Giving Boys With Changing Voices the Chance to Sing

Think children’s choir and an image emerges of rows of
bright, young faces and angelic voices raised in song. But what
happens when some of those voices start to change?

For years, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus said goodbye to its
maturing boys once they strayed outside the traditional treble
range. That awkward rite of passage was tough on both the chorus
and the choristers — who faced the prospect of being cut off from
a world they loved just as they were facing the difficulties of
adolescence.

Now, however, LACC is among a growing number of choral groups
around the country that are trying to retain and support singers
whose voices are changing or have changed. Its Young Men’s
Ensemble, which is beginning its second season, offers what YME
director Steven Kronauer describes as the intensive instruction in
performance and theory for which the chorus is known “while
focusing on the changing voice — with the priority of ensuring
vocal health and singing efficiently without forcing things. We
also want to help our guys feel comfortable during an already
complicated time in their lives.”

The new ensemble has given new hope to singers such as Andrew
Huerta, a 15-year-old bass from Sherman Oaks. “I was so relieved,”
said Andrew, who had feared he would be asked to leave LACC when
his voice began to change three years ago. “I couldn’t imagine what
it would be like if I didn’t have the music and these people around
me. This was like my second family.”