Boys Don't Sing
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I found that pointing out, for high-school age boys, that there are 10 girls for every boy in the choir works wonders. If they want to meet girls, that is the place to be. Underhanded? Perhaps, but it works.

    Very true, Charles. Being a high schooler, I have a few friends who might join a choir on the spot if you told them that :)
  • LizaJane
    Posts: 1
    I actually did propose these ideas of why boys are not joining the TCC to an administrator who worked for the organization and my concerns were not taken seriously and I was told that "boys just don't want to sing these days and there is a general decline world-wide in boys choirs, or they just want to play hockey..." Ugh, I knew this wasn't true, because I think of the choirs that are in existence which are either separate boys choirs, or a boys choir within a children's choir in Canada, USA and overseas. I actually think people cannot be bothered. In 2008 the men's and boys' choir of St. James Cathedral in Toronto folded up, because a newly appointed choir director said the choir was way past its sell by date. The cathedral didn't try to stop him and now Toronto only has one choir of men and boys - St. Michael's Cathedral (Roman Catholic) which also has a grade 3-12 choir school. Well, there is an anglican church which is supposed to be maintaining its boys and girls chorister program, but it mostly seems to be the men and women taking over in services and concerts. It's very disappointing and disheartening. There should be more churches with girl and boy chorister programs. There's many, many women and men's choirs in Toronto, community and in the churches. It all seems to be same old, same old. There's nothing unique or special or the worst part about it is that the churches with adult choirs have lowered their standards - "ANYONE can join - no experience needed" and one goes to a church service expecting to hear beautiful music and the choir is off-key and there is enough vibrato to sink a ship. What can be done?
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    It's kind of odd that at the prep school where I currently teach and conduct, I've found the boys are fairly confident singers... (maybe not all of them quite know how, and we're working on that, but not ashamed to try)... and yet the girls are on the whole very shy singers. Completely backwards from what I'd expected! (My previous stint at the high school level was at an all-boys school.) Anyone have any ideas on how to get the ladies to come out of their shells a bit?
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    The more men who are observed by boys to be singing, the more boys will notice that it is, in fact, 'manly' to sing. (Real men aren't afraid to sing.) (In fact: only sissies are afraid to sing!)
    Thanked by 2Ben CHGiffen
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    MJO,

    Spot on. I would have never considered singing until I saw several men I really respected all singing in a schola. That's when my thoughts began to change.
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,503
    What I don't understand is why the alumni and children of these choristers (ie. St. Mike's Choir school) aren't in choirs? We have them in our parish and they don't sing.

    My boys sing, but it is because I have put energy and time into their music training. The schools are certainly not doing this, and most parents are way to busy to have the time to do it.
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    I've often noted that those who participate in good community or school choirs that are often reluctant to participate in other choirs - particularly church choirs. Either their bonds to the larger choir are too strong, or they feel they are above what they perceive as a weaker ensemble, or they're just spread too thin by their commitment to the first choir. This is frustrating because the director of the church choir needs these people to be able to make it better, but talented singers often feel that the choir should be better before it's worth their time.
    Thanked by 2Spriggo canadash
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,503
    Very true Skirp. Why would I put my children into a choir which is learning songs I would rather my children didn't sing and have them learn bad habits and technique?
  • Churchchoir
    Posts: 3
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ9zVNHSrMY
    Thanked by 4expeditus1 CHGiffen IanW M. Jackson Osborn
  • Mark HuseyMark Husey
    Posts: 192
    We have a parish elementary school Pre-K 4 thru grade 6 with maybe 110 students in a good year. I have 24 kids in my auditioned Capella, pretty much evenly split between boys and girls. The choristers receive a $50 scholarship twice a year (before Christmas break and at the end of the school year), $10 for the 4 PM Christmas Eve Mass, and $10 for Easter Noon. I've only just recently realized how unusual it is to do serious choral music with elementary school students. They love it. They sing with choral scholars from the local university, which makes a big difference in the consistency of the choral sound.

    This is from last Easter; I've got one sixth grade boy and three fourth grade boys singing with four girls and a few choral scholars off-camera.

    In most children's choirs, because girls master impulse control earlier and tend to be socially dominant in their early years, the boys will sound like girls when they are mixed up because that's what the group's "alpha's" are doing.

    Circumstances prevent us from having separate boys and girls choirs (we're just too small and we only have one full-time staff member- me), but we rehearse seated separately (boys on one side, girls on another) in the same room. For some pieces, the boys will sing alto, the girls soprano, others they switch. They have a chance to develop their own sound: the boys will sound like boys because they sit together and can hear each other and are encouraged to develop their own sound: likewise, the girls. Their unisons have a good mix of head and chest, and because the boys have developed their own sound, there's not the tell-tale "Annie" nasality that comes with most American elementary school girls.

    Just putting my 2 cents in.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSBaiXGJvnk
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen Churchchoir M. Jackson Osborn Adam Wood
  • Churchchoir
    Posts: 3
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ9zVNHSrMY

    What do you think guys about this boy soloist and his vocal technique? Comment, please.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    They don't??!!!! Says WHO?????!!!!!!!!!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • teachermom24
    Posts: 327
    What I don't understand is why the alumni and children of these choristers (ie. St. Mike's Choir school) aren't in choirs? We have them in our parish and they don't sing.


    I can sum up reason we have no teens (aside my from my three, two boys and one girl) in our parish choir in one word--LifeTeen. The youth culture is promoted by LifeTeen and that's where the teens have "their" music and their "church". The parish choir, along with the sung Mass, is viewed as something outside their culture, totally foreign. I've raised my children apart from the prevailing youth culture and they appreciate "real" music. All three of them served as cantors during the Triduum (as well as one being the organist). Boys can and will sing--they just have to be raised with good music!

    Kathy
    Thanked by 3Mark Husey M. Jackson Osborn chonak
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,503
    Kathy,
    I'm not talking about teens. I'm talking about ADULTS. The teens have graduated from highschool and university and now are adults who will not sing in their churches. I don't get it.
  • teachermom24
    Posts: 327
    Obviously, teens who don't sing grow into adults who don't sing. One advantage our parish has though is a young singing Polish priest. He sings most of the liturgy and Good Friday sang a beautiful Polish hymn acapella. He's just been with us since last summer, and I'm hopeful his example will bring out some more men to sing in our choir.
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