All choirs should perform literature of high quality; yet as I search for music for my women’s choir, I am accosted by musical pap of the lowest caliber. Insipid texts, bland rhythms, static or predictable harmonic structures, and saccharine arrangements abound; I can only conclude that the women’s choir (indeed, all treble choirs) is an endangered species – endangered because it is being smothered in a deluge of mediocrity.
Many have examined the reasons why treble choirs have been treated so shabbily. Chief among the reasons given are that the treble choir possesses limited dynamic and vocal ranges and that the absence of men’s voices leads to a monochromatic sound. Even the eminent choral conductor and composer Archibald T. Davison in his book The Technique of Choral Composition stated that: “Twenty minutes of unaccompanied singing in this medium [women’s chorus] will lead most hearers, I believe, to yearn ardently for the presence of a bass voice.” Moreover, too often the treble choir serves as an overflow group and, as such, receives less than the enthusiastic effort we give our select mixed group. These and other problems are compounded by our formal training: most choral conductors (myself included) were nurtured in the mixed-choir tradition. Consequently our choral expertise and knowledge of literature are rooted in the classics of the mixed-voice repertoire. The fact is that many of us decided tobecome choral conductors because of the inspiration these pieces afforded us.
Jeff Reynolds says
Carla Strandberg says