Ottawa Boys Choir fills a gap for boys and their changing voices
The Ottawa Boys Choir at the Winter Winds and Voices Concert in December 2024
Matthew Jaekl with his kazoo
Photos: Mary Jaekl
Ottawa Boys Choir fills a gap for boys and their changing voices
By Mary Jaekl
Have you heard about the new Ottawa Boys Choir? It began its inaugural season last September at St Thomas the Apostle Anglican Church in Alta Vista and is open to boys across Ottawa in Grades 4 to 12.
Historically, a boys’ choir was made up of boys who had not yet begun puberty – they had higher voices; tenor and bass voices belonged to men. This tradition was because most boys did not begin puberty until 16 or 17. Yet the age of puberty onset has declined, with boys’ voices now breaking on average by the age of 13-and-a-half.
Ottawa has many excellent children’s choirs that accept both boys and girls, but as boys lose their ability to sing treble music there is no longer a place for them. Many choirs with all four voice parts do not start until the late teens. This means that boys in their early teens are effectively excluded from singing in the available options by mere biology and a lack of suitable voice parts.
Elementary schoolboys and older teens are usually happy to sing with girls, but boys around middle-school age – at their vocal peak just before their voice change and during that transition period when their voices are not completely reliable – can be reluctant. Gerald Wirth, president and artistic director of the Vienna Boys Choir, noted in 2018 that “if we don’t have a specific boys’ group, we lose the boys at this age, except a few.”
Mixed group choirs at this age lead to boys losing self-confidence in their singing abilities as they compare themselves negatively with their female peers, who enter their vocal peak just as boys start to experience cracking voices. Once boys stop singing at puberty, many do not return to choir again, especially if they do not get the support they need through their vocal transition. Encouragement of male-only participation aims to provide a space with an explicit male identity.
Enter the Ottawa Boys choir, a casual program that combines vocal training with opportunities to serve various communities in and around Ottawa through song. Matthew Jaekl, 12, is one Glebite who is enjoying the camaraderie and musical opportunities in the choir this year.
“My favourite part of choir this year so far was the MosaiK Choral festival” he said, “because I really enjoyed singing Strawberry Moon” Also known as Ode’min Giizis, Strawberry Moon is an Anishinaabe song written by Tara Williamson. The song was part of the 2021 Canadian Music Class Challenge by CBC Music to encourage Canadians to learn Indigenous languages through music.
The Ottawa Boys Choir offers boys a unique opportunity to use their vocal talents before, during and after their voice change while participating in a dynamic and inspiring musical community. Directed by Kurt Ala-Kantti, an acclaimed choral director with more than 20 years of experience, the choir aims to foster musical excellence, character development, community and fun through the art of choral singing.
The Thursday rehearsals focus on a diverse repertoire, ranging from classical to contemporary music, including traditional choral works and folk songs. As well as the Anishinaabe song, the boys have sung in French, English, German and Burmese. Ala-Kantti aims to select repertoire that speaks to the interests and backgrounds of the choir members. The boys are also learning to navigate a choral score in various clefs, which is necessary as they change from sopranos and altos to tenors and basses.
It’s not all serious business as the boys like to spend a few minutes of each rehearsal playing games or staging the occasional light saber battle. Building community, self-confidence and lifelong skills in collaboration, discipline and creativity are also key goals for the Ottawa Boys Choir.
In addition to the MosaiK Choral festival, the boys (with their signature kazoos) also sang at the Orleans Remembrance Day ceremony and with the Harmonia Choir of Ottawa and the Ottawa Wind Ensemble for their Winter Winds and Voices concert in December.
The choir is open to boys of all skill and experience levels and invites interested choristers to connect at any time through the choir website http://ottawaboyschoir.ca. Our last concert of the year will be on June 8, in collaboration with the C5 Chamber choir.
Mary Jaekl attended Glebe Collegiate in the early 1990s and has lived in the Glebe since 2003.