UK REPORT T
HERE HAS LONG been an anecdotal mistrust between choral con- ductors and singing teachers.
The great tenor Robert Tear tells the story in his autobiography Tear Here (Andre Deutsch, 1990) that when he auditioned at the age of 17 for Boris Ord, then director of music at King’s College, Cambridge, the following conversation took place:
BO: “Have you had any singing les- sons, Mr. Tear?”
RT: “No, Sir.” BO: “Good! Then you won’t ruin my choir.”
Of course, this exchange takes on a rather amusing twist
now, given Tear’s subsequent illustrious career. On the other hand, the singing teachers’ purported view is
offered in vocal pedagogue Barbara Doscher’s book The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice (Scarecrow Press, 1994): “Those very characteristics that make some solo voices unique must be subdued in group singing, often to the eventual detriment of that voice.” Richard Miller, in On the Art of Singing (Oxford University Press, 1996), refers to the “history of conflict . . . between the training of the solo voice and what is expected of a singer in the choral ensemble.” These concerns obviously supersede the most notorious sin- gle issue of the use of vibrato in choral singing (for a discus- sion of which, see my UK Report from February 2013) and express a wider unease about the overall health and charac- ter of solo voices that are involved in ensemble work. Given the date of the King’s anecdote above (1956), it can
be concluded that in the UK it is now considered rather old- fashioned for a choral conductor to express this sort of sus- picion. Enlightened directors of all serious university and cathedral choirs have for a number of years now insisted that their choir members have regular individual tuition with a professional singing teacher. Indeed, many cathedrals and colleges have their own exclusive vocal specialists who give one-on-one tuition, coach soloists, consult regularly with the conductor on matters of vocal health, and care for changing voices in children and teenagers. As a conductor of two choirs consisting of young singers
(high-school-age girls at Ely Cathedral and mixed university students at Selwyn College, Cambridge), I find that there is rarely enough time in rehearsal to deal with singers’ indi- vidual technical needs in a focused manner. I can and do point out a tense jaw here, a raised shoulder there, and mis- shapen vowels elsewhere, but it is in their individual lessons that I expect these issues to be addressed at a much more de- tailed level, and by a teacher with proper training in vocal pedagogy. Pace Doscher and Miller, but it is probably true to say that
in the UK there are more singing teachers who are aware of, and sympathetic to, the technical needs of choral singers (as well as the needs of soloists) than one might find in the States. This is partly because of the fact that many of the singing teachers working for colleges and cathedrals here be- gan their careers as choral singers before going on to study and work as soloists. It is also the case that there is a rela- tively high proportion of choral singers per capita in the UK, partly because of the cathedral and collegiate traditions. (Contrary to the accepted belief that England has the world’s most active choral tradition, according to Google, Dubai,
AUGUST 2013
Florida, and Finland all actually boast the highest number of choral singers per capita internationally!) It is possible, however, that the tension between choral
conductors and singing teachers is still unresolved in some corners of the world. I recently heard a particular university choir (which shall remain nameless) that has benefited from considerable financial investment intended to develop it fromits roots as a humble assortment of provincial volunteer student singers into a slick, ambitious, and nationally recog- nized ensemble. It consists of a (disconcertingly small) num- ber of university undergraduates and a (disconcertingly large) group of older experienced paid professional section leaders. The choir sings together for about twelve hours a week and tackles difficult and substantial repertoire on a reg- ular basis. Notwithstanding their generous annual budget, one of the things that has been consciously cut in recent years is funding for individual singing lessons for its student members. I was concerned and surprised to learn this, since this uni-
versity was certainly not to be found in some halcyon (though sadly fictitious) location where 19-year-olds with mature voices and secure vocal technique arrived straight out of high school. The conductor seemed to be striving for an unflinchingly loud, old-fashioned, middle-aged English lay-clerk sound, and therefore the young students were obliged to prioritize sheer volume over vocal health. The re- sulting tension in the tongue root and/or the extrinsic mus- cles of the larynx frequently produced a rather strangulated tone and alarmingly approximate intonation. Needless to say, the resulting sound of the choir was, alas, not always au- rally attractive. In a situation like this, it is easily understood why Barbara Doscher and her colleagues around the world have expressed concern over the vocal health of choral singers. It seems obvious that, first and foremost, choral conduc-
tors need to understand something about singing tech- nique. Theymust also understand the need for their singers to receive professional, individual tuition in order to en- sure that their techniques are sound and that they are us- ing their voices healthily and efficiently. This is particu- larly crucial with young voices (and “young” should be used to define a voice up to the age of about 30). By defini- tion, there is also a need for patience—unless a choral con- ductor is dealing with a fully professional choir whose members are all over 30—and inconsistency must be al- lowed for, indeed encouraged as young singers experiment (healthily) with their developing voices. At the very least, even just on “Occupational Health and Safety” grounds, some regular individual damage limitation should be avail- able for singers whose voices are changing.When I first ar- rived at Selwyn, 15 years ago, I found that the “Heath and Safety” legal argument was an extremely effective way of convincing my College Bursar that we needed to increase the singing lesson budget! Choral conductors and singing teachers should work to-
gether to ensure individual healthy vocal production and sound technique, as well as the resultant vibrancy of choral color that will be achieved if every singer in the choir is pro- ducing themost relaxed and resonant sound that they are ca- pable of. Finally, in case any of you are in doubt, I would, of course, have accepted Robert Tear into my choir as a first- year undergraduate, though I would most certainly have sent him straight to my college singing teacher just as soon as he arrived.
SARAHMACDONALD 33
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