Vienna Boys Choir

Keeping up the Boys Choir theme! This is the Vienna Boys Choir performing Fröhliche Weihnacht überall by Aus England. The boys are all between the ages of 10-14. Due to the register the boys are performing in, this is a group where the voices all apear to be unchanged. 

I wanted to search for a boys choir this week as the adolescent male voice has been a large part of our classroom discussions over the past couple weeks. We have talked in class about how a lot of boys will hit puberty and experience the voice change all at different times. Clearly, some of the boys in this choir  will undergo the change later in their life if they are still able to sing repertoire like this at age 14. Phillips chapter talks a lot about how many boys will stray away from singing because they do not think it is manly enough, and that it is at many times difficult to keep boys interested in singing especially after undergoing puberty. The voice change is uncomfortable for all boys and I feel that some boys think that if they stop singing they won't experience as much of the voice cracking and embarrassing moments that come with the voice change. However, I am starting to think that maybe if there were more boys choirs like this located throughout our country, more boys would not be afraid of participating in singing as they grow older. If boys are involved in a group like this from a young age, they will get such satisfaction from singing and performing with an ensemble all together. Once they undergo voice change, there is no way they would want to leave a group morale like this behind and will continue to sing for hopefully the rest of their lives. 

Regarding the performance, I have a lot of good things to say. I feel like the tone of the boys is a very pleasing tone. It does not sound like any of the boys are straining to make their high notes come out and  there are very nice pure vowels that go along with it. I also feel that the harmony is relatively impressive. There are times where the soprano part becomes a little bit louder than the other alto part, but for the most part the blend is really quite nice. The boys also are clearly paying attention to diction. Granted the boys are from Vienna and the piece is in German, but they are very focused on the vowels and the consonants. The consonants are very well pronounced which makes all of the rhythms and articulations very clear and concise. The boys posture is very nice as well. None of them are slouched and they are standing with their hands at their hands at their side with their head lifted to the appropriate position. I think this is one of the main reasons why their sound sounds very supported and not airy or forced. For the most part, most of the boys are moving expressively with the music and all of them have their eyes directly on the conductor and they appear as though they are striving really hard to connect with the music and their audience. 

My only complaint with the performance is that not all of the boys seems 100% happy to be performing. They all have great posture and are well engaged with their conductor, but not all them are smiling and seem like they enjoy being there. It could just be that these boys tour a lot and they could just be a little bit tired at this performance, but it was just something that I noticed. Regardless a lot of them still seem like they are enjoying themselves and I still believe that ensembles like this are what could keep choral music a big part of boys lives even after they undergo puberty and voice change.