Boys wanted for Abbey Choir
Lads get golden opportunity for musical education
A renowned choir is looking for boy choristers.
Paisley’s Abbey Choir’s lineage goes back as far as the church’s founding in 1163, and over the centuries it has become part of the fabric of religious musical life in Scotland.
It unique sound was traditionally made up of the voices of boys and men.
But in 2000, girls and women were allowed to join.
This came about, in part, due the difficulty in recruiting boys.
Currently, there is only one boy in the choir.
And Paisley Abbey director of music Professor George McPhee is now putting out a call for more boys to join up.
He told the Paisley Daily Express yesterday: “We’ve got a boy and we’ve got girls nowadays, and of course girls can go on longer than boys.
“Boys’ voices tend to break at 12 now or even before. If they come along at age nine, you only get them really for a couple of years. Some stay a little longer but its very difficult to get boys now full stop.”
Professor McPhee put this down to one thing. “Football on Sunday mornings,” he said. “And we have a rehearsal on Friday evenings, and they find that hard to attend too. “It’s probably not as cool as it used to be. “And there’s not much of a tradition in this area for that sort of thing.
“There was, but not any more. There are very few choirs in Scotland now with boys.
“Even the big ones like St Mary’s in Edinburgh, who run a choir school, they’ve got more girls than boys now by far.”
There are currently 14 young singers in the abbey choir, all of whom are girls except for the one boy.
Professor McPhee, who has been director of music at the abbey for 53 years, would like to see the number boosted to 24, made of both boys and girls, although the immediate need is for boys.
“We’ll take as many boys as we can get,” he said. “The age we would take them at would be seven-and-a-half or they could join at a later age, absolutely.”
Young choristers can expect to take part in Sunday services and other events, including performances of oratorios and other works.
There are also royal occasions, and broadcasts and recordings.
This year the choir will take part in a Christmas concert at Kelvingrove Museum, and will sing with the choirs of St Mary’s Cathedral and St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.
It will also song a carol concert at Netherby Hall, Cumbria.
There are rich rewards from being a member of Paisley Abbey Choir.
“You learn to sing well and to eventually read music, we throw all these things in,” Professor McPhee said.
“They get a pretty good musical education on the whole and they learn about the history of music – not just church music, they learn about composers.”
Potential boy choristers do not need to know anything about music.
“As long as they are reasonably intelligent and can sing in tune, we can usually do the res t .” There is no formal audition.
“We just haul them in and they sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or something,” Professor McPhee said.
“It’s no big deal, and I play for them and pretend I’m not actually listening.
“And of course some take to it like a duck to water and others don’t, some are very shy about the whole thing.”
He added: “Being a member of the choir is like being part of a team.
“It’s a commitment which produces fantastic rewards.”
Paisley Abbey Choir will be mounting a stall at the church on Doors Open Day on Saturday, September 2, where boys and their parents can find out more.
People can also email profmcphee@aol. com or he can be reached at the abbey on 0141 889 7654.