"The music you make reflects what you are and how you function in a group...togetherness...consistency of attitude. You're not wearing one hat for one thing, music for another...the song remains in you! As singers and conductors we need to ask: Does the music we make reflect integrity? Does it still relate to life, and where and how life is lived? Does it still possess the spontaneity and wonder of a child? Is it so permeated with sober awareness that it affects a musician who cares and relates to life around them so much that they can never again be invulnerable, immune or oblivious? What it comes down to as conductors, or teachers, or parents or children...we need to do a very simple thing - and that is to care more. It is so simple that it is elusive. Not a saccharine caring, but a deep-down caring that is a part of commitment. It is the same care that makes you commit to God, the human race and yourself." - Elaine Brown (1998 speech to the American Choral Directors Association)