Boy Barred From Singing Soprano in Choir

[shawmut]

Boy Barred From Singing Soprano in Choir
By LIZ AUSTIN, AP


BEDFORD, Texas (June 29) - Singing soprano is for girls only in Texas' elite All-State Choir, eliminating a 17-year-old boy's chance to audition for a statewide honor and raising questions about gender discrimination.

The Texas Music Educators Association on June 15 denied a request from Mikhael Rawls to audition this fall as a soprano, a part traditionally sung by girls.

Rawls sings countertenor, a little known male voice part that has surged in popularity in classical and operatic circles. He can sing an octave and a half higher than most boys his age, and he feels most comfortable singing in that range.

He has even won first place as a soprano in the University Interscholastic League's competition two years in a row.

The association, however, does not allow boys to sing soprano or alto, or girls to sing tenor or bass. Association spokeswoman Amy Lear said the group enacted the rule two years ago because of concerns that girls auditioning for tenor parts were hurting their voices by singing too low.


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[Bluebear]

1. "Sing like a MAN, this is Texas"!

:crazy:

[Kraklen]

2. LOL

Texas

[Maple]

3. Of all the stupid.....

words fail me.

[Book Lover]

4. Cripes! It's hard enough to get young men and boys to sing in choir

and this has to come up?

[Democracy White]

5. Naw, we jist don't want no gay soundin'

fag libral like boy in this here choir."

Dee

[sakabatou]

14. True.

BTW, DW, is that all there is to Blue Scorpion?

[Democracy White]

19. For now...

I am trying to come up with some more excerpts and I will try to post pages of the comic book if I can.

Dee

[FreedomAngel82]

22. Obviously

I've never heard such nonsense before. My town has a local boys and a seperate girls choir and the guys sing all the parts. They go from late elementary to mid high school. :eyes:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. Let's see, I could send those idiots CDs of The King's Singers...

Chanticleer, and oh, yes, The Four Seasons, and several Motownl groups where men singing falsetto take the top parts.

Has anyone seen the Canadian movie The Five Senses? If you do, you'll remember one of the surprises revealed toward the end.

[acmavm]

6. What is it about Texas? Why is it such a basket case state? And why

are the men down there so unbelievably homophobic?

I know that soon someone will be here telling me 'it's not all Texans'. And I know that, I live in Nebraska and I know that there are pockets of sanity here and there. But Texas, my gosh.

[Kraklen]

9. I think it's their preoccupation with size.

Texas has got to have the biggest everything, including testicles. Since we all know that Texas is the biggest state in the Union.

[Solly Mack]

7. Idiots

Let the young man sing soprano, dammit!

[Occulus]

8. 'soprano' does not denote gender

There are many male altos. There are many female tenors. There are contraltos, and others.

Vocal range is NOT a gender issue. Period.

edited to add: the association that issued this ruling must itself have no vocalists on its staff. That is the ONLY way this decision can be understood.

[izzie]

10. Gee it was at one time only boys who could sing soprano

They used to have operations to be sure it was a life time job. Can not think of what these men were called.Lets hope people in Texas do not find this out.

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. Castrati...(n/t)

[Occulus]

12. They were eunuchs.

They had their nuts cut off as boys, to keep their voices high.

Sorry to put it that way, but.... it's true.

[Journeyman]

18. The proper term for them was "Castratos". . .

ca·stra·to    (k-strät, k-)
n. pl. ca·stra·ti (-t) or ca·stra·tos

A male singer castrated before puberty so as to retain a soprano or alto voice.


Eunuchs work in harems.


Word History: The word eunuch does not derive, as one might think, from the operation that produced a eunuch but rather from one of his functions. Eunuch goes back to the Greek word eunoukhos, “a castrated person employed to take charge of the women of a harem and act as chamberlain.” The Greek word is derived from eun, “bed,” and ekhein, “to keep.” A eunuch, of course, was ideally suited to guard the bedchamber of women.


Just a little useless knowledge, in case you ever find yourself on Jeopardy (or filling out an application for a job you just don't quite understand).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. For a bunch of Music Educators, they seem to know nothing about voices

English cathedral choirs have traditionally used countertenors instead of female altos. Most countertenors are natural baritones who have a good falsetto.

And yes, there are women whose voices are so low that they can comfortably sing in the tenor range. Heavens, I'm a second soprano, and some tenors parts are written high enough that I can sing them comfortably.

And I completely agree with the remark about how hard it is to get boys and men to sing in choirs. In every vocal ensemble I've ever been in, the average quality of the men singers has been lower than the average quality of the women singers, because so few men are willing to sing, and the directors will let ain anyone who's halfway decent.

It isn't only in Texas that "real men" don't sing in choirs.

[fortyfeetunder]

28. Life as a female tenor

I knew my calling the day I read an alto part and was singing an octave lower. Thus began my avocation as a female tenor a first church choir, a very good one at that. There weren't enough guys to sing tenor so we were welcomed with open arms.

Then I went to a relative's church choir, and good grief,
"women only sing alto". I sang tenor anyway, I know and am comfortable with my range...

[KamaAina]

15. Hank Hill: "I'm sorry, Bobby, you cannot sing soprano in the choir."

"Not in Texas, anyway. Maybe in the Oklahoma state choir you could."

(silence; hangdog look)

"Dang it, Bobby, I don't make the rules. All I do is enforce them."

[Bluebear]

17. "That boy ain't right."

I thought of Hank too! :toast:

[greekspeak]

16. I hope they gave him some cars and lincoln logs and boys toys

to take with him. He is probably one of them there fairies, singin like a gurl. His paw needs ta take him out ta the wood shed and tan his nelly little hide.


Tell me again...why is the United States the laughingstock of the world?

[FreedomAngel82]

20. And why can't they let the boy sing soprano??

Not all girls can sing high notes very well. I'm one of them. I can sometimes but I prefer to sing in the lower high range personally. I remember when I was in high school they had guys who sang all types of parts and it sounded really good. :shrug: What a lame excuse. The boy is obviously talented. They're really missing out. How sad.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

21. Sorry Son, the only male Sopranos allowed in Texas

Are the members of BFEE.

[scarletlib]

23. these people are fucking idiots

[pop goes the weasel]

24. I'm not surprised

When my daughter was in freshman choir, she wanted to sing contralto and try for the tenor parts in the school musical. Never mind that she actually has a low voice that goes along with her 6-foot frame. Her choir director refused to allow it. You'd think a gay guy would be less brainwashed into gender stereotypes, but you'd be wrong. Must be some harsh kool-aid they serve in music ed classes.

[Bouncy Ball]

25. Oh geez, Louise, let the kid sing whatever range he can sing in,

for the love of God.

:eyes:

How ridiculous.

[Flubadubya]

26. Vive Frankie Valie...

"Walk like a man, sing like a girl!" :-)

[Stinky The Clown]

27. I can relate to this ... something similar happened to me when I

auditioned at Hooters for a waitress job.

Seriously ..... this beyond the pale.

Homophobic motherfuckers ..... s'all my mind can get a grip on when I see this shit.

[donco6]

30. All sopranos were men until relatively recently.

Women weren't allowed to make any noise, period, in church - including singing. Even now in some Fundie churches women can't be songleaders, or even be on the stage at all.

Dumbasses.