The never-ending struggle of getting adolescent boys to sing

Well hello there my fellow bloggers! 

I hope you're all having just the BEST day. I myself had the most sudden burst of inspiration to write music today - a melody just walked into my head! 7 hours later I've definitely got the start of something great, (I'm probably the slowest composer since Beethoven) and I've neglected all the things I had planned to do today. Goody. 

But that's not why we're here. Perhaps I'll give an update sometime in the future... or perhaps not.

Today I have to draw attention to a fairly recent post on the choralnet.org forum, one that really jumped out at me because it hit rather close to home! 

On September 15th, Lauren Melberg, a first year teacher from Wisconsin, wrote to the ChoralNet community about her 7th grade choir. Lauren is having perhaps the most unheard-of dilemma ever to arise. She posts:

"Currently in my 60 voice 7th grade choir, I have 36 young men. Over half of these young men are strong singers who love to sing. My issue lies in balancing their voices with the 24 women I have...there are a few strong young ladies, but the majority of them are pretty quiet."

Well if that's not the most bananas thing you've ever heard of, I don't know what could be. A 60 voice grade 7 choir with 36 strong male singers? Have we just stepped into the twilight zone???

The reason why this post resonated so strongly with me is because in my own experience, and in what I'm sure are most cases, adolescent males have to be grappled with to sing in choir. Growing up, there was more than one occasion in which I was the only one on the risers carrying a Y-chromosome. Singing in choirs is just not within the parameters of what society imparts upon young boys as something "cool," or "manly."

So! For those of us NOT experiencing issues similar to Lauren... (a.k.a. everybody else in the world) what was your experience with this situation!? Did your music teacher have to beg the boys when you were in middle school to get them to join you in choir? Did it work? What about High School? And what are some methods out there to get those strapping young lads to put away the Xbox controller and pick up a choir binder?

Please leave a comment below - even if just to tell me you think I'm daft.

Until next time!

Welcome!

Welcome everybody to my very first ever of all time blog! This blog is being completed in partial requirements of Music 2520 - Voice and Choral Methods at Memorial University of Newfoundland as I work towards the completion of my Bachelor of Music Education, however an emerging young musician may as well start a blog sometime! I anticipate that my only followers I will ever receive will be my fellow classmates (which leads the question as to why I'm bothering with the formalities...) but of course, all are welcome! Much of what will be discussed here will be hot topics around the choral world as we address what exactly it means to be a choral musician in any capacity - conductor, singer, accompanist, what have you. But I absolutely plan to expand to issues and happenings outside the choral world. It's all very exciting isn't it? Stay tuned for our adventures!