As some of you may know, my son has not long started as a chorister at a choir school. It is an excellent choir and I think highly of the choir master. However in the short time DS has been there it is becoming clear that only a very small number of boys (around 3) get to sing solos and one boy (who is a phenomenal talent) often sings all the solos for special events. These parts are not offered on age but because it is felt that these boys are the most talented singers.

Now I must add that I do not think my son should have any solos at the moment. He is only a probationer and I expect needs two years training under his belt before he should be considered, however I really feel for the other boys who never get to sing solos and I know that some of the boys feel disheartened. My son is already unhappy because he feels that if this is the way the choir is going to be run then he may never have the opportunity to gain performance experience or have a moment of feeling "special", even if only for a few bars of music! He is quite perceptive and has already worked out that if someone else comes into the choir who is better than him - and lets face it, there will always be someone more talented - then he will no longer have solo opportunities. He has confided that he would like to leave and his confidence in his singing ability has lowered as he feels only a select few are appreciated. I do not want him to leave as I feel that the musical education he will receive is worth it and it is very early days. He may end up being one of the talented singers when he is a couple of years older but even then I would feel very uncomfortable if he was getting the lion share of the solos and other boys were not.

For me, I couldn't give a monkeys if DS has a solo but I know it is important to him and from what some of the parents have said to their boys too. So maybe I have misunderstood how choirs work and only the very best, out of an already strong group of singers, have the solo performing opportunities and individual attention given to them. I would be grateful for any responses. In some ways if most choirs function in this way then I will feel more content with this setup and I can readjust my son's and my own expectations and assumptions.

Thanks!

In my cynical way, my experience is that this is often how many musical groups operate.

I would imagine that this is entirely normal. Surely as choir master his role is to create the best possible performance from the talent pool available, which will mean only a few will be selected for solos.

The fact that DS made it into the school already marks him out as above average, but in all walks of life and particuarly in the performing arts there will only ever be a limited number of stars and the rest are in the chorus.

In my choir anyone who wants to sing a solo will get the opportunity. I'll put in the work with them but obviously some are better than others. But my set up is very different from your son's. I want to build up their confidence and get them all singing as well as they can. And our audiences mostly consist of their parents and family. I don't think it's surprising, as BadStrad says, for your son's choir master to want the best performance possible, however wrong that might seem.

If you are content that the D of M is a Good Egg and not showing favouritism (rather than selecting on merit) and not belittling the boys who aren't the very best (sadly this question DOES have to be asked... not all choir schools are as caring as one would hope!), then yes, I would say that this is normal and solos are handed out according to musicality and voice quality. My nephew who was a head chorister didn't sing that many solos as he didn't have the best voice in the choir, but he DID sing those solos where, for example, it was vital that pitch was maintained precisely or where there were tricky intervals or rhythms, or there was a difficult entry. It's a difficult balancing act maintaining morale but making sure that the importance of standards is understood. Good luck!

I have been thinking about this and it seems to me as a non-singer and a starter violinist that in an orchestra the leader is chosen to take the violin solos. He or she has earned his place there and that's how it is. None of the other rank and file members would expect it to be otherwise but we do hope to be in that position one day. I write as a back row of the seconds player!

Well the consensus is that it is the norm which is fine but morale is not great, at least with some of the boys.

Stradivarious, I do agree with your point but the voice is different in that a junior violinist may eventually succeed to lead violinist. If the best boys are getting virtually all the attention and individual training then the other ones will never make the same progress and eventually their voices will break and the opportunity to sing solos will be potentially gone forever.

I am pleased that I understand more now but probably wished my son especially ad understood this when he joined the choir. Thanks for your comments!

I think what is being experienced is probably a fair reflection on life.

Interested to read this - the absolute opposite of Life in Japan! But I imagine that one factor is whether or not a choir school choir is a semi-professional choir that is earning important revenue through performances and recordings or otherwise very important to the school's economy.

Does your son's choir repertoire have a lot of solos, or is the competition exacerbated by the fact that they rarely sing items including solos?

In Japan, while sometimes a junior student will be given a solo because there is an overwhelming need for that person's voice (or confidence !) the solos are generally handed out by seniority (on a "your day will come, dear" basis), AND they are shared out in tiny chunks, so several people will share out the solos in any given piece. That is, the students' need for experience outweighs any other considerations such as what the finished item sounds like! It's not as bad as it might be, though, as students generally work hard to make sure they can hold their end up in comparison with the other soloists in the same piece.

In the case where you can afford it, why not register your son for a singing course (I mean solo) at a music school or just hire a private teacher at home??? There will be two persons: your son and an experienced teacher who will pay enough attention to his music training. I mean, your son, may continue in that chorus, which is very nice as it allows him to continue with a group of young artists, but at the same time thanks to a private course, he will gradually master what he is not able to do and most importantly gain once again his confidence.

The world is not limited to that chorus. No matter how excellent the choir master is, the only thing that should matter for you is what it can offer to your son and his future in music. Nothing prevents you from choosing another chorus.


Kind Regards,
Dariyoosh

There are lots of solos and it is not dependant on seniority but by ability. All the boys perform a vital service to the choir and I'm sure they are appreciated but when they do not feel they are, as some do, then this is not great. But I think the choir master is exceptionally talented and there is no evidence that he does not show his appreciation, it may just be that some of the boys (mine included) noses feel put out of joint! I can see the bigger picture and the musical education he receives will be invaluable, but try telling a young child to try and see the bigger picture - especially one who has a major "injustice chip" on his shoulder!

Great advice dariyoosh!

Children can often seem to have a chip on their shoulder, whatever their circumstances. It's hard to get them to see how well off they are compared to other people. They seem to find it difficult to comprehend how lucky they are. If I say to my son when he moans that he has XYZ that most people don't he will still focus on the one tiny thing (he couldn't go out to play one day for some trivial reason) and let that loom hugely in his mind. It may well be that if the choir were different your son would still find something to be unhappy about, and it's very likely that the boys who get the solos are the same. There'lll be somethingthat they're not happy about too.

I'm a senior chorister in a church choir (but cathedral standard and set up).
Our head chorister (who is phenomenal) gets a large proportion of the solos, but that's good, she's earned it and definitely does them better than any of the rest of us would. There is then a group of about six of us who are next in line, we sometimes get the smaller solos, the one liners, a verse in a multiple solo carol, the duet parts etc. That's fair because we're younger than her and not quite as good.
When she leaves next year, I don't think there will be one of us that is automatically promoted to her unofficial rule as soloist - there isn't one of us that really shines above the rest, so I assume solos will be shared out between us as they are now, and the younger ones will take on the smaller ones that we've been doing.

MusicalNitWit, I'm sorry to hear that your son wishes he had not joined the school. He will be learning so much from this wonderful choir! He can't possibly know at this stage whether or not he will progress to solo work, but listening to the best voices should inspire him in his singing, not make him feel useless. When he is a bit older, he may realise that every member of the choir is important, and be proud of the achievement of the choir as a whole, including those with the best voices who sing the solos.

The main thing is that your son is receiving one of the best musical educations anywhere. I have known two adults who were educated in cathedral schools (both of whom sang at the coronation), and they grew up reading music as well as they do literature; they can play anything on the piano at sight; they have fantastic aural skills. It really isn't all about singing solos in public, and I'm sure your son will do plenty of singing alone to the choirmaster over the years.

My father used to run a junior football team, and told me how when they are young, boys think the only important players are those who score the goals; they have to learn that defenders are just as important as forwards. Do encourage your son to feel that he is playing an important part even though he may never become a soloist.

Well said, BM. And thanks to Ella for an interesting account of your experience as a chorister!

MusicalNitWit - have confidence that your son's voice is being encouraged and helped along as part of the day-to-day training.

Also,many cathedral and choir-school choirs have individual voice lessons for the choristers, and if this is also happening, he's getting even more help. It sounds as though your son has not been in the choir very long: it's quite possible his voice has yet to reach the point where his choirmaster feels a solo is appropriate.

I run a choir, although a bit like BanjoGirl it is in rather different circumstances - much more informal school choir with largely family audiences. This Christmas I have about 17 of my 40 singers singing solos. These range from the one liner to the first verse of Once in Royal, depending on ability. (in fact some of the more tonally challenged have a nice bongo and maracas solo instead!)

One thing I always have very strongly in mind at all times as well as musical ability and vocal quality is the emotional readiness and confidence of the children. Some very musical and able singers simply aren't ready to take the pressure, and I do not want to set somebody up for a fall. Now of course sometimes I probably err too far on the side of caution and there will be a child who might have come up trumps who I don't give it to this year, but i would rather do that than have a scarring memory for a young musican.

Now of course your son is clearly very musically able simply to be in the environment he is in, and your circumstances are different, but it is possible that part of the development that the musical director is looking for is in confidence, steely nerve etc etc and this comes with time for some, and not at all for others. If he has only been there a short time they may not have had an opportunity to get to know each other well enough to know how your son would respond in a solo situation.

It is very nerve-wracking anyway as the choir mistress when you are standing at the front willing each soloist to succeed as you know they can. To hand my blood pressure over to anyone who is anything less than solid and smiling would be impossible!

I hope your son finds a niche and enjoys his musical time a bit more in the future.

Thank you for all your very useful and insightful replies. I am more chilled now!

I must reiterate however that I do not think my son should be getting solos. He is far too young and not ready (although he thinks he is) but it was the general choir set up where many of the other boys who are much older never get solos and I wondered if this was what we should expect for the future.

Interestingly, two of the top soloists were sick yesterday and couldn't make it to advent. DS said, "Thank goodness that X was there or the choir couldn't have coped." That worries me if the perception is that without these boys the choir is nothing. I would have thought that without those who make up most of the "sound" the choir would be nothing. But then it goes back to one of the posts about boys thinking strikers are the only important players in a football match.

How frustrating. I do often say to children that I am deliberately not asking them to sing a solo or a descant or whatever because I really need their particular voice or skills or rhythmic abilities to support the tune, or whatever.

You are absolutely right that all roles in the choir should be equally valued and failing to do so is poor communication and leadership.

Teensy bit , but I was thrilled that my bongo/percussion kids who could easily be dismissed as 'not musical' came up trumps this week. We had been struggling singing with a cd backing (don't ask - not my choice) and eventually jettisoned it to sing unaccompanied led by our percussionists. Fantastic and demonstrated how vital everybody is in a porperly functioning musical group. They were buzzing because they were needed and valued.

I feel for any children who do not feel valued when they are making a musical contribution. I hope it resolves itself in a positive way.

Well done Kathroberts, you seem to be very intuitive and know how to nurture the children in your care.

I have to assume that those in charge of the choir show equal appreciation to the boys and I have no evidence to the contrary. I know a large part of it is down to the personalities of the boys who feel disillusioned at the moment and my son always jumps on the bandwagon - wherever it's going! In some ways there are positives to this: The soloists have, in my opinion, an excessive workload whereas DS can enjoy more free time playing at school.

That's the critical thing - to try and ensure he doesn't turn into one of them when he reaches that stage. Not sure how you do it, but if you find out can you tell me?!