Transpose & the Value of Queer Community Singing
How can we reshape the model of choral community with Queer voices at the center? What is the impact of a holistically inclusive and accessible space? How do we define our collective identity?
Dear reader,
I hope you’re having a great week! I am really excited to share that, this Wednesday, I finished preparing and submitting my applications for Graduate programs. This has been a months-long process, and I’m really happy with the work that I was able to display within my applications.
Now, of course, begins what I believe to be the tough part. I will be waiting for likely a few weeks to hear back from each school about whether I will be asked to come in for a live audition, and then will be planning and preparing for that stage of the process. One of my upcoming newsletters will be full of details about the work I did to get to this point, and the lessons I learned along the way. Stay tuned and subscribe to read that when it is released!
I am also looking ahead to my plans for the spring and summer. A major part of this is working to expand my roster of private student to be able to spend more time singing, teaching, and writing rather than at my day job. While I am grateful for the financial stability it provides, I know that I am happier and more fulfilled when I am immersed in musical and creative things, and my goal for myself is to work towards that. I just opened up a registration form for lessons in the spring, including new reduced rates for purchasing a bundle, and the addition of a recital for students at the end of the semester. If you know anyone who is looking for voice lessons at a more affordable rate, or want to give the gift of musical training, check out the form!
I am really proud to be able to share this week’s newsletter. It features a choral ensemble that has grown near to my heart, Transpose: Ithaca Queer Singers Alliance, the many things that make the ensemble unique, and the tools used by leadership to create a holistically inclusive space. I hope you enjoy learning more about this wonderful community :)
I joined Transpose as a vocalist this semester, around September of 2023. I was first introduced to the choir by Sona Minasian, my good friend and collaborator, after he began to be more involved in leadership with the group. Personally, I was seeking new Queer-inclusive musical spaces, and craving the community they create. Transpose was exactly the right fit for me at this time, as it has allowed me the space to connect with other Queer people in Ithaca, create music in a compassionate, community-based space, and investigate my own understanding of music leadership and facilitation.
I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and talk with Sona Minasian and Jonah Hirst, the interim music co-directors of the ensemble, and hear their perspective on the evolution of the choir and its mission.
Sona Minasian is a conductor, collaborative pianist, and teacher. They are currently the interim co-director and accompanist for Transpose, and the music director of Forest Home Chapel in Ithaca, New York. Sona also accompanies a number of vocalists in the Ithaca area, and teaches circus and piano.
Jonah Hirst is a singer-songwriter, multimedia artist, and cat cafe barista. He is the interim music co-director and community facilitator of Transpose.
About Transpose: Ithaca Queer Singers Alliance
Transpose functions under a clearly defined mission statement:
“Transpose: Ithaca Queer Singers Alliance is a non-auditioned community chorus that celebrates queer, trans, and non-binary identities through the joy of singing. Our mission is to create beautiful music in a supportive and accessible environment which empowers LGBTQIA+ singers. Our membership welcomes singers of all genders and sexualities, and any background, disability, voice type, or experience level, including those with changing voices and fluid identities. We seek to foster connections among our membership and throughout the broader Ithaca community. We invite those who support our mission of proudly uplifting Ithaca’s vibrant queer, trans, and non-binary community through solidarity and song to join us as your full authentic selves.”
This mission statement highlights many of the things that makes this ensemble unique, and is a testament to the dedication of the entire community to the creation of intentionally inclusive musical spaces.
History
Transpose was initially founded as the Ithaca Gay Men’s Chorus in 2009, and existed as such until the spring of 2022. Around this time, a conversation began about the true purpose of the ensemble, and the community that it would like to welcome to participate.
The process of renaming and reorienting the ensemble “was more of a defining of what the group was already doing, or already wanting to do, and giving the group a chance to put that into words. It wasn’t that the Gay Men’s Chorus was already closed off to Trans people at all, or non-TTBB voice types, but that wasn’t recognized to the community. We realized that… a lot of the Trans people who found the chorus as the Gay Men’s Chorus had no idea it would be such an affirming Trans space until they got there and experienced it as that. We wanted to make sure the larger Trans and Queer community in Ithaca were aware of that instead of it being unclear,” shares Sona.
Jonah adds, “That has been true even since 2009, when Transpose was first founded. It was always an inclusive space in a number of ways. It became clear that no matter how much you tell people they are welcome in the space, if we stayed under the Gay Men’s Chorus name, that would inherently alienate some people. And if we were going to maintain that limitation, then we wanted to have a clear reason why.
“This was a conversation that first started when Transpose was much smaller… Being a small group did give us the ability to deal with logistics. When we had to make any decisions, we just sat and talked. We had talked about the awareness that we were an inclusive space, and that not everybody in the room identifies as Gay or identifies as a man… The consensus at the time, when we were eight people who largely felt comfortable in a Gay Men’s space, was that the history of Gay Men’s Choruses felt important to us at the time.”
As the group expanded, however, the need to rename the ensemble made itself clear: “There was a huge influx of people that was, as far as I know, disproportionately Non-Binary, and even before that, before the pandemic, a bunch of people showed up. Not only was there a desire for clearer communication, there was a desire for it to be a voice-expansive group,” says Jonah.
With this intention in mind, the leaders of the community began a process of democratic conversation. Jonah recounts, “It became clear that we were unable to name ourselves without first figuring out who we were and what we were about. We did it through a sort of bottom-up process, where we talked about what was important to us in a broad sense, what it meant to be a Gay Men’s Chorus versus something else, and what the process would look like. Then, we had to decide how to name the important things and communicate that. We had to take a dissertation long treatise about who were are and put it into a communicable mission statement. There are various diversities in the room, and the goal is agreeing on something with different people who are inherently going to not agree about certain things.”
Reflecting on this process, Sona shares, “It was a very unique thing that I’ve never encountered in any other choral space. It required the artistic director to relieve rehearsal time to dedicate to community work, and figuring out who we are. I think it’s really important that directors realize that that can serve the needs of the community as much as rehearsal time will.”
This focus on community contribution and conversation has remained at the center of the leadership’s values. With a newly defined mission and presence in place, the ensemble has continued to grow and expand, learning at every stage new ways to maintain inclusivity and accessibility.
Community Conversations
The practice of community conversations is an important part of Jonah’s role as Community Facilitator for the ensemble.
“On a more or less monthly basis, depending on our schedule and the topics that are most urgent, we come together and have what we call ‘Community Conversations,’ for which I guide the conversation and set the tone of the room. It starts and ends the same way, and this tradition was established over time. We introduce ourselves with a fun or interesting icebreaker question, which sets up an inclusive space for both the directors and the membership. We sing, and then open up discussion. I introduce a topic, which I usually decide through a form of meditation ahead of time. This usually involves a general discussion, in which I try to remind the group to leave space for every person to get a chance to speak before they get a second chance,” shares Jonah.
He continues, “After the group conversation, we will often split up into separate smaller groups, which is really great to encourage people to think differently. It gives people who are more comfortable talking with just a couple of people to do just that, and gives people a chance to spend time with and get to know new people in the community.”
It is clear that there is consideration at every stage of this process for the humanity of the participants. As Sona shares, “In these community conversations, we value that everyone is coming as a full human, and that whatever each person is bringing to the space will be respected and heard. And that can be in whatever capacity they consent to.”
Community conversations are specifically held in the same room as the rehearsal space, “because that work stays in the room. We trust that when we enter that space as a group that we are building on the community conversation and the work that we did there.” Jonah shares that, “We also always have food, and that is a distinct pedagogical decision. I knew that some people would always arrive hungry, and they would not be able to feel their feelings in the safest possible ways if they didn’t have anything to eat. People probably wouldn’t bring that up, so we wanted to put it in place without them having to.”
Leadership Structure
Transpose is, I believe, the most democratically run choral organization that I have come across. Beyond the important community conversations, which are designed to take all member voices into account, there are structures in place which create space for participation and leadership on several levels.
The chorus is guided by a Steering Committee, which meets regularly to make important decisions and plans for the functioning of the ensemble. As I understand it, however, these conversations often align with and center the topics discussed with the general membership in community conversations, and vice versa.
There are three other committees in place to assist with functions of the ensemble and community: the Disability Committee, the Safety Committee, and the Music Selection Committee.
The Disability Committee focuses on the accessibility of the rehearsal and performance space, including advocating for the use of music stands rather than holding binders when requested. When I mentioned to the committee that the fluorescent lighting in the rehearsal space was amplifying some of the migraine symptoms I was experiencing, we immediately decided to turn the lights down by half, and this has been respected at rehearsals and community conversations since.
The Safety Committee is dedicated to upholding the safety of the members of the community, with the inherent understanding that participating in a Queer chorus can invoke some personal vulnerability. For this reason, we don’t share our rehearsal location publicly, and protect member contact information. In preparation for our most recent concert, they worked to establish structures that would welcome friendly audience members, while protecting members from the possible presence of unfriendly folks.
Finally, the Music Selection Committee works on brainstorming and programming the music for our season in collaboration with the music co-directors. This committee works hard to include a diverse range of voices and composers, while selecting pieces that are accessible for the wide range of musical experience within the membership.
The implementation of co-directors is integral to the current system of leadership within the ensemble. Sona shares, “We knew it didn’t feel correct when there was only one person in charge of artistic decisions, and it didn’t fit the needs of the community and its mission. We had been thinking about leadership being plural. When the leadership shifted this season, we were organically ready for the leadership to be just one person.”
They continue, “It’s fairly standard for ensembles to have a Director and an Assistant Director, but I think the model of having equitable division between two Directors is outside of the norm. We have very different skill sets, and so we rely on each other in a number of ways. Because we don’t have different positions, and are identified as collaborators, we both feel welcome to share our skills, which serves the community and gives them multiple people to rely on. That is something that I think is really unique and special.”
“Another bonus is that if somebody is more comfortable talking with one director, or thinks one will be more prepared to assist, they have people to choose between,” Jonah adds.
Experience-Inclusive Direction
Transpose is a non-auditioned community chorus, and intentionally so. “Because we have a commitment to being accessible to everyone, we’ve had to rethink how we present material to make it accessible for the whole community and to the people that walk in the door. We had a lot of new members this year who have never sung in a choral setting or read music,” Sona says.
Jonah continues, “At the same time, we have people who are very comfortable with singing and are looking for more challenging work. We are an all-experiences group, and want to be a space that is equally fulfilling to somebody who started singing today and somebody who has been singing their whole life.”
This is recognized within the rehearsal process by the inclusion of beginner workshops. For a few weeks during the semester, rehearsal time was split between workshopping pieces and a dedicated time for learning and building fundamental music skills. These workshops also allowed space for participants to talk and learn about their voices and to explore the vocal mechanism.
Sona took the lead in these workshops, and shares this about their structure: “I made it very constructivist, and wanted to give everyone the chance to know that their voice is unique, and they should listen to their body first and foremost. That made it really easy. To me, the voice is the easiest instrument to make all-encompassing, because it’s part of our bodies. Even if you have no vocal experience, if you are exploring your vocal mechanism, you’re learning about your voice.
“The other thing was music literacy. I introduced solfege in the beginner workshops, and this served the people who had music experience but hadn’t yet learned solfege. There were people who had had some solfege experience, but hadn’t used it in a while, and the way that I presented it allowed them to enjoy it again.”
There was also intentional space created for the members who had more extensive musical backgrounds, and who were seeking a greater challenge for performance on the concert. “We chose a list of pieces, and invited people to sign up and choose the song they want to sing. This helps to reach the people in the room who are looking for more of a musical challenge, with a faster pace. This feels like truly serving the music and the community at the same time,” Sona shares.
Voice Inclusivity & Placement
Another unique element of the structure of Transpose is the use of voice placement and definition. In most choral ensembles that I have been a part of, members are placed in a section, either by audition or self-definition, and that section becomes, in a way their identity in the space. There have, honestly, been times when I would list “soprano” as one of the top three words to describe myself, simply because it is how I have been labeled in the musical spaces I have been a part of.
Transpose, however, actively works to avoid this rigid structure. The process starts with individual voicings, in which the co-directors will explore an individual’s vocal range and comfort levels: “This is mostly for people who have never sung before, and who don’t know what voice part they want to sing,” says Sona.
Then, members are invited to begin to decide which part they will choose in repertoire: “We truly take into consideration what part people want to sing, and we don’t make people sing a part that they don’t want to. It’s very important to us.
The repertoire of the ensemble is often condustive to a looser voicing structure: while there are pieces in the traditional SATB parts, the co-directors work to include music that has more open grouping of voices, or that has parts that overlap in range and melodic content.
Sona also recognized the importance of developing (or redeveloping) a healthy relationship with one’s vocal development and identity, and the value of feeling comfortable in the section you are a part of: “I will sometimes tell people, ‘if you want to grow your instrument in this place, you could try singing more in this part, if you’re interested in that.’ If I have someone with a treble voice who wants to sing tenor, but doesn’t really have the range, I don’t just tell them they can’t. I tell them the truth, that it might be exhausting to them in rehearsal, but that they are welcome to jump up to some of the alto notes to make it more accessible for their voice.
I really try to deconstruct the ideas that the world puts on Trans people and their voices. I think that’s part of my service as one of the directors of the group. It’s part of my mission to help people feel welcome and comfortable in that way, and give them the tools to do that healthfully.”
Impact
As a relatively new member, it is clear to me that there is an incredible amount of thought and consideration involved with creating a space such as Transpose. The leadership committees, co-directors, and ensemble members are invited to the table to share their stories and ideas, and are recognized and valued as human beings in a creative and collaborative space.
Personally, this has been an incredible model of the possible ways choral ensembles can work towards inclusivity and accessibility. While I have had the privilege of working with a wide range of directors and conductors, Sona and Jonah’s leadership in Transpose stands out as truly unique and thoughtful.
I want to share a few stories from members of the ensemble. Thank you to Justin Lee and Martha Fitzgerald for sharing these experiences, and for being a part of our community <3
“I have been a member for a couple of months. I came to the group to explore singing in a choir while being around a like-minded and supportive community. I also attended a concert in Rochester that Transpose participated in and one of the group members suggested I join, which made me begin to be open to the idea. After joining, I finally felt accepted for the first time in years, both in a musical and a general sense.
“After joining, I finally felt accepted for the first time in years, both in a musical and a general sense. Even in the first week, I noticed an improvement in my vocal/musical abilities and vocabulary, to the point where a couple of my very musical colleagues have even complimented my progress. From a non-musical standpoint, the group has made me feel more comfortable with my personal identity and accept my queerness, which has allowed me to transform into the person I have always wanted to be.”
“For high-school I attended a Catholic School boarding in Co. Clare, Ireland and sang in a choir there. Even though we never learned to read music, I loved singing in harmony and in unison with other girls' voices. And even though I’m an atheist, there was something truly spiritual in that experience for me as a teenager but being taught by nuns and under the strict rules of Catholicism, it also felt oppressive and not liberating for me in any way. I always loved singing but never explored singing in a choir because of the association of “only boring people sing in choirs” so I wanted to find a ‘cool’ choir to help break this stereotype mold. From the first evening that I nervously entered the rehearsal room to Transpose and made a name tag for myself with my pronouns, I knew I had found that choir.”
This impact is not just felt by the members represented here; it echoes through our rehearsal and performance spaces, the audiences we reach, and the community we can connect with in Ithaca and beyond.
Thank you, Sona and Jonah, and thank you Transpose, for all that you do <3
Upcoming Performances:
December 9, 3pm; Ford Hall, Ithaca College: Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers Winter Concert (I’m singing a solo, a duet, and some small group pieces!) Livestream here.
December 16, 7:30pm; Ford Hall, Ithaca College: Handel’s Messiah with Cayuga Vocal Ensemble and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra
December 17, 4pm; Pebble Hill Church, Syracuse: Behold, the Handmaid of the Lord with Syracuse Schola Cantorum
January 6, 2024, 7pm; St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Brockport: Jazzy January with the St. Luke’s Schola Cantorum
January 26, 2024, 7:30pm; Ford Hall, Ithaca College: Concert in Honor of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. with Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers
January 28, 2024, 3pm; Broome County Forum Theatre, Binghamton: Mozart’s Requiem with Southern Tier Singers Collective and Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra
Thank you for reading <3
Love,
Caitlin
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