Who is the Choral Art?

(Yes, we realize that the title is grammatically incorrect, it is however accurate.)

 

Among the countless, amazing things about our art form is that it is simultaneously unifying and universal.  Simply put: anyone, anywhere can participate in the entire spectrum of choral music.

 

As you read this, a choir in Louisanna is studying a score written in Mandarin, meanwhile a symphony chorus in Beijing is preparing to perform Mozart Requiem in Teutonic Latin, and at the same time a choral group in Germany is rehearsing a spiritual setting by Moses Hogan. 

 

Vocally, while we may be divided into voice sections, some choral genres take female singers very low in the range; countertenors navigate the rarified strata usually reserved for sopranos (some historic operatic roles even swap genders entirely).  While certainly, the caliber of a singer’s voice is evaluated, it is the rare singer who does not improve with experience in a chorus.

 

Age is also not a limiting factor.  At this moment, people from five to 95 are raising their voices in some form of choir – they are having a wonderful time and they are singing well.  The age of the singer is also not a determiner of repertoire; there is a choir based at a retirement community knocking out solid vocal jazz and a high school women’s ensemble in Indiana that specializes in medieval music.

 

No cash, no problem.  While our friends in the band and orchestra world are expected to invest significant funds on various instruments and associated accoutrements, we singers for the most part just show up.  Other than acquiring scores (and maybe a pitch pipe), singers don’t face the crushing financial requirements that befall, say, a ‘cellist.

 

Social status has exactly nothing to do with the performance of choral music.  Choral singers can be virtually penniless or obscenely wealthy; they can be public school drop-outs or rocket scientists.  The choir can rehearse in a converted warehouse or amid the gilded architecture of a cathedral.

 

Institutional limitations?  Ivy-League universities field good choral ensembles, but we also have a dedicated choral colleague upholding the art in the poorest school system of the poorest county of the poorest state.  Even in some of the most unlikely facilities imaginable – namely prisons – inmates strive to find beauty and belonging amid the glorious echoes of our art.

 

The choral art doesn’t care who you are, what you are, or where you are . . . just that you are.