Songs of Praise Choir of the Year Competition

[ardcarp]

Above all, I wish they would sing better music. I'm sure they are capable of it.

Well, fantastic that there are some junior school choirs! It was obvious that the three finalists were singing stuff that was generally low-pitched and (I have to say) in a slightly shouty sort of way. I kept wishing it was all pitched higher and with more use of head-voice. I kept thinking of that Warwickshire choir (not the same competition?) which sang 'Firefly' a few years ago. Incidentally we bought the sheet music soon after, and our g-kids still love singing it.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Quite apart from the fact that they gave the best performance, I like any school choir that has boys in it to be encouraged - though that should not be a reason for positive discrimination.

I don't agree with positive discrimination, as it is essentially negative discrimination viewed from a different angle. The way I tackled it as a teacher was to have separate junior choirs for boys and girls, fedding a mixed senior choir. The result was still heavily skewed in favour of the girls, but at least it enabled the boys to emerge with a bit of street cred.

[Oldcrofter]

Here's Firefly, Ardcarp, by Warwickshire Boys' Choir:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkl-zaHD5nI