How High Should Boys Sing?

I recently read a book titled "How High Should Boys Sing? A Study in Gender, Authenticity and Credibility in the Young Male Voice" by Martin Ashley. Although it was an interesting read, I wouldn't really recommend it as a choral resource to aspiring or current educators. My thoughts are included in this presentation.

I've also included my presentation notes. This presentation is in the Pechakucha format, which is 20 slides for 20 seconds each. Because I've used this particularly presentation style, there are very few words on my slides so I feel like it would be most beneficial if I included what I actually said. 



Check under "Read More" for my notes!

The book that is the topic of my presentation today is “How High Should Boys Sing?” by Martin Ashley. It’s a study in gender, authenticity and credibility in the young male voice. Ashley doesn’t so much focus on the physical aspects of singing and voice change, though he has a chapter dedicated to that, but choses to look at societal and cultural factors on why boys sing and how high they should sing. 

In the broadest sense, this book is about the changing male voice. It covers many individual topics including singing as a social control, the physiology of the young male singer, the audience of the young male singer and male singers as ambassadors and mediators. There is also discussion of why boys sing, why they resist the change of their voice and why or why not they tell classmates that they are male treble singers in their pre and early teens. 

The information for this book was gathered through several of Ashley’s studies and dates back to the late 1990’s. It began as a post-doctoral study of a male church choir that aimed to find out what motivated the boys dedication and loyalty to the choir. It then became a study of boys across all genres from different social status and popularity. The information was gathered through personal interviews, anonymous surveys and field observations. 

All of Ashley’s work in this book is based off of interviews and observations of male choristers. He interviews many boys and records their physical growth and voice change over several years. He speaks to them about what it means to them to be in a choir, why the sing, why they like to sing and if they tell people that they sing. These questions are all important questions that any choir director should consider and ask of their own choristers, male or female. 

The book consists of 10 chapters, one of which is an introduction to the methodology and why Ashley completed the studied and another which is a summing up of the things discussed in the book. The introductory chapter, called “The Background” defines what a boy is, discusses the basic ideas of identity and how it’s affected by male treble singing and tells how the information from the book was collected and studied.

The chapter entitled “Physiology of the Young Male Voice” proved to be most useful to me. The main topics discussed in this chapter are the significance of the speaking voice in determining singing pitch and how the vocal range can be extended past the octave available when the vocal folds are at their normal. For any unfamiliar with how the voice works, this chapter can clear some things up. Its main focus is changing male voice, so it’s a good read for anyone working with boys. 

This table gives an overview of how the male voice changes. It provides an age and vocal stage relationship. This would be useful to any choir director with males in their choir so they know what kind of repertoire to select. It also lets them know what’s happening with the male voice so that they can make decisions on exercises that can help the boy work through his voice change. 

Another table from this same chapter gives a description of four different voice types: fry, modal or chest voice, head voice and falsetto. It provides information about what is physically happening from two different sources, Henrich and Champman and Morris. It also gives a description of what is heard when the specific voice type is employed. This can help a choir director know how to describe what type of voice the singer should be using. 

An interesting chapter of this book was the 7^th chapter entitled “Angels in the Market Place”. This chapter deals in depth with something that came up throughout the entire book. Boy’s choirs, particularly cathedral choirs, are seen as angels and are expected to sound that way. This is trouble for boys whose voices began to change because if they no longer sound like an angel they can’t be a part of the choir.

Although this book was interesting, I would not use it as a primary choral resource. Ashley explores male treble singing and the challenge of voice change through a societal context rather than a musical context. The question “how high should boys sing?” is not answered with a single musical note. Rather, he answers it in terms of what society deems as proper range for boys.

Though Ashley aims to have a broad survey, his research and study is limited to England. Although North America shares a language with England, we have different priorities regarding choral music. His survey may be true of England but the ideas and attitudes reflected in the work may not apply to the North American choral scene. He doesn’t explicitly state that there may be differences. It is important to note that what he has uncovered in England may not hold true for our part of the world. 

That said, I agree with many of the attitudes expressed in the book and believe that some of them are reflective of the North American choral singing scene. As always, it is important to take research into context before applying it to your personal work. Ashley’s study is one of many and it needs to be reviewed and reflected upon with that in mind.

Another criticism I have of this book is that it is centered around choir schools and church choirs. Many of the boys interviewed in the book are part of a dedicated group who rehearse several hours a week and then perform in three services every Sunday. This demographic, well interesting, is not who I see myself teaching. Choir schools are a rarity in Canada, certainly in Newfoundland, and are not what I am interested in teaching at.

16. I doubt that I will ever have a school choir as dedicated as the choirs discussed in the book, let alone an all-male school choir. While the topics of discussion of this book would be helpful to someone with a male treble choir with a large musical responsibility, they aren’t as important to a school choir conductor. I understand that the book was written about cathedral choirs because that is where male treble choirs are generally encountered, I just don’t find it fitting to the situation in Newfoundland. 

When selecting a choral reference book to apply to teaching, this is not one I would reach for first. Although it provides important information about male singing and voice change, it mainly considers topics I would think of as secondary. I am more concerned with what is physically happening and how to assist a singer whose voice is changing than how they are affected in their personal life by their identity as a male singer.

Having said that, I am, of course, still concerned with the child’s mental well-being. If a student was having issues with not knowing where they fit in during their voice change, I would definitely consult this book. Ashley provides a couple different ways to deal with the issue and they could be further explored with the singer who is having trouble. The book is in no way an invaluable resource.

One thing I appreciate about “How High Should Boys Sing?” is the author’s clear message throughout the book that singing is not bad for boys. He states in the introduction that it is his belief that singing is a wonderful thing for boys to do. I agree with this statement and I’m glad that he continues that message throughout the book. He never says that boys should sing in all male choirs or in the cathedral choirs discussed in the book, just that they should never be afraid to sing (20 sec)

In the later chapters of the book, he includes a story about a group of boys, aged 8-10 who are a part of a boy group at their school. On the day he visited them, they performed We Will Rock You by Queen for him. They are not a choir, simply boys who want to learn about and make music together. This little anecdote was a break from the strict choirs discussed through most of the book and showed another way to get boys involved in singing. 

As I’ve mentioned, this book is not one I would go to to seek information on how the voice works or even how the changing male voice works. I’m sure there are other resources where the whole book is dedicated to the physical aspects of voice change rather than just one chapter. Those books would prove to be more helpful with the physical parts of singing than anything this book has to offer.

I do appreciate this book as a helpful resource, though, and would never ignore what I’ve learned from it. “How High Should Boys Sing?” takes a societal and cultural approach to voice change, something that, as a woman, I don’t quite understand. It’s helpful in learning to understand what male singers experience and can spark ideas on how to deal with and help out singers during these changes. I commend Ashley on writing such a book and hope that you all will find it helpful in your future education.