REAL MEN SING... CHORAL REPERTOIRE MARK LUCAS

Transcription

1 CHORAL REPERTOIRE MARK LUCAS Mark Lucas is assistant professor of choral music education at the University of Oklahoma. He conducts the University of Oklahoma Singers

2 How often have we had conversations at conventions or workshops about the difficulty in recruiting (or sometimes retaining) young men in our choral ensembles? A variety of factors is involved in the recruitment and retention of young men. For example, many teachers advocate separating young men from young women in choral settings. Another popular idea is to make sure your young singers have older male role models who sing. Finally, setting these young men up for success as singers is an important factor in their attitude about enrolling in choir. 1 Perhaps above all, it is important that appropriate literature is chosen for these young men to sing. The choice of literature for any ensemble is important, but working teachers CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 9 43

3 realize how extremely important it is for their voices. Table 1 contains a list of repertoire performed at the University of Oklahoma s Young Men s Vocal Workshop since Separating young men from young women, having male role models who sing, and helping them to be successful as singers with appropriate literature sounds like a daunting task, but this article will offer ideas about how all these factors can be addressed in a single day, perhaps in a way that will get the men currently in your choir excited about singing and even attracting others to your program. A number of years ago, Steven Demorest wrote an article that appeared in the Music Educators Journal titled Encouraging Male Participation in Chorus. 2 That article was the spark for what became one of the largest annual gatherings of adolescent male singers in the United States. With the tagline, Real Men Sing, the Young Men s Vocal Workshop at The University of Oklahoma has served as a positive recruitment and retention tool for young male singers in middle school and high school music programs since Why Recruit Male Singers? Many choral programs in American public schools have more participation by female singers than males and much has been made of attracting singers to our choirs. Articles have been written and presentations given at conferences outlining strategies for attracting those elusive male singers. 3 Teachers should certainly recruit singers of both genders, but sometimes we may not realize the positive effect the recruitment of male singers has on the young women in our ensembles. If you are a soprano, how many times can you remember being told to sing out, you re too quiet? Not too often probably. But, can you remember a choral director saying the same thing to the tenors? More males participating in choirs means better balance in ensembles and therefore a healthier situation for female singers who will no longer be asked to sing softly. Why Young Men Don't Sing in Choir? Among the many reasons given for why young men are sometimes turned off to Table 1 Young Men s Vocal Workshop Literature Year Title Composer Publisher Publisher No. Voicing Choir (Editor/Arranger) 2006 Vive L amour Shaw/Parker Lawson-Gould (Belwin) TTBB C *When I Have Sung My Songs to You Timothy Seelig Shawnee Press C 0314 TTBB C Child s Play Louis Calabro MorningStar Music Pub. MSM SA U Jubilate Deo Linda Spevacek Heritage Music Press 15/1262H-1 2 Part U 2007 Loch Lomond Arr. Michael Hanawalt Neil A. Kjos Music Company KJ 5575 TTBB *The Awakening Joseph Martin Shawnee Press C0286 TTBB It is Well With My Soul Arr. Robby Greenlee n/a n/a TTBB 9-10 I Wish I Was Single Again T. Scott Shawnee Press C0094 TTBB 9-10 The Colorado Trail Arr. Jennifer Scoggin Alliance Music AMC 1001 TBB 7-8 Jubilate! Greg Gilpin Shawnee Press C0313 TTB 7-8 Climbin Up The Mountain William Smith Neil A. Kjos Music Company KJ 1101 TTBB A 2008 *Annabel Lee Patti Drennan Hal Leonard HL TBB American Anthem Gene Scheer Available from composer n/a TTBB Deo Gratias Victor C. Johnson Heritage Choral Series 15/2127H TTB 9-10 Mama Don t Allow Brian Lewis Alfred TBB 9-10 *Vive L Amour Terry Barham Santa Barbara 457 TTBB C *I ve Got Peace Like A River D. Shawn Berry Santa Barbara 706 TBB C Prayer from Hansel and Gretel Humperdinck/Knowles Alfred Part U *Galop Ken Berg Pavane Publishing P1307 Unison/2-Part U *Tshotsholoza J. Ames/ L. Gackle Walton Music WLG114 TBB A 2009 If I Have My Ticket Donald Moore Alfred APSV9131 TTB HS 44 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 9

4 CHORAL REPERTOIRE singing in choirs are: singing is considered feminine; 4 there is a lack of repertoire appropriate for young men whose voices are changing; 5 there is a lack of understanding by adolescent males when it comes to the boy s changing voice; 6 there is a lack of positive male role models who participate in choral singing; 7 and guys don t like to sing because they don t think they are good at it. 8 One of the missions of the Young Men s Vocal Workshop (YMVW) is to address these concerns during a one-day festival/clinic. Results from a survey given to 226 participants in grades 7 8 indicated the two main reasons they sang in choir were they enjoyed singing and believed they were good singers. Conversely, those who did not participate in choir indicated they did not enjoy singing and did not think they were good singers. 9 Based upon this research, the literature about the topic, and personal experience, the Young Men s Vocal Workshop s main goals were created: provide an atmosphere in which young men can have fun singing with other young men; allow these students to experience a measure of success as singers in a choral ensemble; provide positive male singing role models for younger males; and educate young men whose voices are changing about the process. Of course there are secondary goals and by-products of the workshop. For instance, the Collegiate NAfME and student ACDA chapters organize and manage almost every aspect of the workshop and even lead sectionals during the festival. It is important to remember this is not an honor choir. Any A-Roving Shaw/Parker Lawson-Gould 00-LG51054 TTBB HS *Great Balls of Fire Greg Gilpin Alfred TBB C *What Child is This? Laura Farnell Brilee BL594 T(T)B C I se The B y John E. Govedas Alfred AP.VG267 2 Part U A Song to End All War David L. Brunner Boosey & Hawkes/Hal Leonard Part U *Praise His Holy Name Keith Hampton Earthsongs S-85 TTB A 2010 *Betelehemu Wendell Whalum Lawson-Gould/Alfred TTBB HS Not While I m Around Sondheim/Page Hinshaw Music HMC 1661 TTBB HS *Come Travel with Me Scott Farthing Walton/Hal Leonard HL TTB C *Aura Lee Emily Crocker Hal Leonard TB C I Hear America Singing Andre J. Thomas Heritage Music Press 15/1655H 2 Part U Birdsong Paul Read Boosey & Hawkes OCTB Part U *He Never Failed Me Yet Robert Ray Hal Leonard TTBB A 2011 *Things That Never Die Lee Dengler Shawnee Press /C0347 TTBB HS *Festival Piece on Sine Nomine Vaughan Williams Harold Flammer Music /C5069 TTBB HS *I Think My Love So Fair Laura Farnell Alliance CMP0699 TB C *This Train Roger Emerson Hal Leonard TTB C *Mr. Trombone Man Cristi Cary Miller Hal Leonard Not yet published 2 Part U Alleluia Cantate (Sing Today!) Ruth Elaine Schram Brilee BL695 2 Part U *God Bless America Berlin/Ringwald Hal Leonard TTBB HS & C *God Bless America Berlin/Ringwald Hal Leonard SA U * All pieces have had a certain amount of success. The pieces marked with an asterisk were some that, for one reason or another, were more successful. A = All Choirs U = Unchanged Voice Choir C = Changed and Changing Voice Choir = 11th-12th Grade Choir 9 10 = 9th and 10th grade Choir 7 8 = 7th and 8th grade Choir HS = High School Choir CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 9 45

5 young man is welcome to attend this workshop as a singer, if he is prepared in advance. Why Young Men s Vocal Workshop? The age of the participants ranges from They don t want to be called boys, even if they are boys. Although the thrust of the time together is spent in choirs, proper vocal health and technique are also taught. Calling it a choral workshop seemed a bit limiting, therefore vocal instead of choral. One of the main reasons for an event such as this: it is not an honor choir. Honor choirs are wonderful events that serve a necessary and very specifi c purpose, fi nding the best singers and allowing them an opportunity to rehearse and perform at a high level with others such as themselves. Unfortunately, many students are not afforded this highquality opportunity. This exclusion is especially diffi cult for a young man whose voice is changing, because he is often asked to audition singing music that is not appropriate for his vocal range. Therefore, he often will perform poorly and not be admitted to the honor ensemble. The Young Men s Vocal Workshop is a place for all young men to gather to have a great time singing together. The quality of the product, although not on a par with an all-state ensemble, is usually quite good. This success can be attributed to the repertoire chosen, the teachers who help the students learn the music in advance, and the leadership shown by the young men who are intrinsically motivated to attend the workshop. A number of factors are important for the success of any festival/workshop. Table 2 contains a schedule for the Young Men s Vocal Workshop at The University of Oklahoma. It may be used as a jumping off point for other workshops. Among the most important factors making the YMVW successful are: A Carefully Chosen Date The workshop is held each year on the fi rst Friday in December. If it were held earlier in the semester it would confl ict Table 2 Schedule for the Young Men's Vocal Workshop at the University of Oklahoma 9:00 AM Volunteers meet and prepare for students 9:30-10:00 AM All Registration in Gothic Hall 10:00-10:15 AM All Welcome in Sharp Hall Teachers pick up materials, students proceed directly to Sharp Hall 10:20-1:00 PM Rehearsal in Respective Rooms / Lunch 11:00-11:30 AM Unchanged 11:30-12:00 PM HS Choir Phi Mu Alpha Singing in Gothic Tenors lunch in Gothic Hall/ Basses rehearsal 12:00-12:30 PM HS Choir Hall/Choir Room/ Basses lunch in Gothic Hall/ Tenors rehearsal 12:00-12:30 PM Changed Voice: Boomer Orchestra Room during lunches Lunch in Choir Room 12:00-12:30 PM Changed Voice: Sooner (5-10 min. each) Lunch in Orchestra Room 11:30-12:00 PM HS Teachers Roundtable lunch in Seminar Room 12:00-12:30 PM MS Teachers Roundtable lunch in Seminar Room 1:00-2:00 PM All Students Group Picture in OU Memorial Stadium. Students will walk to and from stadium in small groups with OU student helpers. 2:00-3:00 PM All Rehearsal in Respective Rooms 3:00-3:45 PM All Combined dress rehearsal in Sharp Hall 4:00 PM All Final Concert in Sharp Hall 5:00 PM Any and all Volunteers Clean up/ put rooms back the way they were 46 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 9

6 CHORAL REPERTOIRE with school programs and Thanksgiving break. University concerts are typically completed by this point, but school concerts will not take place for another couple of weeks. A weekday works better than a weekend. Students and teachers are tired of spending their Saturdays away from home at this point in the semester. Time of Day By starting later in the morning and ending in the late afternoon schools from more than two hours away are able to attend the event without requiring overnight accommodations. Carefully Chosen Literature The music chosen is not too diffi cult but is suffi ciently challenging and inspirational. Music for junior high men has at least one part with a very limited range to accommodate singers whose voices are in the midst of change. See Table 1 for a list of repertoire performed at the workshop since Publicity Oklahoma is a small enough state that it is possible to get mailing labels for every secondary school in the state from the State Activities Association. A letter and fl yer are sent to each school s choir teacher. In other states, it may be possible to limit the mailing to certain regions or districts. Volunteers Collegiate NAfME members and student ACDA members help to organize and carry out the event. Need The teachers in this state were looking for an event such as the YMVW to promote singing among the young men in their choirs. Workshop Setup Each year since the fi rst year of the workshop, changes have been made. For example, the fi rst year of the festival two choirs were offered, one with changed voices and one with unchanged voices. After having more than 600 students register, organizers created different levels of choirs in order to keep the numbers manageable and make the experience outstanding for the students. Currently, students are placed in one of four choirs: unchanged voices in grades 6 8; changed and changing voices in grades 6 8, of which there are two sections, and a highschool aged choir. As numbers have grown to 900 participants, various accommodations such as these have been made. Each year the event is planned with help from a committee of music education students at the university and, on the day of the event, a team of student volunteers logistically manage the entire event. Members of the University of Oklahoma choral faculty (Steven Curtis, Robert Greenlee, Mark Lucas and Richard Zielinski) serve as clinicians for the event each year, although one year when another clinician was needed, Terry Barham was invited as a guest clinician, and when an extra clinician was again needed, in 2011, Timothy Sharp was invited as a guest conductor. Robert Kidd III, a local legend in elementary music also served as a clinician for the unchanged choir for three years. Members of CMENC and student ACDA chapters are offered the chance to lead sectionals with groups of approximately 20 students at a time throughout the day. This opportunity gives college students experience with young men s voices and helps the participants in solidifying their parts. Feeding 900 young men, their teachers, and student volunteers is daunting. Initially, pizza, bottled water, and a Real Men Sing T Shirt were included in the $8.00 registration fee for the event. This nominal registration fee was not enough in order to achieve fi nancial equilibrium. The cost of the event in 2011 was $ That amount provides for gourmet box lunches from a local chain deli, water, a T-Shirt, and a group picture. Speaking of photos, imagine fi tting 900 people into a single image. The best solution proved to be walking students across campus to the football stadium. This was the only location within walking distance that had enough levels to accommodate that many students. A wonderful by-product; it allows students to leave the building and gives them an opportunity to release some energy for about an hour in the middle of the day. Plus, many young men relish the opportunity to visit the 85,000 seat stadium where the Oklahoma Sooners play football! Each year, the day of rehearsals culminates with an informal concert in which each group sings for the others and the OU Men s Choir performs. A schedule from the 2011 YMVW can be found in Table 2. Repertoire for these concerts has been carefully chosen throughout the past six years. It is extremely important to select repertoire that works well for such large choirs. For example, the fi rst year of the workshop, the list of music was published before any registrations CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 9 47

7 were taken. Directors initially anticipated no more than fi fty singers in each choir. When 600 singers showed up it was evident that the extremely imitative Shaw/Parker Vive L Amour was a poor choice for such a huge number of singers! The Relationship Between a Workshop, Recruitment, and Retention There was, at this point in time, no empirical research done to indicate specifi cally that a workshop of this nature has an impact on recruitment and retention of male singers in choral ensembles. However, anecdotal evidence from conversations and s with participating teachers indicates that something very positive is happening. For example, teachers were recently surveyed with the following prompt, Do you believe participation in the Young Men s Vocal Workshop has had an effect on your recruitment and/ or retention of males in your choirs? If so, please explain. One middle school teacher replied that her numbers had tripled in size since she began having her students attend the event and that when asked, two-thirds of the students indicated that attending this men s workshop was their favorite thing about the class. Another teacher indicated her high school men enjoyed hearing collegiate men perform, and it defi nitely helps her retain men, because it keeps the high school men motivated to participate in choral music. It remains imperative as choral conductors and teachers to continue to seek out opportunities for young men to participate in events that enhance their love and excitement for singing. An all-male workshop can provide an atmosphere where young men enjoy themselves and also feel a measure of success and confi dence in their voices. This can be done while educating them about the voice change and allowing them to observe older males who also enjoy singing. Whether you attend an all-male workshop in your region or decide to create your own, now is the time to get your young men excited about singing! NOTES 1 Mark E. Lucas. Adolescent Male Attitudes About Singing in Choir. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education 30, no. 1 (2011): Steven Demorest, Encouraging Male Participation in Chorus, Music Educators Journal, Vol. 86, No. 4, (2000) Patrick K. Freer, Between Research and Practice: How Choral Music Loses Boys in the Middle, Music Educators Journal, Vol. 94, No. 2, (2007) 28 34; Scott D. Harrison, Engaging Boys: Overcoming Stereotypes Another Look at the Missing Males in Vocal Programs, Choral Journal 45, no. 2 (2004): Harrison, Engaging Boys. 5 Ibid. 6 Freer, Between Research and Practice, Harrison, Engaging Boys. 8 Mark E. Lucas, Adolescent Males Motivations to Enroll or Not Enroll in Choir. (PhD diss., University of Oklahoma, 2007). 9 Ibid. Repertoire & Standards National Chair Vacancy The National Youth and Student Activities R&S Chair is being vacated. If you are interested in applying for this position please send a resume and short Statement of Intent (your vision for the future of Youth & Student Activities & R&S) to Amy Blosser, National R&S Chair <amy.blosser@bexleyschools.org> Applicant submission deadline date is April 30, Electronic submissions only. 48 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 9