How do we get people to want to get better?

Today’s title is a question that emerged during an MD’s meet-up at LABBS Convention in October. It emerged partly in the context of familiar tensions within a chorus between those whose main motivation was to work hard and improve and those who were primarily interested in chorus as a source of social and emotional support. But it also existed as a stand-alone question: if singers were getting feedback from audience members that their performances were enjoyable, they felt satisfied with their achievements and rather resented being asked to develop further.

I guess the first stage in addressing the question is to step back and articulate exactly why those who do want the chorus to improve feel that way. It’s not that they don’t also value social and emotional support, but they also get a sense of reward from taking on challenges. They feel the need to aspire to something to keep engaged; maintaining (at whatever level that may be) gives them diminishing returns.

And the flip side to the question is why people aren’t motivated to improve feel that way. For some it may be that the extra demands (of time, but more significantly of headspace) this entails feel too much in the context of the rest of their lives; they have chorus in a comfortable niche in their world, and if it threatens to outgrow that space they start to feel a sense of overwhelm.

For others, it may be simply that they don’t have much experience of what it’s like when it’s better, so there is nothing to create the desire to improve. I have found it a reasonably common experience, when using my ‘internal coaches’ rehearsal protocol, which gives random singers the opportunity to listen and feed back on what they hear, that newcomers often can’t think of anything to suggest to improve; it already sounds good to them.

So, there are at least two problems to solve here, quite probably more: how to create the desire depends to a significant extent on the reason for its current absence.

In all cases, though, it is going to be necessary to create an awareness of what ‘better’ offers musically. Extrinsic rewards such as competition success are less useful here, since if people found those motivational, they’d already be on board with the aspiration to improve. But developing a shared discourse that articulate the intrinsic rewards of more skilled music-making will be helpful.

There are two main ways to build that awareness. The first is by exposing people to the wider musical culture in which you operate. Concert trips, festivals, joint projects with other ensembles are all useful ways to widen people’s horizons. And of course Youtube is your friend: a culture of ‘hey listen to this, isn’t it great!’ within the group extends everyone’s listening experience as it shares excitement.

The second is by celebrating musical beauty within rehearsals. People produce moments of relative brilliance within their current performance level all the time, and noticing these and relishing them builds an awareness of both what is possible from where you currently are, and of the joy it brings. Creating opportunities to hear and experience the difference between ‘normal for us’ and ‘that was a bit special’ is important for developing the skill of discernment, which is at the root of many of my favourite rehearsal protocols such as internal coaches and duetting.

With both approaches, though, the point is both to provide opportunities to perceive the difference between good and better, but also to help people understand why they might care about it. What impact does a brighter sound have? Or a tighter ensemble? How does a subtly nuanced performance make you feel?

If you are in a choir for the sense of belonging, the key thing about better section unity is that it gives you a greater sense of connection with your singing friends. If you are there for a sense of mutual support, then balance between parts becomes an active way of expressing that. If you are happy with your current level because your family and friends already enjoy what you do, then sharpening up your rhythm or creating greater variety of vocal colour offers you the chance to offer extra, previously unimagined, delight to your loved ones.

Overall, then, the key to motivating people to improve seems to have two dimensions. First, helping them discern what improvement sounds like, and second in giving them reasons to care about it. The question isn’t so much how to motivate improvement, that is, but is more about understanding what already motivates people and helping them discover how better singing delivers more of it.