Populating the Parts
On this page I look at how choirs that have used Emerging Voices "populate the parts", i.e., allocate boys to the part that as nearly as possible matches their actual singing range. I have chosen the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain National Boys Choir singing Oliver Tarney's arrangement of Shenandoah. The film includes interviews with boys chosen from each part and technical details of their vocal parameters.
It's possible to find a place for any boy somewhere within the Emerging Voices cambiata system. With SATB it's much harder. Boys may struggle with the devil's note which is avoided in Emerging Voices. Learn about the devil's note in this short technical paper.
Read about the Devil's note
Eight choirs were asked to record compositions and arrangements from the Emerging Voices series. The examples below have been populated with singers whose voices are close matches to the part and its associated voice change stage.
