Without having an understanding of the full history of this issue, the measures and time needed to change the system, and the possible negative implications of doing so (for example, how many teachers are really qualified to teach a young man to do this without ruining his voice?), I don't feel I'm in a place to ridicule Texas for this. This single story obviously doesn't give us a full picture of what has happened or what is being done now.
What I do know is that when it comes to effort spent on music education, Texas is at or very near the top of the country. My home high school had 13 band directors/instrument specialists (several full-time and others that split their time among the middle schools in the area) and 2 choir teachers (small choir program when I was there). I don't think any states have done more to push music education forward. Tyler --- John Howell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 11:17 PM -0400 7/19/05, Darcy James Argue wrote: > >Off-topic, of course, and submitted without > comment, but some may > >find this LA Times editorial interesting: > > > >http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-soprano11jul11,0,369179.story > > Off-topic, yes. But it's gotten plenty of attention > and commentary > on both the ChoralTalk List and the EarlyMusic List. > Apparently the > original "problem" in Texas was girls wanting to > audition for Honors > Choir as tenors. I put "problem" in quotes because, > in fact, some > girls' natural and healthy voice range is the range > we usually think > of as "tenor." So along comes Mike, and he gets > caught up in the > restrictive gender definitions the TMEA has adopted. > (And bear in > mind that half the officers of the TMEA are > instrumentalists, who > have been swayed by traditionalist voice teachers' > opinions.) > > Here's what a respected collegue wrote about Mike's > countertenor > voice, having met and heard him at a conference: > > "Mike is fantastic! He has a bright, laser-beam > sound when he wants, > but can also blend well. He did some lightning-fast > ornamentation in > a Monteverdi piece that was worthy of a full > professional. And he's > a sweet kid." > > Most countertenors are male altos, and most use a > developed falsetto > (which fell into disfavor as 19th century opera got > louder and > louder), while a few really do sing healthily in > soprano range. In > fact, if you happen to see the King's College > Cambridge Chapel Choir > on TV (the choir where the Kings Singers got their > early training), > you'll notice that all the boys are singing treble > (soprano), while 3 > or 4 young men are singing alto, the traditional > Anglican voicing, > rather than the German practice of having boys sing > both soprano and > alto. Our older son is a professional countertenor > whose head voice > lies naturally in a mezzo-soprano range, but he sang > soprano with > Chanticleer for four years (including three Grammy > nominations and > one Grammy Award), and is now exploring the operatic > and oratorio > literature suitable for his voice in the masters > program at Yale. > I've put Mike and his mother in contact with our > son, at least once > he returns from singing in Italy this summer. Mike > has great > potential for a professional career, no thanks to > the TMEA! But even > if he won't have the Texas Honors Choir on his > resume to attract > scholarship money, the flap the Texans have caused > have actually > given him better publicity by far. > > Consider the bell-curve that describes the > distribution of any and > every human attribute. Some men really are > sopranos, and some are > contrabasses. They may be hanging out there a > couple of standard > deviations from the mean, but they're there. And > some women really > are baritones (e.g. Carole Channing!) while others > can emulate Mariah > Carrey, again way out there from the mean. But the > folks in Texas > can't seem to deal with deviations of any kind, > standard or otherwise! > > John > > > -- > John & Susie Howell > Virginia Tech Department of Music > Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 > Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 > (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) > http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html> _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
