Isn't limiting a choir by gender sexist and exclusionary?
There are many important reasons for creating a space for boys to sing together, including i) supporting and nurturing an underrepresented group in children's choirs through to adulthood; and ii) offering a safe space to coach and support boys going through the change of voice, which can be a stressful and difficult time for male singers.
Historically, a boys' choir was one made up of boys who had not yet begun puberty, with tenor and bass voices considered to belong to men. This tradition was based on the fact that most boys did not begin puberty until 16 or 17. Yet the onset of puberty has declined, with many boys' voices now breaking on average by the age of 13.5
Here in Ottawa, there are many excellent children's choirs that accept both boys and girls, but as boys lose their ability to sing treble music there is no longer a place for them. Many choirs with all four voice parts do not start until the late teens. This means that boys are effectively excluded from singing in the available options by mere biology and a lack of suitable voice parts.
Elementary schoolboys and older teens are usually happy to sing with girls, but boys around middle school age - at their vocal peak just before their voice change and during that transition period when their voices are not completely reliable - can be reluctant. Gerald Wirth, president and artistic director of the Vienna Boys Choir, noted in 2018 that "if we don't have a specific boys' group, we lose the boys at this age, except a few."
Mixed group choirs at this age lead to boys losing self-confidence in their singing abilities as they compare themselves negatively to their female peers, who enter their vocal peak just as boys start to experience cracking voices.
Singing in a choir has also gone from an activity that was once only open to be performed by men to one which is dominated by women. Relatively few choirs in the Ottawa area boast anything resembling gender equality. There are many factors that keep boys from participating in vocal music, but research shows that one reason is that most males feel participating in choir is an inappropriate activity for a male. Once boys stop singing at puberty many do not take up choir again, especially if they do not get the support they need through their vocal transition. Encouragement of male-only participation aims to provide a space with an explicit male identity.
We aim to foster male participation in choir by providing a safe space for children with a shared experience of voice change.
Those eligible to participate include those individuals who sincerely and consistently identify as male, regardless of their sex assigned at birth as well as those who were assigned a male sex at birth, regardless of their present gender identity, so long as they feel that membership in a boy's community for voice change is meaningful and appropriate for them.
