[Tech1] All White and Male - and mental agility

[Nick Ware]

Ah, Somerset! 
In 1950 I was a kid at Wells Cathedral School (boys and male staff only - with the exception of Matron, and I was never quite sure how female she was!). I wasn’t a cathedral chorister, but we did sing there regularly. I was more interested in the organ, and was allowed in there in the evenings to practice. My best mate, Malcolm Brinson, was an incredibly talented organist, even at that young age. He came from Marlborough, or it might have been Frome - memory on that eludes me at the moment, and he was our school chapel organist. At weekends, he and I, often accompanied by our Physics master, Mr Carter, (that sounds dodgy, but he was one of the few who weren’t!), also an orsganist, used to cycle all over Somerset, going into ancient little village churches that were invariably not kept locked in those days. We would walk in and think: “Now if I was organist here, where would I hide the key to the organ?” We always found it, and although we often got caught red handed, we never once got told off or thrown out, with the exception of Downside School chapel (Abbey), where we probably should have asked first! Malcolm and Mr Carter were both so much better players than me that I was mostly content to listen to them. I knew even then that my brain was wired for Physics and Electronics, and making things, and that is how it has been ever since, which I regret to some extent. How nice it would have been to be able to do both.

I lost touch with Malcolm, but soon after I left school, my sister married an organist/choirmaster who had just been appointed as organist at the New Guildford Cathedral. That’s 60 years ago now! He (and I) moved on to St Paul’s after that, making many records and CD’s there, and then he was appointed to St Albans Cathedral (which turned out to be Lance Andrews’ territory!) That story is still evolving........
Even at 86, he still trundles off to his local church (Draycott) and records, edits, adds reverb, etc.  His Christmas card to those close to him, was a wonderful selection that he had played, recorded, edited, and put on CD, and done the CD label and inlay card, without any help from anyone else. He and I both use SoundForge and Altiverb for such purposes. 
His driving force is that as you get older, you must keep your brain and body active or you will just fall apart - you mustn’t just sit around doing nothing. He still gives organ recitals and nips over to the USA to host choral training courses, broadcasts, etc. Being a virtuoso organist is about as physically and mentally demanding as it’s possible to be! Way beyond anything I could ever do. But I do still go for long dog walks in the Countryside and make things, whether I need them or not.
Cheers,
Nick.
Nick Ware - Sent from my iPad mini 5

> On 30 Dec 2020, at 09:32, David Newbitt <dnewbitt at fireflyuk.net> wrote:
> 
> This interesting thread reminds me of my own younger days as a choirboy in a small Somerset village to which we moved in 1950. Not being churchgoers themselves my parents nevertheless ensured that my sister and I regularly attended Church services and Sunday school. It was a simple reality that, particularly in small communities, the church was the focus of neighbourhood relationships. Our village like many had too small a population for auditioning and selecting choir members - all children who were willing were in the choir. The process was incentivised by an annual summer outing to the seaside, a Christmas party plus a winter visit to Bristol for a pantomime at either the Bristol Old Vic or Hippodrome. I invariably fell in love with the principal boy and once got left behind on Temple Meads Station when the Taunton train headed off, doubtless because I was still in a dream! The organist had registered my absence and jumped off the train as it moved away from the station, finding me safe and sound. I remember it was a long wait for the next train but the organist never once remonstrated with me.
> 
> Back with the choir. The girl sopranos sat in two rows on the left of the chancel with the organ console behind them and the two lady altos (one of whom easily drowned the entire choir) squeezed between them and the altar rail. Boy trebles to the right in the front row with a handful of tenors and basses behind them. They relieved the boredom by finger flicking the backs of our ears. Amongst this otherwise undistinguished assembly was one boy with a voice like an angel. I can hear him now singing Mendelssohn's "Oh for the Wings of a Dove" and I firmly believe Ernest Lough would have wept if he could have heard him!
> 
> The comments re girl/boy voices are I'm sure entirely fair. Sure, just as with conducting, it has been a slow path to recognition for the lasses (eg the long wait for some of the Cathedral Choirs to accept them) but I can not imagine a girl's voice suiting the Mendelssohn. It is in the end horses for courses. And don't forget the Luton Girls Choir!
> 
> Dave Newbitt.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Geoffrey Hawkes via Tech1
> Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2020 10:59 PM
> To: Nick Ware
> Cc: Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
> Subject: Re: [Tech1] All White and Male
> 
> In answer to my original question about the technical coverage of Carols From Kings on BBC2, I received a message from a man on the spot who gave a detailed and informative description. He added that two of the choir’s male singers had tested positive for COVID and they all had to isolate so the Kings Singers were brought in at the last minute.
> I loved the music and the singing especially as I couldn’t get to the Town Carol Service at the church in Chesham where they always put on a good “show” with Ray Monk as the MD. I like seeing the faces of the choir and reading their expressions and watching the skilful hands of the musicians as they play, so the visual side of the tv presentation is important for me. Shots of the architecture of a church is also uplifting as I reflect on the skill and dedication of those who designed and built it to the glory of God, though I’m not keen on too many tilts up to the ceiling, or focussing on a foreground object in a deep wide shot, which has become fashionable on every kind of show from dramas to Countryfile and Gardeners World.
> Worship is uniquely something we humans do and we can express it with our whole being, music and song as one way to do it. That can be to God in whatever form we believe that God to be (for me it’s the God of the Bible), or in expression of our love for a person, perhaps better described as adoration, as in love songs down the ages.
> I love the sound of children singing and boy sopranos have a special quality of their own. The one thing that puts me off is when the singers pronounce “Christ” as “Chlist” which isn’t natural.
> I’d like to think that the choristers come from a variety of backgrounds, rich and poor alike and aren’t all privileged public schoolboys (or girls) with pushy parents, but perhaps that’s being too judgemental,
> Geoff Hawkes
> 
>> On 29 Dec 2020, at 12:24, Nick Ware via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
>> Assuming you meant that seriously and not in jest:
>> I’ve been in and around choirs all my life, and I think it fair to say that the Choristers, and the Kings Singers who you criticise for being ‘all white blokes’ are auditioned and selected from those why apply to join, purely for their musical abilities. And in the case of the boy probationers, for their potential to become the best. No other reason than that.
>> I was more concerned that the 14 regular ‘gentlemen of the choir’ were totally excluded in favour of the undoubtedly more ‘TV celebrity status’ Kings Singers. There has been some comment in the choral community about that.
>> I found the pre-recorded Radio 3 full choir version (which was better technical quality on BBC Sounds than on either broadcast platform), much more to my liking. I don’t need to be distracted from the music by random pictures right in close, or panning up to the vaulting, fabulous though it is. I have to confess though, I do tend to fast forward through the lessons which I’ve heard far too many times.
>> And as to gender: Most cathedrals have separate boys and a girls choirs, who may sing together, or may sing separately. The Kings College Chapel Choir is a tradition, and a very distinctive sound that goes back a long way. As soon as you mix boy and girl trebles, that sound isn’t the same. And for TV, as soon as you turn it on its head and make it about the faces and not the music, then I’m afraid you’ve lost me.
>> There are any number of things that certainly do need to change in the World, but change means losing what went before, and on a forum which is all about what went before, I’m sure you’ll agree that some things are worth preserving. For me, Kings College Chapel Choir is near the top of the list.
>> Cheers and Happy New Year,
>> Nick.
>> Nick Ware - Sent from my iPad mini 5
>>>> On 29 Dec 2020, at 10:41, crew13 via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
>>> Carols from Kings was indeed well made.
>>> But the bit I saw was all white blokes!
>>> Time for a change I think
>>> John V
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