Here is my review of the Toronto Children's Chorus, based in Toronto, Ontario. It's conducted by Elise Bradley, who has been the director for the last 8 years. You can visit their website at www.torontochildrenschorus.com



Here is the handout that I passed out when I did my presentation. It has a few things that I didn't include in the presentation so I recommend having a quick look through it!

Toronto Children’s Chorus

- Founded in 1978 by Jean Ashworth Bartle at the request of the then conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis.
- Under Bartle, the Toronto Children’s Chorus earned national and international recognition.
- TCC is recognized as one of the finest treble choirs in the world and has had a huge influence of treble choir repertoire.
- Repertoire embraces diverse cultures and traditions and includes many vocal genres and commissioned Canadian pieces.

- Current conductor is Elise Bradley, who is in her 8^th season with the TCC
- Under Bradley, the TCC has a reputation of artistic excellence and music education

- Bradley has developed an annual concert series, continues the legacy of the annual School Choir Invitational and the Toronto District School Board Choral Project which provides professional development to music teachers.

- There are 6 ensembles under the TCC umbrella:
1) KinderNotes – ages 3-6, serves as an introduction to the TCC program
2) Preparatory Choir – Ages 6+, youngest audition based choir that prepares singers for training choir
3) Training Choir I, II, III – placed into appropriate group based on musical ability and maturity, develop skills to prepare for the main choir
4) Main Choirs – consists of Cantare, Chorale, Chamber Choir and Choral Scholars. Cantare is an introduction to the main choirs, sings less repertoire. Chorale is the experienced half of the choir and has a large commitment to touring and performing. Chorale extends to Chamber Choir and Choral Scholars, who have more music responsibilities.
5) Boys Choir – boys from preparatory choir and up with unchanged voices.
6) Youth Choir – SATB choir, ages 16-25, open to anyone willing to audition.

Repertoire Recommendations

1. Come, Ye Makers of Song – Written by Jean Ashworth Bartle as a birthday gift to Bartle. I like the text and think it’s a good opening song for a program. Although it’s not harmonically difficult, it’s in an irregular meter which is a good rhythm teaching aid.

2. Micma’q Honour Song – Traditional Native Chant arr. by Lydia Adams. I like the nature sounds (bird calls, wind blowing, etc.), and the haunting sound showcases the voices well. I also like it because it is a chant, which makes it different than the usual repertoire.

3. Sing me a Song – Composed by Leonard Enns for the Niagara Children’s Chorus. I like the jazz nature of the piece as well as the sunny lyrics. It’s in unison (with optional divisi.), which is challenging to sing. This could be a bit more of a challenging piece, depending on the skill of the choir.

4. Winter from Folksongs for Four Seasons – Composed by Ralph Vaughn Williams. This is a Christmas piece that doesn’t incorporate any Christmas carols like Silent Night. It’s a nice and different addition to a Christmas program.

5. Petites Voix – A multi-movement work by Francis Poulenc. I chose this piece because I like the way French sounds when it’s sung. It’s also written specifically for children and is about things related to children such as “Le petit garçon” or “The Little Boy”. 

"It's so tempting to think it's all about me"

At the start of Itay Talgam's TEDTalk he says something that really caught my interest, and that I thought about for the rest of the video. He says "Out of small gestures come great music. And it's so tempting to think it's all about me." As a person with very limited choral and conducting experience, I had never even considered this before. Do conductors really believe that they are the ones responsible for the music or was that just my imagination? According to Itay Talgam, that was really just my imagination. Perhaps that thought stemmed from my concert band experience from grades 8-12. She never acknowledged that without us, she would just look like a crazy person, standing in front of fifty or sixty chairs, waving her arms. The students never received any acknowledgement, in performance setting or otherwise, that we were the ones who were making it all possible. I think that realizing that a group success if not just all about you is an important thing to realize as a leader in any situation. Sure, you may be guiding people in the right direction, but you are not the sole reason of the groups success.

The final conductor that Talgam shows in his talk really illustrates this idea. He doesn't once lift his baton or move his arms. He stands, arms crossed, throughout the entire clip, relying on the ensemble to make something beautiful and meaningful. This is a man who has realized that he is not the superstar, he is merely a member of a group of superstars. And that is what every leader should aim for. Not to responsible for the success of the group, but to simply be a part of the success.

Welcome!

Chances are, if you're viewing this blog you already know me and why this blog is here. But, if not, hi! My name is Emily and I'm a university student studying music and music education in Newfoundland. This blog is created as a part of a music education course entitled Voice and Choral Methods. It will serve as a place to reflect on and discuss things explored in class. As the name of the course suggests, this will be full of posts regarding choral singing and teaching choral singing, especially in the K-12 school system. 

I'm a first time blogger with a lot to learn. I'm also very new to the choral world and have so many things to learn there as well. Hopefully this blog and my posts improve over the duration of the course. Thanks for reading and check back for more posts soon.