‘Choir is family’: Gail Archer on community, care, and choral music at Barnard

Ahead of the annual Holiday Choral Concert, longtime music director Gail Archer discussed her approach to conducting, teaching, and cultivating community through choral music at Barnard and Columbia. 

Photo provided by Stephanie Berger

By Roxy Rassooly

February 8, 2026

On December 13, the Barnard-Columbia Chorus and Chamber Singers gathered in St. Paul’s Chapel for their annual Holiday Choral Concert, filling the space with music that spanned centuries. For conductor Gail Archer, the evening marked the culmination of months of collective effort, offering a glimpse into how she understands choral music as both an art form and an educational practice. 

Archer began directing the chorus after applying for an adjunct position at Barnard in 1988, when she was working as a church musician in New York City. At the time, she led church choirs and played weekend services, experiences that would shape her approach to ensemble leadership. Today, Archer’s work extends far beyond her role as conductor. In addition to directing both ensembles, she is also a professor and the director of the Music Department at Barnard, balancing teaching with managing rehearsals. 

Over the course of nearly four decades at Barnard, Archer has shaped the chorus into more than a performance ensemble. For her, choral music is about education and community. It provides an opportunity for students to encounter centuries of musical history, to build lasting relationships, and to think critically in unique ways. In a moment when so much of student life unfolds online, she sees choir as a space where singers can be truly present and engage in shared learning in the company of those who have a similar passion for the art form. 

The Holiday Concert’s repertoire ranged from Baroque and Renaissance works to more modern compositions, including pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, and contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The central performance by the chorus featured works by Claudio Monteverdi and Antonio Vivaldi. This variety is never accidental and is central to Archer’s identity as an educator. 

“That’s important to me,” she said, adding that she wants “to open them up to the wide range, the richness of the choral vocabulary.” When choosing music, Archer thinks in years rather than semesters. Her goal is not just performance but long-term exposure. As she explained, “I try to make sure that in the course of four years, students will sing music from all the historical periods. Renaissance music, Baroque music, romantic music, and modern music.”   

For Archer, the most meaningful part of choral music has little to do with technical precision. Instead, she sees its power as fundamentally communal. “It creates tremendous community,” she said, explaining that “everyone in the choir cares about everybody else in the choir.” In addition to spending four hours rehearsing together weekly, the choir even has dinner together once a month, signaling the commitment of its members and community that Archer has cultivated. These rituals matter: “Choir is family and we get to know each other well,” she explains, “for that reason, we are able to make a beautiful ensemble together because we’re working together in such a positive spirit.” 

That sense of community is something that students feel in rehearsal. The choir’s student director Ben Miner (CC ’28) described the environment Archer cultivates as one where singers are encouraged to come as they are, contrasting it with more competitive choirs he has encountered. 

“Our choir is different in the sense that everybody gets a chance to show up,” he said, regardless of whether someone is new to choral singing or has been performing for years. That sense of equality, he noted, makes it possible for singers to take risks and improve together, even when the repertoire is challenging. Rather than feeling “cutthroat” or overly intimidating, rehearsals are structured as spaces where people can feel comfortable learning together and from each other. ​​To Miner, that atmosphere is essential to building confidence in both singing and performance. He explained that comfort in rehearsal is inseparable from musical growth. “It’s a core us, not a core me … Having a strong community builds confidence and excellence in singing.”

“A lot of the repertoire is difficult,” Miner added, but Archer’s encouragement makes all the difference. “If it wasn’t as strong of a community, we wouldn’t improve,” he said. “When we do get it right, it feels really good — and she’s always very enthusiastic.”

Archer’s philosophy of collaboration also informs her conducting in the moment. “I’m trying to draw the most beautiful color I can possibly get out of the choir.”

That approach is shaped by a lifetime of making music. Alongside singing in and conducting choirs since she was a child, Archer is also a concert organist who travels internationally to perform, an experience that has deeply influenced how she thinks about sound and how she approaches music direction. “With the pipe organ, I have a tremendous amount of color,” she continued. “There are lots of different registrations, and I get to choose what sounds I want.” 

She approaches her choirs with the same sensibility, reiterating that she is “trying to draw this beautiful sound out of them, get a blending among them all.” That kind of blending does not happen instantly. “It takes quite a bit of work to get people to do that. To breathe deeply and to give their best,” Archer said. “But that’s just part of the art form.”

Archer’s desire to expose her students to a range of complex music is evident in what she chooses for the ensemble. Over the years, the choir has performed works “from Monteverdi to Stravinsky.” Archer described the students as “fearless,” noting that “they will sing anything [she] put[s] in front of them.” 

That fearlessness is what keeps her inspired. “I know I can always challenge them with wonderful music and difficult music,” she said, “they rise to that occasion and enjoy the challenge involved in all of it.”

For Archer, choral singing is not only artistically demanding but mentally and physically engaging as well. “You’re breathing, and you’re solving the problems that Bach or whichever composer puts in front of us. It literally uses a different part of your brain. It’s a different kind of problem solving.”

Ultimately, Archer returns to the same idea that has guided her work for decades. Conducting, like playing the organ, is about integration — many voices becoming one. “You have to learn to draw the music from your singers and have them give their best without any kind of shouting or screaming. It’s not like a football match at all. It’s quite the opposite. You’re trying to get as much beauty out of all of the collective members in the ensemble. So it’s an ensemble job.” 

This practice of conducting has implications that transcend the music, as Archer sees choir as a space of real connection. “It gets students away from their computers,” she said. “It makes friendships that in some cases last a lifetime.” Over the years, she added, “I’ve had some weddings from among choristers. It’s great fun.” 

Through Gail Archer’s leadership, Barnard-Columbia Chorus and Chamber Singers have become much more than just a space to hone creative skills. It is a site of learning and listening, one where students are invited to build community, encounter history, and work toward something as a collective unit.