The Choir 26.01.14

[teamsaint]

Well, gee, thanks! 'The graveyard slot'. Right.

It's supposed to be a programme that intelligently and thoughtfully comments on and plays music from the choral world. Given that more people of all ages sing regularly and irregularly in choirs and other choral ensembles than any single activity other than sex and shopping in UK, you'd think that they might manage to reflect and treat with some respect and maybe even dignity one of the most specialised and possibly most hands-on knowledgeable - along with probably the jazz fans - audiences on R3.

This should not be an anodyne musical wallpaper 'episode' with tweets, emails, gush, waffle and 'tracks', but something just a bit more attentively informed. And SM-P's manner / style compounds the felony as far as I'm concerned, along with the benighted editor / producer. Between them, they have made this a show for Y10's, and frankly I resent and despise what the BBC have done to a genre I love.

The idea of" Niche" activities are inherently dangerous. You are quite right. Singing and choral music is probably a more popular activity than watching Manchester United on the telly, for instance, let alone the relatively few who watch the countries most popular football team at Old Trafford.
Nobody in the media would dream of disrespecting THAT particular group of people, so why do it to another group?

( IncidentallyIn Germany 3.3 million people sing in choirs. Approx 500k attend Bundesliga footballmatches each weekend. The figures in the Uk won't be too far different I guess. So its hardly a niche activity , really).

People do need to stand up for what they believe in.

Edit: Sorry, rather jumbled post.

[DracoM]

Well, this afternoon's shipwreck just confirmed that to listen for the first hour is to lose the will to live.
SMP is a simply lousy interviewer, tries to wing it, and if she says the word 'fantastic' one more time................

[jean]

...Singing and choral music is probably a more popular activity than watching Manchester United on the telly, for instance, let alone the relatively few who watch the countries most popular football team at Old Trafford.

Nobody in the media would dream of disrespecting THAT particular group of people, so why do it to another group?

But choral singers fall into a number of sub-groups, don't they?

I wasn't all that interested in hearing about the Poulton Community Choir, but it wasn't disrespecting therm exactly to allow them to put together a piece about themselves.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, this afternoon's shipwreck just confirmed that to listen for the first hour is to lose the will to live.
SMP is a simply lousy interviewer, tries to wing it, and if she says the word 'fantastic' one more time................

What we don't know is how much of it is SM-P's lack of presentational skills and how much it is the Radio 3 management's blinkered outlook. I suspect it's mainly the latter.

Incidentally, I'd already lost the will to live earlier in the day, when I switched off Private Passions.

[teamsaint]

Jean, I'm not really sure what your point is, although I think its about my use of a particular word.
Mine was that we should respect what people do, and their interests, even if they are , wrongly, perceived as being niche.

R3 should respect its audience. It too often doesn't.

Anyway, I think we are on the same side.

[HARRIET HAVARD]

Heaven forbid if I gave the impression that it was the graveyard shift because it is choral music. My comment was a reference to its position in the schedules DracoM.

[HARRIET HAVARD]

What we don't know is how much of it is SM-P's lack of presentational skills and how much it is the Radio 3 management's blinkered outlook. I suspect it's mainly the latter.

Incidentally, I'd already lost the will to live earlier in the day, when I switched off Private Passions.

I know exactly what you mean about Private Passions. Barkley (or is it Berkley) could bore for England, but some how he still manages to find "guests" more boring than he is.

[HARRIET HAVARD]

Well, gee, thanks! 'The graveyard slot'. Right.

It's supposed to be a programme that intelligently and thoughtfully comments on and plays music from the choral world. Given that more people of all ages sing regularly and irregularly in choirs and other choral ensembles than any single activity other than sex and shopping in UK, you'd think that they might manage to reflect and treat with some respect and maybe even dignity one of the most specialised and possibly most hands-on knowledgeable - along with probably the jazz fans - audiences on R3.

This should not be an anodyne musical wallpaper 'episode' with tweets, emails, gush, waffle and 'tracks', but something just a bit more attentively informed. And SM-P's manner / style compounds the felony as far as I'm concerned, along with the benighted editor / producer. Between them, they have made this a show for Y10's, and frankly I resent and despise what the BBC have done to a genre I love.

Heaven forbid if I gave the impression that I was referring to the programme as the graveyard shift because it was choral music. My reference was too its position in the schedules. A thousand apologies for the confusion.

[jean]

Jean, I'm not really sure what your point is...

I wasn't entirely sure what yours was either!

...Mine was that we should respect what people do...

I was trying to say that in the field of choral singing, there is a huge variety of people doing a huge variety of different things. I'm not sure how you can respect them all.

[teamsaint]

I wasn't entirely sure what yours was either!


I was trying to say that in the field of choral singing, there is a huge variety of people doing a huge variety of different things. I'm not sure how you can respect them all.

my original point, which I may have put less well than I would have liked, is that almost all activity can be regarded as niche.

I don't really have a problem respecting what a wide variety of people do. Even if i don't like it, get it, or want to be involved in it, it may serve their needs well, and that is enough to allow respect.
We may have different understandings of the word "respect" though,

Or something !!

[french frank]

The Choir has access to arguably one of the most specialised audiences of the week

I'm not sure that The Choir has ever lived up to the specialist credentials of Choirworks. I assumed that was why it replaced a programme that really was for people interested in choral music - too elitist.

By the way, Friends of Radio 3 has just been described as an 'aggressive mob', I presume on the basis of what members of the public say here. I'm not very pleased about that.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

By the way, Friends of Radio 3 has just been described as an 'aggressive mob'

By whom?

[MrGongGong]

I'm not sure that The Choir has ever lived up to the specialist credentials of Choirworks. I assumed that was why it replaced a programme that really was for people interested in choral music - too elitist.

By the way, Friends of Radio 3 has just been described as an 'aggressive mob', I presume on the basis of what members of the public say here. I'm not very pleased about that.

It's OK Boss we know you aren't
Maybe it could be something to do with this image of the folks from the EMS and Choir boards off to put their points of view to Mr Wright ?

[DracoM]

............and those who loathe 'Breakfast', or the jazz fans lamenting virtual banishment / marginalisation, or those who writhe at Sean Rafferty.........it'd be a pretty large queue at RW's door, I'd say, and NOT just those moved by The Choir at all.

[french frank]

By whom?

I'd better PM you, ferney. I wouldn't want Gongers wading in with a few of his mates . Also not to disrupt the thread ...