Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction - Pedagogy or Performance? Why are we doing it? Choral Tone: From the Old Masters to Cambiata. Part II: Technicalities and science - Adolescence and the voice. The secular trend in puberty. Training the voice and tone production during adolescence. Boys' choral tone: the acoustic environment and wider consideration. Vocal Identity and Vocal Agency Part III: Practicalities and artistry - Children's Choirs. Changing Voice Choirs. Youth Choirs. Men's and Boy's Choirs. Index

About the Author

Professor Martin Ashley is Head of Research in the Faculty of Education at Edge Hill University. He has conducted extensive studies of boys' vocal identity and authored two books on the topic. Taking the theme of "how high should boys sing?" he has gathered and analysed large volumes of data from boys across a broad social spectrum about the relationship between the singing voice and the masculine self. He has recorded and analysed the voices of over 1000 boys aged between ten and fifteen, creating a unique window into the state of boys' voices and choral singing in the early twenty-first century.