Guide to films - Martin Ashley

Boys Keep
Singing
The Films
Guide
For
Teachers
The first film is supported by the D-book home page, which
introduces the idea of vocal identity. For boys, this vocal
identity is something that changes in an exciting way once
you get up to secondary school. Amazingly, you’re going to
get a succession of different voices. The message is very
clear (we hope). Don’t give up! The singing adventure is
just beginning. The film introduces the very important idea
of how voice pitch is correlated with vocal fold length. It
also introduces 12 year old Enzo who knew little about boys’
singing when he landed the part, but knows a lot now!
Home Page
Welcome
About the Voice
Vocal Science
Professor David Howard is an acoustician and expert on
vocal physiology at the University of York. In this film he
talks to boys aged between eleven and fourteen from the
National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. The film explains how
the sound is produced by the vocal folds within the larynx,
powered by the lungs. The boys get connected up to some of
David’s favourite “toys” that analyse their voices. They get
to speak with an artificial larynx (whoa!) and squeeze a radiator hose doubling up as a pharynx to understand how the
crude “buzz” of the vocal folds is moulded into recognizable
speech and singing sounds.
It is supported by the D-book page Your Larynx.
Jenevora Williams, teacher in residence to the National
Youth Choirs of Great Britain has recently completed a PhD
in the health and development of the boy chorister voice.
She is a renowned singing teacher with particular expertise in
coaching boys through voice change. She works in this film
with younger and older boys from NYCGB to show them how
their singing range is related to the falling pitch of their
speaking voices. She shows them how to find the lowest note
of their range and encourages the older ones to explore their
new voices. She also answers a few questions on vocal
health—smoking is not good for the voice!
It is supported by the D-book page Changing Size.
About the Voice
Vocal Performance
Inigo Byrne began his singing career as a chorister at
Chester Cathedral. He left the choir to concentrate on a
solo recording career. The film includes an extract of
him recording The Snowman in a treble voice. His album
My World, recorded at the age of 14 is arguably a classic
that shows how beautiful a new cambiata voice can be.
Inigo however was rapidly coached into teen “pop” by a
record producer who exploited his next new voice stage.
The film concludes with shots of his new rock band, Inigo
and the Exchange. Inigo’s voice was a classic case study
in the original research and Enzo, our intrepid interviewer, explores this history with him. There are tracks
of NYC boys singing in treble, cambiata and new baritone
in the D-book page Changing Size.
About the Voice
Riding the Changes
Joining In
How to Get Boys singing—Not
Joining In
Case Study
The National Youth Choir
This film is not available on the BKS website but we are
very happy to send you a DVD of it. It was produced as a
teacher training/development film and whether or not
you let your boys see it is up to you, but it does need to
be set in context. It is based upon a large research
literature that shows that schools still have a long way to
go in dealing with homophobic bullying. It also reflects a
key finding of the research: male teachers are not
necessary to get boys to sing and can even put them off!
What counts is (1) excellent teaching (by a male or female) and (2) a supportive school infrastructure. The
film features an actor playing a part inspired by Brian
Glover’s classic performance in Kes, and renowned Gospel
leader Tyndale Thomas as himself. It connects with the
Cool School? material for boys on the Joining In page of
the D-book
These resources were produced in collaboration with the
National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. The choir featured is not one of the NYC’s regular choirs, but one put
together for the occasion with volunteers from the 9—14
junior boys’ choir, the 14—17 training choir and the NYC
itself. It illustrates the degree to which NYCGB understands boys’ voices and provides a continuous home for
them from treble through cambiata, new baritone and
into the mature adult voice. The audition standard for
NYC is, of course, very high. However, a key aim of our
films and network is to develop more singing opportunities so that boys from primary schools may receive the
vocal training in a choir somewhere that will bring them
up to the necessary standard to audition for NYC or a
similar opportunity. Visit the NYC website to find out
more about auditions and the opportunities that are on
offer. If you have a junior choir that could help boys attain the standard, please add it to the network.
Some of the most effective singing development in
primary schools through SingUp has resulted from the
Chorister Outreach Programme (“COP”). In this film,
older boys from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Choir
act as role models for some enthusiastic primary school
boys who have called themselves “The Yorkies” (we won’t
say why!) There is an interesting clash of styles—the
Yorkies are into Rock You by Queen! But the choristers
are very obliging and forsake their favourite anthem
(Zadok the Priest) to join in an arrangement of the Liverpool Folksong Johnny Todd (Z Cars if you’re of a certain
age, or Everton if of a certain sporting persuasion!)
Joining In
Yorkies Meet the Choristers
You can hear a track of this in the D-book or on the BKS
network—there are four different blends of chorister
and Yorkie voices to choose from.
So what will happen to all these enthusiastic boys from
primary school when they go into Y7?
We’ve chosen three schools which have been particularly
successful in saying “boys’ singing matters” and presenting
their Y7s with a fantastic opportunity to—keep singing!
Guildford County School is renowned for its 160 strong
boys’ choir which is one of the “coolest” things on offer
to the new Y7s. Their repertoire is very eclectic, but
Caroline Gale understands perfectly how to arrange music
in the correct pitch ranges for changing voices.
Formby High School has taken a different approach—
they’ve got their boys interested through NFG (Not For
Girls) - a boys’ rock choir. Steve Cook at Formby is also
renowned for the African singing he inspires, which you
can hear on the D-book.
Finally St Thomas The Apostle College in Peckham have a
boys’ Gospel choir which, you will see, includes some very
passionate advocacy of boys’ singing. And Y7s aren’t allowed to join! They have to learn deferred gratification
and wait until Y8. An interesting strategy!
Joining In
Case Studies
Now we’re not saying that these are the only or the best
examples of practice. But we are saying, will similar opportunities be available to Y7s across the country? If
you think “yes, in my school” then please join our network
and upload you own video of your boys in action. Guildford, Formby and Peckham are intended to be catalysts.
What’s the Big Acoustic?
It’s undeniable that England has an unrivalled, world
class tradition of singing by professional boys’ choirs in
its cathedrals. This was recognised by the New Labour
government through the allocation of £10m of the £40m
total SingUp funding to the chorister outreach programme (COP). Through this scheme, thousands of primary school children have had the opportunity to learn
from older boys as role models and experience for themselves the uniqueness of singing in a big acoustic space.
In this final film, we take a neutral attitude to religious
observance and instead concentrate on what we know
from our research choristers love doing the most—singing
in their big acoustic spaces! The film explains what this
is and unashamedly puts the case for vocal projection and
natural acoustics over the now more orthodox “singing
into a microphone”.
The Big Acoustic
It was our hope, in making this film, that the inclusive
opportunity for boys from all social backgrounds to experience “big acoustics” will continue long into the future
and we acknowledge the unique contribution of cathedral
choristers to boys’ singing for over 1500 years.
People often want to know “what works” when it comes
to difficult challenges such as getting more boys to sing.
That’s natural, but we don’t think it’s quite the right approach.
“What works” is you! OK, we’ve made some professional
films of schools and choirs where we know it works. But
these are not to be copied or cloned—they are simply to
catalyse and perhaps inspire those who don’t believe it’s
possible to think otherwise. But they are more likely to
be convinced if they see your work too.
And now, over to you!
So the right approach is a creative, sharing network in
which you play a part by uploading your own video, podcast, music recording or slide show. To do this, we’ve created a Vimeo group. We don’t use Youtube. We think it’s
too public and offers insufficient control over creativity
and standards. To find out more about Vimeo, and perhaps to receive help with your own video or recording, you
can join our Vimeo production group by dropping us an email