May your good work be blessed, and bear rich fruit!

Forgive me for asking, but how is this considered "progress"?

Trenton,

The cultivation of boy singers is important for the proper training of adult male singers.

[I think I'm a little short of 15 pages, but ... oh, well.]

The employment of trebles exclusively will always lead to a large gulf in vocal quality and timbre between the soprano section and the remainder of the choir—which is partially why non-English choirs resorted to the use of boy altos rather than countertenors, to bridge the chasm somewhat. (The use of countertenors outside the English cathedral repertoire by many "period performance" groups today is actually a historical anachronism.) I find this less desirable in polyphonic repertoire that calls for three or more essentially equal parts. At Saint Michael's Choir School, where I was trained, this was further "smoothed out" through the employment of adolescent rather than adult voices, who would have presented an even greater contrast in quality and volume. I understand this is the situation in much of Germany as well. By contrast, the female head voice blends much better with the male from F4 upwards due to its rounder quality, while still retaining the inherent brightness of that register. The insurmountable difficulty, if you are employing adult tenors and basses, is that the artistry of a fourteen-year-old (if the voice has not changed even earlier than that) will always be less developed than that of an adult singer, if for no other reason than time. As a thirteen-year-old treble I had not even scratched the surface of musical expression compared to my ability at sixteen, to say nothing of where I am now at twenty-two. In my mind, these are all reasons to train trebles alongside adult female sopranos of proper tonal quality, with either voice's qualities being supplanted by the other's.

Paedagogically, while the training of trebles is important to securing a body of adult male singers, I would argue that it is more important to teach the retention of the falsetto register through adolescence to adulthood, as literally 50% of a properly built voice. I sometimes wonder if the excessive brightness and "edge" in some British male singers is a result of viewing falsetto and "modal" voice as two entirely separate entities in their choir training, when they are two sides of the same coin and must always be knit together for the voice to function optimally.

All this being said, I believe that a genuine all-male choir of some kind is (and was, for me) a great antidote against the perception that singing is not a male activity. However, I would never cultivate such a dynamic at the expense of female participation at any parish, but only in addition to it.

For the record, I have girls and will add the women to them. My girls sing very well. My boys sing very well. Adding men to them is "progress".

My only experience with this is being the first woman to sing with our men’s schola this turning it into a lower voice mixed schola.

'Like unto like' suggests to me adults with adults. Vive la différence, of course, but the men-falsettists-boys Anglican choir is more to be savored as a broken consort.

The problem, of course, with all-female ensembles is that they are sonically incapable of operating on their own. The male bass voice provides both the necessary range and colour, rich in overtones, to serve as a harmonic foundation for upper voices.

Not entirely. Vivaldi made it work. You just need women who are actual contraltos who can sing the low notes.

https://youtu.be/2JPkCfvhuyM

This only goes down to a low A2. The lady who sings bass can actually sing down to a C1.

There are women who can sing bass pretty fully. Unusual, yes, but can be a beautiful sound.

Those who knew Margaret Hillis (conductor, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra chorus) might wel recall her incredibly deep voice. I loved her voice when I studied conducting with her 40 years ago. I also sang under another low-voiced female conductor (more or a baritone, but still quite low) of the Oratorio Society of Charlottesville-Albemarle (Virginia).

I was curious about Margaret Hills’ voice so I went looking for a video.
https://csoarchives.wordpress.com/tag/margaret-hillis/
That’s deep.

@salieri

I am NOT starting a castrati school.

I have heard a counter tenor at a college near me and was astonished at the beauty of his tone. I hadn't looked at my program before the singing began and I kept looking trying to notice who was singing. I don't recall the piece, but it was a great way to be introduced to the sound of the counter tenor. Also, does anyone else recall a PDQ Bach piece referencing a "bargain counter tenor?"

the high tenors who sang the Altus parts seem to have disappeared
This has more to do with the sad state of vocal pedagogy and the improper classification of tenors than anything. Any properly trained tenor should have no issue with those parts.

Is that why I, a female choral tenor, classified as contralto, can sing the alto lines of Renaissance polyphony whereas the other women have issues with the low notes, but regular alto lines of modern choral music feel like they sit mostly in a very uncomfortable place (it’s easier to sing soprano sometimes)?

Kevin,

If a transition is absolutely necessary, I would follow the principle that whatever new arises must come from forms already existing: start by introducing a small number of female singers, not by giving the boys their pink slips.

Charles,

Ok., I'm clumsy. The advice, however, flips around relatively well: don't give people pink slips. Job transfers are a different thing entirely.