This afternoon I attended a concert given by a choir that comprised 20 sopranos and altos (I can't say how many of each), 4 tenors and 2 basses, plus a' 'Kor' - 6 young ladies who were, I think, all sopranos, who sang with and without the main chorus and some of whom offered solos. From where I was sitting, the tenors and basses sounded somewhat overwhelmed and were sometimes difficult to hear. It left me wondering to what extent the contents of a programme might be dictated by the composition of a choir. .
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The choir I sing with has had to do some creative thinking to cover shortages of men's voices in recent years, and it has had an effect on the choice of items for a concert on occasion. A difficulty with an amateur choir is that as the size of a section shrinks so, often, does the confidence of the remaining members, which increases the imbalance. -
I participate in a community choir with ~ 20 female members and two male. The choir leader divides us into three groups: soprano, alto and "middle". The male singers are in the middle group, but just sing an octave down. It works for us, but to be fair, the repertoire is modern and composed with flexibility built in. I can entirely see that with more "traditional" material this sort of line-up might be difficult to work with.Comment
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Yes, it's the familiar problem with amateur choirs. The one I sing with, which is a small a cappella group, is currently struggling for sopranos and tenors - only three of the latter. However, the bass section is full with eight members (including me) so the balance is rather weighted to the bottom end. Our MD does a great job picking repertoire that will suit the forces available but sometimes we have to sub-in some extra singers for our concerts.Comment
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I've since discovered that the 'Kor' is a chamber choir from a nearby High School. .Originally posted by hmvman View PostComment
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