Out of Necessity and Compassion, A Judgment-Free Laboratory

“I went back to my lesson with my composition teacher and said, ‘I don't want to write choral music anymore,’” Peterson recalls. “I was in tears. I was completely humiliated.”

True, he undoubtedly had plenty left to learn as a young composer, including the nuances of writing for and working with choral singers. But, Peterson was convinced, there was a way to deliver the same quality of rigorous feedback in a radically supportive environment.

While in school for his master’s degree Peterson met a fellow student, Steven Smith, who became a dear friend and collaborator. The two shared a passion for pedagogy and care in teaching. In Smith, Peterson saw someone who could become a partner in realizing his vision of a safe musical space to experiment.

Choral Chameleon Institute founders Vince Peterson (left) and Steve Smith.

As products of the conservatory, Smith and Peterson received what they considered to be the sharpest aural and analytical training available – the prize they had sought to prepare them for their lives as musicians. However, they found that they had similar experiences inheriting some byproducts from their institutional educations that didn’t serve them well. In addition to operating in a culture of rigidity and fear exemplified by Peterson’s reading session experience, their conservatory studies focused exclusively on Western classical music, and they found that prevailing attitudes were indifferent – or often hostile – towards other traditions. 

The two wanted a different ethos for the creative haven they envisioned. In 2012, with Smith and Peterson as co-founders, the Choral Chameleon Institute for Composers and Conductors was born.

Removing Stressors, Emphasizing Community

Creating an environment where students can grow the most begins with removing artificial expectations from the equation, explains Peterson. Those expectations can be inwardly focused on reaching a certain level of output or mastery by week’s end, or outwardly focused on measuring themselves against fellow participants – the Choral Chameleon Institute works to combat both.

“People perceive from the outside that the Institute is this intense environment, full of pressure and judgment and expectation,” Peterson says. “Then they experience working with us, and it’s relaxed, caring – everybody breathe, one thing at a time. They’re confused how everyone can be so calm.”

Smith and Peterson particularly emphasize the value of learning as a full group to neutralize imposter syndrome and transform participants into a community. In the Institute for Composers, students with zero composition experience sit side-by-side with postdoctoral fellows in daily classes and witness how each of them can be challenged – even the most advanced students.

The Choral Chameleon Institute nurtures conducting (January) and composing (June) students in an intimate group environment with the help of Choral Chameleon's singers.

“I was so concerned that I was going to be out of my league,” recalls Eric Tsavdar, a 2022 participant in the Institute for Composers, before he discovered the warmth at the program. “Choral Chameleon really taught me that my music is just as valid as anyone else’s. They don’t need me to write like some other great composer – no one else can write my music.”

A hallmark of the Institute that people from all experience levels and abilities are welcome, and truly treated as equals. Students as young as 16 and as old as 80 have participated. “From day one, we try to eradicate judgment, eradicate comparison between students, eradicate competition,” says Peterson. “We show each person that we really care about them and what their ideas are.”

Student-Centered Guidance, With Fundamentals

Following through on this inclusive ethos also means that Institute faculty do not force every student into the same mold or impose their methods. “We don't get in the way of what our students want to do,” says Smith. “We just encourage their goals, and then we equip them with tools to help them realize that.”

This approach is particularly apparent at the Institute for Composers, where compositions tackle a wide range of subject matter and take the form of many different genres. “I write for middle school – my stuff is kind of poppy,” says Tsavdar, who teaches choir in Delaware. “I remember sitting in the first reading session – I was looking for that attitude of ‘This isn’t real music.’ But there was none of that.”

Pieces that come out of the Institute might have a pop bent like Tsavdar’s, or emulate the style of a contemporary a cappella arrangement, explains Peterson, and they’ve also seen students write everything from jazz charts to “complex post-tonal soliloquies.” Texts range from whimsical to tragic to the unexpected (including one composer’s tumultuous breakup conversations pulled from Facebook Messenger). “There is more than one right way to write a choral piece,” Peterson asserts.

It's also helpful to participants that the choir in residence for the Institute is none other than Peterson’s own “shape-shifting” vocal ensemble, Choral Chameleon. With a track record of over 15 years breaking down genre barriers and creating experimental concert experiences, the members are accustomed to jumping quickly between musical styles. In more recent years, Peterson has enlisted the newer, slightly larger ~50 voice chorus as the workshop choir during the Institute for Conductors. All of the singers in the Choral Chameleon umbrella are well-versed in adapting to unexpected situations – and remaining patient and joyful when things go off-script.

Peterson maintains that for all the flexibility and personalization in his approach, he and the faculty members are also “evangelists” for the traditional skills of ear training, analysis, dictation, and music theory. “We’re trying to find ways to reframe those tools for the 21st century learner in a way that's utilitarian – concise, easy to understand, and approachable.” In the words of the co-founders, their framework is holistic. “We're always asking students, ‘What do you hear?’” says Peterson.

Perhaps surprisingly, he and Smith consider themselves to be something of outsiders to the choral world – in that their musical journeys began with immersions in other disciplines. It is with this reverence for choral music’s unique place in the realm of musical expression that they invite participants from all backgrounds to explore the full potential of the chorus as an instrument, and embrace its particular joys and challenges. “I firmly believe that all musicians need to be singing – and in particular, need to be choral singing,” says Smith.

A Model With Staying Power

Rooting the Institute in a few essential fundamentals and the passion of its students has provided a structure that has allowed for evolution while keeping a consistent core over the span of a decade.

“There's just something in the way of teaching there that sticks,” says Ronnie Romano, who first encountered the Institute in 2016 as a conducting student, right after graduating high school. Romano has remained with the Institute ever since as an administrator and occasional teacher, now serving as Choral Chameleon’s director of education. “People grow – and you see it.”

A typical morning for all participants begins with ear training work, rounded out with a session on theory or analysis or a masterclass with a faculty member. The afternoons are for practicing and individual work. The conductors band together and work on their gestures, forming an ad hoc ensemble and rotating the director so that everyone gets some practice time. The composers write their pieces, and receive private lessons or schedule check-ins with their teachers. During the Institute for Composers, there are also a few reading days where the full day is spent with the choir, trying out drafts of the pieces from composing students.

Smith and Peterson have found that there’s a sweet spot for the program’s length to balance urgency with peace of mind: eight days. They’ve also learned how many students they can say yes to without compromising the experience of each individual. For conductors, that number is 6; for composers, it’s 12. In 2023, they split the Institute into two sessions for the first time, holding the conductors’ session in January and the composers’ session in June. “Best decision we ever made,” says Peterson.

Both of the Institutes end with a culminating concert that is professionally recorded, providing all participants with high quality materials to pursue their future endeavors. Conductors receive video footage of their direction on the podium, and composers receive a fully engineered recording of their new composition.

While the tangible takeaways and concrete lessons, everyone associated with the Institute agrees that an essential part of its value is the refreshing perspective it provides. “Choral Chameleon is very aware that there's such a heavy human element involved in choral music,” says Romano. This approach carries over to informal gatherings. outside of official instruction time as well.

 “The main thing I got out of it was the reminder that I’m writing for real human beings. In order for someone to breathe life into something I write on the page, they need to want to bring it to life – and to do that, they need to understand it,” reflects Tsavdar. “It has been good for me to get out of my head.”

The co-founders are still tinkering with details and experimenting to find ways that their teaching can resonate with participants more effectively. “It's also a laboratory for us to learn how people learn,” says Peterson, who adds, “my dearest desire for the Institute is to diversify the student population as much as possible, so that we can learn more about how people bring more of their individual cultural perspectives and influences into the choral art.”

Setting the Stage for the Future

An important part of the Institute’s design is figuring out how the learning that takes place while together can best propel participants forward beyond the program’s end. 

“This kind of training happens over a lifetime,” acknowledges Smith. “So what can we do in eight days? How can we provide enough of a model to show your potential and instill the desire to keep going with it? That's a huge part that we continue to evolve.”

“This was a watershed moment for me,” says Tsavdar of his Institute experience. “Going to Choral Chameleon [Institute] was the most important thing that has happened to me in terms of my education since going to college.”

Ronnie Romano (left), 2016 Institute participant and now director of education for Choral Chameleon; and Eric Tsavdar, 2022 Institute participant commissioned in 2024 by Choral Chameleon.

Tsavdar’s time at the Institute was the seed for a commission from Choral Chameleon that was premiered in April 2024. He wrote “Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug” for a concert entitled Storytime, which featured adaptations of children’s books.

“I never really had anyone who kind of showed me that music could actually be a career path for me,” says Romano. In addition to his role with Choral Chameleon, Romano directs a 125-voice community chorus in Middlebury, Vermont, and has led many choirs as a church musician. “One of the most valuable things that I've taken away from the Institute is how to be an effective teacher. I carry that with me everywhere.”

“We get many returners to our Institute,” Smith also points out, “and we're going to push you further. We can always go further.”

There is always a next step in the journey that awaits participants. As Peterson puts it, “the Institute is a wonderful, joyful place of curiosity where we get to spend eight days with 6-12 musicians and just love them into being their best musical selves, no matter who they are or where they've come from.”

Applications for Choral Chameleon’s 2025 Conductor (January 3-10) and Composer (June 20-27) Institutes are now open. Visit the Choral Chameleon website for more information.

This article is sponsored by Choral Chameleon. Thank you for supporting the partners that make Chorus America’s work possible. If you are interested in learning more about sponsored articles, please contact us at mike@chorusamerica.org.