Choir in need of male voices
A female dominated choir is putting out the welcome mat to try and attract some men.
The respected Troon Chorus - which enjoys the slogan ‘ The sound of the West Coast’ - is dreadfully short of masculine tones.
The bid for a bit more bass is being made as Troon Chorus prepare for their Spring Concert, one of two a year.
At the moment 32 of the 44- strong group are females ... leaving just a dozen men.
Percentage wise that’s a rather dominant 73% in favour of the fairer sex.
Some males who do join choirs experience an uplift of joy and wondered why they had been too scared to sign up.
Secretary Irene Mitchell said: “There is a bit of an inbalance at Troon Chorus and we are definitely looking for more male singers.
“This is a problem will all choirs rather than just us.
“But we have to watch the male voices are not drowned out by the ladies.
“For some reason men seem reluctant to sing in a choir and I really don’t know why,”
The group rehearse every Monday night in Portland Church Hall and at the moment the focus is on the Spring Concert, staged in the church itself.
New entrants will not be involved in that, but that gives plenty of time to get in tune for the Christmas concert.
The choir, now in its 19th year, is conducted by Sam Prescott with the “very accomplished pianist” Andrew Thom on the keys. And ages range from just 25 to 80. Irene said: “It is not just about the singing, but making new friends and socialising.
“We have an equal number of alto and soprano voices. Among the men there are five tenors and seven baritones.
“There are no auditions and everyone is welcome to join, perhaps except those who are dreadfully off key.
“Even if the men don’t want to join straight away, they could come along and watch the rehearsals and then come to the show.
“The conductor is very good at getting the pianist to bash out the individual parts.
“So if you are a baritone your part will get bashed out on the piano for you.”
“At the moment our men are enjoying meeting a wee bit earlier for extra rehearsals.”
The Spring Concert is on Saturday, April 22 in Portland Church from 7.30pm, tickets £ 10.
The varied programme includes popular opera songs such as Nessun Dorma, some arias from Handel’s Messiah and show tunes from West Wide Story and Phantom of the Opera.