It simply struck me that, as ardcarp so rightly says, there are always peaks and troughs with any choir, particularly one that relies on young voices, but John's seems to be on a real high at the moment, in all parts, and it showed in that service. All John's choirs are 'good', but some are just more good than others.
Most other Oxbridge choirs are not led by boys; boys' voices are notoriously [some would say gloriously] unpredictable. Coached by a patient, canny DOM. they learn how to compensate for approaching breaks etc etc, but they are / can be a bit of a crown of thorns as well as stars. John's seemed to be to be fortunate to have at the mo a pretty secure and musically sophisticated tranche for AN to work with on both front and back desks..
I always feel very sorry for KCC particularly at this time of year: they have massive pressure on them from global media, record companies, the BBC, the public at large - I mean, 'no pressure'!! How you go about making a child feel progressively and sufficiently calm and relaxed as to give of their undoubted best under such huge expectations is a terrific trick, and we all know that only the best have it.
BUT even with all the skill of years, any DOM, like any decent games coach, has to have the material in front of him/her to expect to be able to scale heights. And if you add to that the problem of choosing new repertoire.......does the BBC breathe down necks over repertoire choice? do record companies exercise some 'persuasion' in choice of recorded output? Does the cathedral D&C / college etc exercise any 'advice'?
And KCC, it might be surmised, is possibly under greater pressure in those regards than few others I can think of. e.g. RQ at NCO will have had an interesting time following EH - and we heard them the other week. Mr Q has changed their style of voice production quite considerably. So these things come and go, develop and shift, and listeners are always making comparisons. It's unavoidable unless you can switch on and off amnesia over your own choral singing / listening experiences - which I find very hard to do!!
Comparisons between such top choirs are anyway a matter of mere whispers and scintillas.
Most other Oxbridge choirs are not led by boys; boys' voices are notoriously [some would say gloriously] unpredictable. Coached by a patient, canny DOM. they learn how to compensate for approaching breaks etc etc, but they are / can be a bit of a crown of thorns as well as stars. John's seemed to be to be fortunate to have at the mo a pretty secure and musically sophisticated tranche for AN to work with on both front and back desks..
I always feel very sorry for KCC particularly at this time of year: they have massive pressure on them from global media, record companies, the BBC, the public at large - I mean, 'no pressure'!! How you go about making a child feel progressively and sufficiently calm and relaxed as to give of their undoubted best under such huge expectations is a terrific trick, and we all know that only the best have it.
BUT even with all the skill of years, any DOM, like any decent games coach, has to have the material in front of him/her to expect to be able to scale heights. And if you add to that the problem of choosing new repertoire.......does the BBC breathe down necks over repertoire choice? do record companies exercise some 'persuasion' in choice of recorded output? Does the cathedral D&C / college etc exercise any 'advice'?
And KCC, it might be surmised, is possibly under greater pressure in those regards than few others I can think of. e.g. RQ at NCO will have had an interesting time following EH - and we heard them the other week. Mr Q has changed their style of voice production quite considerably. So these things come and go, develop and shift, and listeners are always making comparisons. It's unavoidable unless you can switch on and off amnesia over your own choral singing / listening experiences - which I find very hard to do!!
Comparisons between such top choirs are anyway a matter of mere whispers and scintillas.
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