--- Richard Yates <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > "Association spokeswoman Amy Lear said the group > > enacted the rule two years ago because of concerns > > that girls auditioning for tenor parts were > hurting > > their voices by singing too low. > > This, then, is the crux of the reasoning. These > questions about the claim > then follow: > > Are such concerns valid? Is there evidence for this > claim? > > Does the concern justify a blanket policy or is > there a way to judge such > risk, if there really is any, individually? > > Is it the TMEA's legitimate role to judge this risk > or is it more properly > the school's or the parents' or even (gasp) the > student's? > > Richard > This is what I believe as well. It all comes down to this. And yes, there is good reason to believe this was the logic. The female to male ratio in high school choirs is often extremely skewed, with a lot more girls than boys being the typical case. I've personally seen teachers ask that some of their female students switch over to the tenor parts to help solve this issue. With Texas music education being among the most competitive in the country, there are certainly cases of teachers going with whatever works, regardless of where a singer's natural voice lies and should be developed. I would say that it's very likely that a majority of the cases of females taking tenor parts is because of the lack of male singers to cover the parts - not because their voices fall in this range. Texas is not the only state that does this. Tennessee also prevents females from trying out as tenors, and Vermont strongly discourages it. I don't know the policies in other states. Tyler __________________________________________________ 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
