In Tune with the Times

Despite protests from traditionalists, girl choristers look set to stay in British cathedrals

By LUCY FISHER, LONDON

WHEN WINCHESTER'S GIRLS SANG their first service in May, the cathedral choir became the latest to bring equal opportunity to British church music. Or was it the most recent victim of a form of political correctness that threatens the Church of England's boy choristers? Defenders of the all-male tradition - which was first broken at Salisbury in 1991, three years before female priests were ordained— see the girls' arrival as the beginning of the end for boys. But those who support the girls say that they are well able to hold their own against the boys' high notes - and, in fact, that the two are often indistinguishable. The dispute has set modernizers against traditionalists who fear that cathedral choirs will go the way of parish church choirs—now largely female-dominated—resulting in the permanent loss of an ancient tradition and a uniquely beautiful sound.

Around one-third of the cathedral choirs in Britain now involve girls in some way. Since in most places the girls form a separate choir, the motivation for their introduction has more to do with a sense of fair play than a shortage of boys. But the Campaign for the Traditional Cathedral Choir doesn't see it that way. It has a battery of arguments-musical, social and financial—to persuade doubters that girls in cathedral choirs are a bad idea.

Chairman Peter Giles fears that girls will drive out boys—when girls joined parish choirs, he avers, the boys decided singing was for sissies. The same thing could happen in cathedrals, the Campaign argues, if boys' and girls' choirs are merged to save money. Even if the sexes remain apart, if girls poach the boys' repertoire the guys will become "dispirited because their world has been invaded," says Giles.

Winchester choirmaster David Hill disagrees. He welcomes the girls and thinks the objections to them in cathedrals are "preposterous," adding that "boys' voices are not the only voices that God gave." He is, however, against combining the sexes musically; it would be "like mixing Riesling and Cabernet  Sauvignon," he says. Like the traditionalists, he believes nature has been unfair to boys who only have five years during which they can sing treble, whereas girls can go on singing soprano all their lives. To preserve the Winchester boys' "equal rights," Hill says the girls will only sing one service a week, while the boys continue to "do the work of God day by day."

The Campaign's objections are about more than ensuring that boys have equal rights, though. Giles insists that boys are the "correct instrument" for traditional church music, suggesting that girls could sing music written for them and "express the female side of the Almighty." Campaign secretary Bernard Haunch writes in an article on the C.T.C.C.'S website of the "unmatchable heights of perfection" reached by a boy's voice: "At its best it is capable of stopping the heart."

But a 1997 blind test carried out by Graham Welch and Desmond Sergeant of Roehampton Institute in London showed that listeners could be deceived. A panel listened to a tape of trained boys', girls' and mixed choirs—and they were not able to tell them apart. Welch, whose research into children's voices continues, says the "vocal physiology is pretty much identical in children [between the ages] of 7 and 10." Even though children gradually "grow apart," their training in the cathedral tradition ensures that they continue to sound similar—at least until girls reach puberty and their voices become "more womanly."

Only three cathedrals—Manchester, Bradford and St. Mary's, Edinburgh-mix the sexes. Christopher Stokes, organist and master of the choristers at Manchester, had some doubts about the "untried" plan to mix the choir—which was decided on before his time—but now says "It works." He invites those who allege that "girls don't have the power on top" to listen to his 13-year-old female head chorister. "A lot of people have said 1 can't tell the difference' when they have heard our choir sing," he says.

Traditionalists warn that young boys and girls don't get on, and predict that as girls get older they will boss the smaller boys around. But Stokes says that his early fears about the "social side" of mixed singing haven't been borne out, and as all the children leave at 13 there is no danger of intimidation by older girls.

A fall in the number of boys applying for choir school places appears to confirm the traditionalists' fears. But cathedral schools seem to have no trouble filling their choirstalls. Manchester has successfully recruited new talent by advertising in the Guardian's weekend Guide and on local radio. However, boys are leaving parish and school choirs in droves. "Once they realize the way they look in the eyes of their peer group you can't see them for dust," says Giles.

Girls may be nearer equality, but there are still differences. Many of the girls' choirs use girls from local schools who have to fund their own education while the boys' is subsidized by the cathedral. But despite the rearguard action by those who want an all-male domain, Winchester's Hill says, "The girls are here to stay—and sing."

TIME, JULY 12,1999