Chorister of the Year

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

None at all, I didn’t catch his name as the end credits scrolled by too fast. The British definition of a chorister is ‘a member of a choir’ so one could argue that the ‘worship song’ singer was not a chorister. She would be called a chorister in the US.
I suddenly realised there was a bit of competition banter between the two celebrities whether girls or boys were better. For the first time there was an overall winner and a runner up, not a girl and a boy winner. Not good this I think, there should be girl and boy winners as in the past so the competition is not a perceived battle between the sexes.

Exactly! Churches and cathedrals have tried very hard to avoid this kind of competition.

[Nachtigall]

The British definition of a chorister is ‘a member of a choir’ so one could argue that the ‘worship song’ singer was not a chorister. She would be called a chorister in the US.
I suddenly realised there was a bit of competition banter between the two celebrities whether girls or boys were better. For the first time there was an overall winner and a runner up, not a girl and a boy winner. Not good this I think, there should be girl and boy winners as in the past so the competition is not a perceived battle between the sexes.

Entirely agree. Apart from the "competition banter", underlying the whole enterprise there seemed to be a determination to avoid any suggestion of a distinction between boys' and girls' voices.

[DracoM]

Glad the prog took place for a variety of reasons, but sorry, was pretty disappointed by much in it.
Felt sorry for the 'competitors'.
And, yes - why not a girl winner and a boy winner?

[Keraulophone]

I suddenly realised there was a bit of competition banter between the two celebrities whether girls or boys were better. For the first time there was an overall winner and a runner up, not a girl and a boy winner. Not good this I think, there should be girl and boy winners as in the past so the competition is not a perceived battle between the sexes.

Wholeheartedly agree. Awful false boy/girl rivalry set up by the producers.

If this programme proved anything, it was that Aled Jones can no longer sing.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

If this programme proved anything, it was that Aled Jones can no longer sing.

Well, he clearly can sing, but since his voice broke, it hasn't been of soloist quality. If he hadn't once been famous as a boy treble, he wouldn't now be asked to sing by the BBC.

[Vox Humana]

Well, he clearly can sing, but since his voice broke, it hasn't been of soloist quality. If he hadn't once been famous as a boy treble, he wouldn't now be asked to sing by the BBC.

I do wonder about Aled. He was a superb treble of course, but continued singing as an adult exactly as he had as a chorister and sounds as though he has never had any professional tuition on voice production in his life. His voice sounds completely 'natural'. I assume that this is completely intentional and that he is aiming to appeal to those who find obviously trained voices a turn-off. I'm just guessing, of course.

I did enjoy the final. Excellent singing, excellent judges. Welsh contingent superfluous.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Well Aled's a presenter/personality with a supposed singing schtick, isn't he? As a rough parallel a sort of musical - with an overlay of religiosity - Alan Titchmarsh (but in terms of gross income on a lesser level, no doubt - yet to write mass market "novels").

For my sins I agreed to sign up in a stiffening chorus (short of numbers) for a "Songs of Praise" big sing concert recording at the R Albert Hall. One half recorded for Christmas, the other Easter. High point - the band, great professionals. Low points Alfie Boe/Michael Ball and even lower the Singing Priests. Aled J a perfectly pleasant and professional presenter - can't remember if he sang - maybe not given the pressures on time.

The audience loved it, which was fine.

[ardcarp]

Excellent singing, excellent judges.

...and in particular, John Rutter comes over as a lovely person.

[cat]

Different judges this year, and thankfully I didn't hear any tedious gender rivalry comments this time.

I suppose one good thing about it moving to television is that the audio production seems to have improved.

It would be nice if they targeted a younger audience by at the very least mentioning it on BBC Three, Newsround or whatever, rather than limiting it to Songs of Praise which let's face it won't be watched by anyone in the choristers' age range unless they're a fellow chorister of a candidate or staying with their grandparents.

[french frank]

It would be nice if they targeted a younger audience by at the very least mentioning it on BBC Three, Newsround or whatever, rather than limiting it to Songs of Praise

If it just piqued the interest of a few people now and again it would be worth it. The BBC seems to take the view, "They won't be interested, so no point in mentioning it" and that applies to everything else 'they won't be interested in'.

[jonfan]

A year on and nothing has changed. As well as the Young Musician competition the BBC ignores this as well. The past two Sunday lunchtimes have seen excellent performances by girls and boys demonstrating not only their prowess in singing but speaking with enthusiasm about how singing has enriched their lives and well being. They speak with pride, just pleased to be there and without jealousy of each other. Brilliant role models every one. Excellent supportive comments from the judges. Recommended.

[cloughie]

A year on and nothing has changed. As well as the Young Musician competition the BBC ignores this as well. The past two Sunday lunchtimes have seen excellent performances by girls and boys demonstrating not only their prowess in singing but speaking with enthusiasm about how singing has enriched their lives and well being. They speak with pride, just pleased to be there and without jealousy of each other. Brilliant role models everyone. Excellent supportive comments from the judges. Recommended.

Yes I really enjoyed this last year but didn’t know it was on this year! iPlayer sometimes useful then!

[DracoM]

<< didn’t know it was on this year! iPlayer sometimes useful then! >

Reference to hear it, please?????????

[jonfan]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001fq6f/songs-of-praise-young-chorister-of-the-year-boys-semifinal

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001fykw/songs-of-praise-young-chorister-of-the-year-girls-semifinal

Apologies for not supplying the links. They were both on BBC2 though it clearly says ONE on these links; final next Sunday

[cat]

They were both on BBC2 though it clearly says ONE on these links; final next Sunday

Well, I saw them both on BBC1.

Looking forward to the final but I'm still confused about the new format. There are separate boys and girls semi-finals, presumably because someone involved thinks there is some difference between boys and girls, yet the final is mixed with only one winner. One would think that if they wanted a "gender-blind" final then they would have had mixed semi-finals...