Piggybacking on yesterday’s post, I’ve revised my list of what I’ll use as landmarks of choral sophistication.
Many choir directors walk their choir through various tiers of sophistication/maturity by using parallels that are purely age related. For example, they might ask in sequence for their choir to sing like an elementary choir, a middle school choir, a high school choir, and a college choir. This risks conflating sophistication with age-related timbre in the ways I wrote about yesterday. So here’s a new list.
Elementary choir
Middle School choir
High School choir
College Choir
Adult Choir
Russian Men’s Choir
Choir of beginners
Choir of enthusiastic amateurs
Choir of well-trained amateurs
Choir of aspiring professionals
Professional choir
Voces8
Separating the sophistication level we’re seeking from age is essential to avoiding vocal technique issues; and students all need opportunities practicing being more sophisticated than they are. That’s how they get more sophisticated.