ANGLICAN CHOIRS

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 261, 13 November 1934, Page 8

ANGLICAN CHOIRS

"TOO MANY WOMEN"

LACK OF BOY CHORISTERS AUCKLAND. Last Night. One principal defect of Anglican church choirs in New Zealand is the dominance of women in the opinion of Dr. Sydney H. Nicholson, formerly organist and master of choristers at Westminster Abbey. In an interview to-day Dr. Nicholson said he had heard choirs in the cities and also in various small towns He had every reason to believe that these were fairly representative of New Zealand Anglican choirs in general. “I am sorry to find very few boy choristers," he continued. “Even male voices were often not as strong as they should be. There was no doubt about the enthusiasm of the women, but that is one of the chief troubles. All the best English church

music is written for comparatively small choirs of men and boys, and cannot be rendered properly by choirs of men and women."

As an example of the present tendencies, Dr. Nicholson cited a New Zealand suburban church which, he said, had a choir considerably larger than that of Westminster Abbey. The women were so many and sang so loud that the men and boys could hardly be heard at all.