spoken drama and the musical dance (theatre) must have both probably developed from religion or as a means of religious worship (Hodgson 1972:72). All through the ages however rind the theatre being sometimes totally embraced by the church and sometimes sternly denounced by it. For example, the church had begun to attack the minstrel or Harper or dancer, actors and stage players - the theatre - as early as A. D. 348 when the Third Council at Cartage:
...declared such people to be excommunicated and the council of Eliberis adds, 'If a Sooth-sayer or stage player have a mind to become believers, that is, to be baptized, let them be received on condition that they first bid adieu to their arts, and return not to them again1 (Edwards 1984: 24).
However, around the same time, the theater was embraced in some churches so much that Basil (Bishop of Caesarea in 370) called dance the noblest act of the angels and

by the sixth century, there is evidence of dance in the churches especially at Christmas Rasters and other festivals. (Edwards, 1984:25). This ancient trend has continued till modern times. For example,
In May 1967 a dramatic presentation of the mass was performed in Liverpool's Roman Catholic Cathedral. It was planned for two years, involved thirty-six dancers, a choir of eighty, an orchestra of fifty and cost £50.000 (Edwards 1984: 4).
Up till today, the argument persists. Has the church anything to do with the theatre? While some churches embrace the theater there are some that will have nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, we shall go on to establish in this paper that the church has some common grounds with the theater in function, purpose and practice. The paper therefore examines who the theatre artists and the choristers are, and their interrelationships. Since the church and the theatre, as well as, the chorister and the theatre artist are seen differently by different people, there is need to define their characters see if they have anything in common.
The Theatre and the Theatre Artist.
The theatre may refer to the building where different performance arts take place. The theatre also entails the performance of the different arts, i.e. music, dance and drama. The theatre (building) usually consists of the acting space (stage) and the audience's position (auditorium). Barringer (1991: 9) posits that the three basic components of theatre are the actor, the space, and the audience. For a theatre performance to take place therefore, there have to be the

performers (actors, actresses, singers, musicians, dancers etc.) who perform on the stage (usually a raised platform) before an audience (who might have paid or not to see the performance). 
The theatre may also refer to the performance that is going on. When an experience (message) is being shared by the performers and the audience with or without other elements of the theatre such as; lighting, scenery, sound effects etc. a theatre is said to be taking place. This simply means that the theatre aims, very importantly, to, pass across a message, that is, communicate with the audience. That is why Antonin Artaud says:
The theatre
Is the state
The place
The point
Where   we can   get   hold   of   man's anatomy
And through it heal and dominate life.
(Akinwale 1993: 12).
The theatre artists therefore, are the creative thinkers (people or group) behind any theatrical and artistic experience. They are the vehicles through which theatre is achieved. They include the directors, choreographers, playwrights, librettists, composers, conductors, actors, actresses, dancers, singers, stage managers, theatre technicians and designers etc. who attempt through their creative visions to recreate life experiences for the audience's better understanding, appraisal or entertainment. The artist is therefore seen 'as a Seer, a Visioner, Thinker, a Creator, the Conscience of the society, Gadfly, a Prophet, a Town Crier, a Teacher and a Revealer of Divine mind (Sofola 1994: 2). The theatre artist is therefore tasked with representing, educating, entertaining, as well us, correcting his society.

The Church and the Chorister
The church may refer to the (building) where different people (Christians) converge to worship. The church (building) usually consists of an altar (a flat-topped raised platform where the priests and, sometimes, the choristers sit) and the congregation's position. The church can also refer to the service (form of worship, prayer, and sermons, singing and other activities) taking place in such building, which is usually aimed at fostering communication, relationship and understanding between God and human beings. The church attempts to say things (preach) and do things directed at man (the congregation) to make them confirm to norms especially the divine norms or standard. That is why Rene Padilla stated without mincing words that 'preaching continues to be unavoidable to the church, as burning is to fire. If the church ever ceased to preach she would cease to be the church (Edwards! 984: 117-8).
The choir is therefore one of the groups in the church through whom the Church achieves it objectives. They are vehicles of carrying messages across to the congregation to enhance or buttress the service. The Chambers Dictionary' defines the choir as 'an organised group of trained singers, especially one that performs in the church' (Robinson 1996: 244, emptiasis mine). The choir is a recognised part of the Christian worship in the bible. Thus we have such choirs as David's (lChro.16: 4-9) Zerubabel's (Ezra 3: 10-11) and Nehemiali's temple choir (Neh.12: 27-30). In the same way music is very vital to Christian worship. Song was used to perform many miracles in the bible. The book of psalms in the Old Testament is a bundle of examples in this line while the prison experience of Paul and Silas in the New Testament (Actsl6:25-29) is vivid example. It is also worthy of note that the bible records that God himself rejoices in singing (Zeph.3:

17), as well as, the hosts of angels (Job 38: 7). In the New Testament Jesus Christ, the son of God was recorded as singing hymns with his disciples (Mark 14: 26; Matt.26: 30). Paul at various times also called on Christian to sing hymns and praises to the Lord (lCor.14: 15; Eph.19: 26). The bible is full of books of songs, hymns and several occasions in which music is used. No wonder the Psalmist said:
Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary... Praise him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise him with the psaltery and harp! Praise him with the tumbrel and dance; Praise with stringed instruments and organ Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the lord. Praise ye the Lord (Ps 150: 1,3-5).
If music is so much loved by God and so dear in his worship it is therefore very important that it should be done very well. This is because the art of singing in the church, if it is done well, can be the best way of moving closer to the Lord spiritually, knowing His mind, finding His face and presenting oneself or the entire service/congregation before Him.
There is no doubt that all these can only be best achieved if the choristers who are responsible for organising, coordinating and rendering songs in the church see themselves as the (artistic) vessel being used in reaching God and their medium as an art. Of all the various media of communication in the theatre the choristers rightly belong to the music medium. They are the creative artists (people) behind any musical experience in the church. This therefore, puts them

within the context of the performing (theatre) artists of the church. It is only when they realize this and see their roles as artistic and themselves as artists in the church that they can put on all the professional commitment of theatre artists toward making a great performance for the Lord. This is also when they can be business-like in their approach to the choral performances.
From all the above, a fundamental link has been established between the theatre and the church and between the chorister and the theatre artist. The church as a building is not different to the theatre as a building. The 'stage' is common to both as they usually have a raised platform in the front where the theatre artist performs and where the choristers and (priests, etc.) also perform. The auditorium is also common to both. This is where the audience seats in the theatre and the congregation in the church.
Having established the above, we shall now focus on the common grounds between the theatre artist and the chorister to show how they are closely linked and perform the same function. There is however, emphasis on what the chorister should do or not do to be a good artist in the church.
The Chorister and the Theatre Artist: The Common Grounds (a)    Communication
As stated earlier, to communication is the major function of the theatre artist. He aims at passing messages across to the audience and once this fails, it can be concluded that no meaningful theatre has taken place. The same way the message is very important to the chorister. The choir is known to use music to preach, worship, teach, encourage, praise, pray and entertain among other things. So, once the aim is lost the chorister also becomes irrelevant. Obviously, what the

chorister aims at is also the ultimate goal of the theatre artist. Sofola (1994: 22) defines art as:
The medium through which the soul of man reaches out beyond itself. To transform and make intelligible the prodding within the inner recesses for the ultimate truth, the meaning of existence, man's place in the cosmos, his relationship to the supreme creator and his fellow creatures, and finally the ultimate end of man.
To communicate effectively therefore, the artist makes use of various artistic techniques of effective communication. This includes projection, audibility and clarity. The same way the chorister must be loud enough without shouting. Every word of the lyrics must be pronounced distinctively and appropriately. It is observed that some choristers omit or swallow (do not articulate) some parts of the lyrics in their renditions especially the last one or two letters of some words. For example many choristers do not pronounce the last letter of the word 'Lord'. The 'd' is usually removed therefore what is pronounced is 'Law'. This gives a different meaning entirely to the song. Let us consider the praise song below as an example in this line:

He is Lord, He is Lord amen. 
He has risen from the dead 
He is Lord. 
Every knee shall bow 
Every tongue confess, that 
Jesus Christ is Lord.

As a theatre artist, proper attention must be paid to attending to such problem because the choristers might be communicating another thing entirely if the congregation misconstrues his words for something else.
The body carriage and facial expression of the choristers are of paramount importance to the expressiveness of the choir. The body posture must be straight, firm and attractive. If a solo singer comes forward and cuts a bad posture, this will not only make people lose interest in him, that posture will affect the voice quality too. The neck and head of the singer must be held upright.
The chorister sometimes may have to stand for a long time but should not be seen leaning on the wall, chair or anything for that matter. Standing should be part of the training the chorister is used to already. Choristers must not express weakness or tiredness even if they actually are. The faces of the choristers must express the type of songs they are singing. When singing of love and joy the faces should be full of beams and smiles to accompany the mood of the song. Also, when singing songs of warning or about hell, the faces should be serious: There is going to be a sort of confusion and contradiction if the choristers' faces are hardened when they are singing about the joy and bliss of being a church worker like them. The chorister must realize that he/she is not an ordinary member of the church. He is a person who after being a member for some time, voluntarily joins the choir knowing fully well that he is taking up another responsibly or role - as a performer.

(b)   Rehearsal
Rehearsal is another common ground between the chorister and the theatre artist. Rehearsal forms the basis of any good artistic work. The theatre artist will not just mount the stage without adequate rehearsals. This is well noted by Rkwueme (1972: 45-46) when he asserts that:
Any serious celebration or demonstration by a performing group, for example a dancing group or an age set band, or some such organised group, requires hard work, week or months of rehearsals, clear cut divisions of labour and strong discipline. Without these, the group cannot prosper and its efforts to put up a reasonable performance are in vain.
Rehearsal is what the chorister normally refers to as 'practice' in the church setting. This they know is so important to their output that it cannot be played with. Therefore, like the theatre artist it has been noted of the choir rehearsals that:
It is important that all members attend rehearsals regularly. Absenteeism is a most disturbing and destructive problem in any choir. If members are not all there, the parts are not balanced. Absent members will miss learning what others have learnt and the whole choir will more or less begin afresh when the absent members do come. Time and energy are therefore wasted unnecessarily (Ekwueme 1993: 14).

Concentration is a must for the choristers at rehearsals and in performance. If a chorister does not concentrate at rehearsal he may miss some of the very important instructions given about how they are going to render a piece - when to sing twice, or skip, in the piece for instance. We then see that after everybody had stopped singing, a non-concentrating chorister begins the first two words of the refrain before keeping shut. That as it may be, is a minus against that performance.
Therefore, side talks, unnecessary jests and comments should be discouraged in rehearsal and during performance. Efforts should be made to avoid distractions and distractive elements among the choristers. Nobody should be egoistic or arrogant, the use of foul language should be discouraged and keeping malice should be done away with.
However, the choristers themselves should discipline their individual minds so that it will not wonder away at anything. The mind should not be engaged in thinking about other thing(s) during a choir engagement. The chorister should also avoid searching out or concentrating on some particular people among the congregation. This can lead to a momentary loss of concentration. In all, the chorister should avoid noise making. Noise from within the choir will be competing with their songs and thus, affect it negatively. They should discourage having to tap or call another member of the choir, scratching the body and other things like that should also be minimized or totally done away with.
(c)   Discipline
The theatre discipline is also a paramount ingredient for a chorister. There are various levels of discipline in the theatre like obeying the call time, obeying the director or the stage manager and generally submitting oneself to directions and control. The director no matter how young is the overall boss

of a production and his decisions are final. The artist must obey him no matter how old. In any case, the director today might become an artiste in another production tomorrow and one of his former artistes the director. Likewise, a boy of twenty-five years may play the role of a husband and the lady playing the wife may be far older. However in the play, the lady may have to kneel down for 'her husband'. Age has nothing to do here. It takes a disciplined mind to undertake any of the tasks of an artist.
This should also be a case with the choristers. He must be properly disciplined. There has to be individual and group discipline among the choristers. They, for example, must obey their leaders at all times. They must be ready to take instruction and submit themselves to the direction. Any suggestion or idea from the chorister must be made with wisdom. Even a good idea may not pass through if the chorister engages his leader in argument. Albright el. al. (1968: 457) suggest that:
The tactful actor, when he disagrees with the director on some matter, and sees that the director is trying to terminate the discussion, waits until after the rehearsal to protest. He is more likely to win the argument then.
Any of such idea or suggestion that were not agreed upon must be dropped no matter how bright they seem. So they must obey also their conductor even if he 'misses' or changes the original decision on a particular piece in performance. At that stage the conductor's direction is superior. What will happen if some members of the choir stick to the original plan and others follow the new or changed pattern of the conductor is a disaster.

The chorister just like a theatre artist must also maintain individual discipline; the artist must be seen to carry proper ethical bearing in appearance, moral conduct and general demeanor (Sofola 1994: 2). As a preacher, that he is, the chorister must not be seen going against what he preaches even outside the church. He should be aware that all eyes are on him and the impression he creates in people's minds will affect their appreciation of his work.
(d)    Picturization and Composition
One of those things that make the theatre so interesting and attractive is the arrangement of the stage. The picturization of a work of art is made to unfold and change at all times. The stage is not allowed to be stagnant. The director makes sure that pleasant pictures are presented always and the entire work is arranged beautifully. This is another factor that the chorister should emulate. As much as we may want the different parts to be together in the choir, it will be wrong to place a fat and tall lady in the middle of the front row and a slim and short one behind her. This arrangement, apart from the fact that the lady at the back will be masked (covered) in person her voice will also be drowned. Such a fat lady is best placed at one of the extreme sides of the first row.
The choir should not be arranged anyhow. They must be arranged in a way that must be pleasing to the congregation. It must be in a way that all the choristers are visible and no one seems to be hiding behind anybody. The best way to achieve this will be to create levels among the rows by the use of risers (raised platform) for each row so that the row behind is about a foot higher than the one in front. Such arrangement as this is not only neat, it is also beautiful and it will in no small measure engage the interest of the congregation.
The placement of the instruments and instrumentalists is also part of the stage arrangement to be taken care of. They

like the choristers, must be seen and pleasantly arranged. The choristers should know that in spite of the message or ministry, they must be entertaining, as well, to be able to sustain (he congregation's interest in their performance.
(e)   Technical Theatre and Stage Design
Design and technical theatre provides visual and aural accompaniment to the various productions in the theatre. They
include costumes and props, stage set and make-ups, lighting and sound effects. Good uses of them not only aid the aesthetic value of a production but help the audience in proper understanding of it.
The use of costumes and some props will, in a big way, help the choristers in achieving their objectives. Some choristers dress in such sophisticated 'worldly' attires that one wonders if they are of God. In such cases, some members of the congregation would be put off. While some will concentrate on appreciating these dresses only few will hem the song. In the same way, an improper dress will have the same effect. Costumes are used to enhance the production in the theatre, and proper use of it, tells one at a glance, the  period, time, setting, culture and genre of a production.
The choristers may also emulate the use of sound/visual effects in the theatre especially during concert/cantata/carols or any other performance organized specially as choir activity or outdoor events. It will not be too much if when singing about the police pursuing a robber the sound effect of police siren is mixed with the music at that point. Other sound effects like thunder, rain etc. will also be of great advantage if used at appropriate time. When singing of hell the use of fire/smoke effects to represent hell will be helpful. Going all out to build a set for particular occasion of the choir like the Christmas cantata, choir annual anniversaries etc., will definitely not be

out of place. The set may then depict the sky; the throne of God, the manger of any other place the music is set.
One other thing that is often removed from most choir performances is the use of lights. Apart from illuminating, lights produce so many effects in the theatre, ranging from creation of atmosphere, mood, and time to adding more to the beauty of the performance through the use of relevant colours. It is not always good for the intensity of the lights to remain the same throughout the performance of a choir. Different lighting will complement when singing of praise, worship, hope, joy, warning etc. The fact that the auditorium lights are off and the auditorium is in darkness while, lights are only on the choristers help to emphasize them, focus all attention and concentration on them throughout the performance. Lighting is said to be:
as much a part of the artistic process as any other aspect of work in the theatre. The lighting designer helps to tell the story by illuminating the text and creating the emotional world of colour and light that brings the production to the light. (Cited in Oni 1999: 39).
Engaging the services of experts in these areas may be necessary. As long as they strife to get good hands for the keyboard and other instruments the technical design must be included.
(0   General
Since the choir falls within the music arm of the performing arts, it is also good if elements of the other arms are brought in to enhance the performance. The various arms of the

performing arts have been used so much to complement one another successfully in theatre. So, an introduction of choreographed dance, (especially when the music calls for it), handled by an expert, will not in any way disrupt but in many ways enhance the output of the choir performance. The expert choreographer will know the type of steps to give them and when. Similarly, little gestures and acting here and there may also to a very large extent boost the choir's performance.
Lastly, the chorister cannot afford to be shy. The artist is the focus of the audience. He is the one they are there to watch and so he cannot recoil or hide. He should be aware that the audience is there to enjoy themselves and his own performance. The audience is most often filled with people that will give credits to the artists than those that will condemn him. While 'stage fright' is normal to anybody facing the crowd for the first time, it will naturally wear away with consequent and continuous performance. And for the fist timer a total concentration on what he had rehearsed and perfected will take his mind away from the crowd.
Conclusion
So far, this paper has tried to examine the relationship and draw analogies between the chorister and a theatre artist. The various attributes that make the chorister qualify as a performer are highlighted. It has been established that in terns of purpose, functions and operational method the chorister shares a lot of common grounds with the theatre artist. It am therefore be concluded that until choristers learn certain specific techniques and skills of theatre artists and apply them to their performances in the church, even their best performances cannot be excellent. They will always remain near perfection thus they cannot reach the peak of their desired impact on their congregation.

References
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Edwards, B., 1984, Shall we Dance? - Dance and Drama in Worship, England: Evangelical Press.
Ekwueme, L., 1972, Ibo Choral Music: Its Theory and Practice, Michigan: University Microfilms Int.
— 1993, Choir Training and Choral Conducting for Africans, Lagos: Lenans Advertising and Publication Ltd.
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Oni, Duro. 1999 'Lighting design and The Development of Modern Stage Lighting Practice in Nigeria' The Performer: Ilorin Journal of the Performing Arts, 1(1), pp. 39-51.
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