Programme Preparation
by Mark Gibson
PUBLISHED August 2007
Preparation of the programme for a Midland Festival Chorus concert starts almost as soon as the decision is taken as to the choice of music in any particular year – in some cases even before the music is chosen! I am still waiting for the opportunity to make use of a photograph I took of the statue of the great J S Bach outside St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig in 2001. At this stage, it is mainly about collecting ideas and particularly sourcing illustrations almost by chance as they come. Serious collection of material usually starts near the beginning of the year in which the concert takes place, and this will consist of searching through programmes of previous performances, information on record sleeves, books, the BBC Music Magazine, other written sources, and more recently the internet.
One of the more difficult areas is to obtain sensible, interesting and readable biographies of any soloists and the accompanying orchestra (it goes without saying that our conductor is a notable exception). Almost inevitably these seem to consist of no more than a listing of the works they have sung, and when the singers are also involved in opera performances they sometimes have little relevance to our own audiences. Almost inevitably I have to re-write them and then get the permission of the singer’s agent to use my modified version. The other problem is that they frequently use phrases such as plans for next year include... when I know that these concerts have already happened, and I do begin to wonder how up to date some of these biographies actually are. Other favourite phrases are recent performances have included... or earlier this year... when you know very well that the events referred to were three years ago. I also believe that it is very helpful to the audience’s understanding of what we are singing that they should have the words printed in the programme, and if the language is not English, that this should be accompanied by an English interpretation alongside it. This in itself can be a lengthy process, and if a foreign language is involved, then assistance has to be sought from a linguist.
By the middle of summer I am usually in a position to start to write the main programme notes using the material drawn together in the previous months, and to piece together the other various sections. I aim to make the programme notes of interest to the ordinary concert goer, with some biographical information about the composer, setting the music in its context and giving a brief synopsis of the piece. I am firmly of the belief that most of our audience do not want an academic treatise, but something that informs and adds interest to the performance. The way I work, this writing tends to be done in a concentrated bash that may take several evenings over the course of a week or so.
Then, with text e-mailed to the designer/printer, some illustrations sent electronically and some no doubt in my hand, a visit to the designers is an absolute necessity. This meeting will discuss ideas for layout, number of pages, the illustrations that might be used and their juxtaposition to the sections of text, use of colour, or not as finances dictate, numbers for the print run and a host of other details, and most importantly obtain costs for the design, production and printing. The designer will then produce a first draft of the layout for consideration and proof reading. At this stage I will usually call in the help of another member or two of the committee to check things such as spelling, grammar, text and translations as after doing all the original work it is very easy at this stage to miss simple errors which leap out of the page for someone reading it for the first time. If we need to, I then have the opportunity to revise the proof before we go to print. Towards the end it always seems that we are all up against deadlines, but at the end of the day I need to have the programmes delivered or ready for collection in time for the first rehearsal weekend.