Episode 194: A Round Peg Voice in a Square Hole Choir with Timothy Mount

Choralosophy

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Tim’s article “How to Ruin an Alto” was published in 1982-83 in The Choral Journal and in MENC’s publication. It included some strong language like “there are no good reasons for allowing women to sing tenor.”

In this episode Timothy Mount, a Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University, joins me to discuss his very strongly worded article from the early 1980’s and in what ways he still agrees and disagrees with himself forty years ago. We discuss the thorny issue of balancing the choir’s need for balance and timbre preferences against the vocal needs of the individual singer. One of the claims in Tim’s article was “forcing the female chest voice upwards is dangerous.” In the episode, we discuss this belief and whether or not it is out of date in 2024.

We also discuss the ways gendered language attached to voice parts, and the norms related to these terms has changed since the article was published. Recently, Tim tried to repost this article on the ACDA Facebook page in an attempt to try and discuss some of these changes of perspective, but it was taken down. I personally disagreed with a good number of things in Tim’s article, but I give him credit for being willing to discuss publicly how his views on a variety of these topics has changed over the course of his career. We can only move forward and grow when we can be intellectually flexible.

Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com.

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Timothy Mount, pianist, singer, and choral conductor, is Professor Emeritus of conducting at Stony Brook University, one of the leading graduate music programs in the country. He conducted 9 commercial CD’s with professional choirs and orchestras in New York City and Moscow and 2 with the Stony Brook Camerata Singers. Tim has guest conducted many choirs and for over 10 years was conductor of the professional chorus and orchestra at the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. In the Spring of 2023, he guest conducted the distinguished Crane Chorus at SUNY Potsdam.

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He published 5 articles concerning choral music and a video, Refine Your Conducting Technique, available from Santa Barbara Music. His article, Preparing for the First Rehearsal appeared in The Choral Journal in the summer of 2023. He guest conducted the renowned Crane Chorus in the spring of 2023.

A bass-baritone, Tim sang with virtually every professional choir in New York City. He is the pianist for the Trillium Chamber Players.

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