At 9:57 PM -0700 7/21/05, Mark D Lew wrote:
That's why the whole business of auditioning blind seems a little fanciful to me. We talk about fairness as if every child should be judged on his or her voice and musical talent alone, but that's already unrealistic.
Hi again, Mark. On the local level the real reason we try to audition blind is that there are rivalries among both voice teachers and choir directors, and we attempt to avoid those existing prejudices by not allowing the judges to know whom they're hearing. This really does protect the students as much as possible. And it really does allow you to concentrate on the sound and vocal technique and range. But it's the very real rivalry that's the proximate cause for using curtains, not any question of gender roles. The problem with the "Texas Rule" is that it pre-judges classes of people rather than individuals.
It is an everyday reality for singers that there will be times when you're cast for how you look, how tall you are, what color your hair is, how well you compare or contrast with the other guy who is already cast, etc, etc.
Of course! But you're talking about theater or at least theatricality, which is a very different art form and has different priorities. I remember the director of the Young Ambassadors at BYU telling me that so many students auditioned for the group that if he decided one year to pick only blonds, he could! Our community chorus ranges from my wife, who is 4' 10", to a bass who is 6' 9". And so what?!
Even in a chorus, the singer's physical presence is part of the product. It's not like an orchestra where everyone is hiding in the pit wearing black and the only thing that matters is how they sound.
Ah, I can tell that you're theater-oriented! The average orchestra plays from a stage, is quite visible, and yes, their physical presence IS part of the product. (Sez me, getting ready to plunge into the pit with mine viola for this summer's production of "Oliver!") But the object in choral singing is to reduce individuality so that physical blend joins vocal blend. That's why tuxes and long black dresses.
The fact of being a boy singing soprano is significant. Sometimes it will be a plus, sometimes it will be a minus, but it's almost never going to be something that everyone is blind to, nor should it be.
OK, here's a practical answer. Our (very good) community chorus has one (count them, ONE!) female tenor, and yes, that is her natural and healthy voice range. She dresses as the women do, and stands at the border between the tenors and the altos. No physical distraction, and nobody who doesn't actually know her would notice that she was singing with the tenors rather than the altos. If we had an alto countertenor (which we don't), he would stand in about the same place.
As to the concern about whether you need to change the words for a single off-gendered singer, men have been singing "women's" words and women have been singing "men's" words for literally centuries. Much of the renaissance madrigal and chanson literature has gendered poetry, but it doesn't really matter, and there was no church prohibition against women singing that literature with men. It's simply a non-issue in a choral context, whereas for solo voices it might well be something to consider.
That's my thinking, anyway.
And I do respect it. 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
