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Chris Rowbury rails against choir uniforms:

Why not simply listen to the choir on the radio or on CD? There is nothing to look at: everyone looks and sounds the same, they’re even encouraged to use the same mouth shape and facial expression.

If there is something special about hearing the choir live, then simply hide them behind a backdrop or have them perform in the gallery or from behind the audience. Perhaps there could be some kind of film or video projection or dance performance to watch whilst we’re listening.

It represents a passive experience sitting for a couple of hours in fixed seats watching nothing much happening and hearing some ‘perfect’ rendition of a particular piece of music.

It doesn’t really compare well with a rock concert or a stage musical or son et lumière or River Dance. So why bother? And in fact many people don’t bother. It’s very old fashioned and rather unexciting. 

I'm not a big fan of identical concert dress either, but the board of directors of my choir thinks it's very important, and I have to pick my battles. We got into a small tussle recently about their plan to nag the women to check to make sure their dress hems are a uniform height off the floor. Who would notice? And what difference does it make even if they do? But arguing with women about women's clothing is a big waste of time for a man, I've learned.

And just as a side note, when I'm looking for photos to put in the Featured Photo section of ChoralNet, I notice that choirs with uniforms make for really boring pictures. A hundred people in identical clothing standing in formation always looks the same, and I tend to reject such pictures from the Featured Photo section with great regularity, because they all look alike.

Pictured: you tell me.


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Comments

  1. Tom,
     
    I think you were referring to my “second statement”, not that of Chris, to whom I responded. Indeed, as Allen said, the reference is to the sellers of choir outfits.
    Not to trample on the merchants of those outfits; obviously sonething must be worn, at least until now!
    Honestly, I enjoy hearing a chorus, after whose first few notes, I forget what they look like. Love being distracted by that choral magic!
     
    EP
     
     
     
     
     

  3. Chris,
     
    Since this is a discussion about clothing and engagement/disengagment, I’m confused by your second statement. Who is a purveyor of different “styles and colors”?
     
    If it’s me you’re referring to, I have much more to say. If not, I’m still curious — could you expound?
     
    Thanks.
     
    Tom

  4. Chris, et al,
     
    Compare a colorized movie with  the original black and white version. I have an opinion. For me the color washes out the drama;          it is unneeded.
     
    Who is most strongly encouraging the use of a variety of styles and colors? Could it be the purveyors of them?
     
    According to the “Hartford,” the sense of sight informs 83% of what is remembered and the sense of sound only about 11%. Since a concert of fine music is primarily meant to heard, does it make sense to distract by an array of color, variety of clothing style, and excessive movement unrelated to good singing?
     
    The face is focused upon if there are no distractions. What a beautiful thing when the faces and voices match in their expression!
     
    YET, some of the most successful concerts I have attended, or been a part of, have featured formality in the heavier first half of the performance and a change of costume after intermission for lighter music.
     
    Phonate well,
     
    EP
     
    I once asked a friend what were the most diffulct hurdles with his high school choir. Rolling his eyes, he said, “THE ROBES!”

  5. Random but related thoughts…
    • In my experience, the most authentically expressive choirs are also the ones which sing the best; they tend to have the most nuance, color, power, and passion. And if the singers are all tapping into a similar well of humanity (related to the composer and lyricist’s experience as expressed on the page), they will tend to be the most unified as well. And yes, this will translate to all the elements that most directors speak of when they speak of unity … because all the singers are on the same page in a myriad of interconnected ways now. Things like dynamics, phrasing, vowels, cut-offs, and that intangible thing called musicality will be more unified.
    • That unity, though, is not one of mouth shape or facial expression. It’s a unity of musical and textual congruence … or shared humanity, if you will.
    • Singers who stand relatively still prevent a full expression of both text and music — unless the human element on the page (at that moment) is experienced through stillness. The mind/body/mind connection is that powerful. For example, there is no way to sing a joyful and up-tempo “Alleluia” without moving, and singers who do — and directors who have them do so — compromise the musical potential and sound.
    • A personally and powerfully connected singer will be engaging, regardless of what they’re wearing. That said, clothing of any sort can detract and distract if it’s immodest, ill-fitting, or generally pulls negative attention in some way.
    • And robes can do something just as unfortunate, preventing the audience from experiencing the full impact of a moving (pun intended) singer. If we just see the faces, we lose the subtle but powerful human communication that is body language. (IF the singer is authentically connected, that is.) RE the referenced gospel choirs, many of the most exciting ones have movements so large and compelling that we see them “through” the robes; were to observe them in standard clothing, I propose their affect on the audience would be even greater. For choirs singing less effusive music, robes hide the movement that is also less effusive, masking all that subtlety that can engage an audience more deeply.
    • Bottom line: A choir of impeccably outfitted singers — in matching outfits — can be just as exciting and engaging as any other form of entertainment (including rock concerts) … but they can be just as dull as well. And the same can be said for a choir made up of singers wearing amazingly interesting outfits, all different and stunning in their own right. That choir can also be either lackluster or transformatively engaging. Underneath it all (sorry:-), it’s really about the human beings wearing the clothing, and how they connect to the song they are singing.
    All my best,
     
    Tom

  6. Chris makes some good points, but perhaps not the point he intended to make.  He argues very cogently for using theatrical presentation, as show choirs, swing choirs, and similar groups have been doing for years.  Movement has to be conceived with good taste, of course, and carried out with a certain amount of skill, which deters many from giving it a try.  But when well done it enhances a performance just as much as the orchestral sound track enhances a movie.  There is, I would suggest, a valid reason why the “show-biz evangelists” model their presentations on active song-&-dance shows and not on … well … church choirs!  And the really good Gospel choirs, … WOW!
     
    But some of what he suggests has been done for years.  Traditional churches with the choirloft in the BACK of the church instead of in the front DO hide the choir visually exactly as he asks for.
     
    As for uniforms, as we all know (or should, at least), that tradition–and I’m specifically talking about choir robes–come out of the centuries during which the “choir” was made up of trained monks who wore their normal habits, and choirboys who probably wore their academic robes, with perhaps a few additional decorations on special feast days.  And of course out of the use of academic gowns as “normal” everyday wear (see any Harry Potter film for examples).  And one reason for the academic robes, at least, was to deemphasize the stark difference between the students from wealthy families (who would naturally dress the part) and those, including the Choral Scholars, who might be penniless.  I would agree with Allen, however, when it comes to the adoption of late 19th-century/early 20th century dinner clothes for performers.  But I can’t fight it either, and our own ensembles go with that because it looks more “professional.”  (Except for my Early Music Ensemble, of course, since early music performers dumped the dinner clothes decades ago.  Real Girls don’t wear taffeta!)
     
    I agree with Allen about choir photos, of course, but I have to point out that that’s because of a decided lack of visual cretivity by photographers, who are more used to supporting journalism than to creating art.
     
    But I’m one person who feels that a live performance is ALWAYS better than a canned one, even when the canning is done with all the trickery available in a modern recording studio.  Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and live is ALWAYS more exciting even when it isn’t as “perfect.”  I don’t know Chris or his age, but he writes like someone who grew up with earbuds stuck in his ears!
     
    For whatever it’s worth,
    John

  8. On the other hand, would everybody wearing something different, yet still standing still and singing make much of a difference? What it would do it create the visual effect of being less than professional.

  10. "Dress hems a uniform height off the floor"? Please! Trouble is, I think many boards of directors (and committees) have far too much time on their hands and often feel they have to contribute something no matter how inane.
     
    Chris
    Suffolk, UK

  11. Conventional wisdom in our neck of the woods holds that there are three utterly futile discussion topics in choirs:
    1) English pronunciation
    2) Latin pronunciation
    3) Women’s choir attire
     
    —
    Regards,
    Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
    Helsinki, Finland

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