Figure 1.--Many of the French cards are not only highly competent in their singing, but are well drilled in stagecraft. Notice the boys here. They are holding their hands behind their backs and there is no fidgiting during the performance. |
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The boys are well schooled in not only their music, but also stagecraft. Their hair is nicely combed. There is a uniform check before the concert begins to make sure they look smart. They file into the church, auditorium, or other performnce setting and take their places at the front. Up on stage they keep their hands behind their backs and stand up erect. A chorister tells us, " It was a rule for us to place our hands behind our backs, not just only singing, but all the time." They keep their feet together, their shoes touching. Not only does it give a good impression, but it is a way to promote discipline and uniformity in the choir. The boys bow deeply at the end of the concerts. A reader writes, "Actually it is interesting how and why the choirs in France and Belgium make their boys put their hands behind their backs. Especially when the choirs are far apart geographically and not related, so it is not possible to arrange a common practice among all the choirs. If you have information to trace this tradition, it would be itneresting." Surely it is primarily a way of giving the boys somethig to do with their hands. Otherwise each boy would do something different, fidgiting with their hands which would be distracting. We do not know, however, if this was a common practice for historic choirs. Our French contributor replies, "Yes, it is common for nervous fidgiting. For exemple you can watch an impressive Spanish choir. The boys there have been taught to hold their hands at their side, but you can see their nerves if you watch their hands closely. It is interesting why it seems only in France and Belgium that the boys commonly hold their hands behind their backs. Aeader writes, "Although the Spanish soloist is fidgiting, he sings very well. I think he is very nervous which is understandable when doing a solo. The boys behind him, however, are fidgiting too much. You do not see these with the French and Belgian choirs because the boys hold their hands behind their backs. You do not see this with the choirs from othercountries." A factor here may be the French tradition of petits garçons modèles.
Their hair is nicely combed. Wearing uniforms, this is the most destinctive aspect of their appearance. They can choose what ever hair style they like. This depends somewhat on popular trends. Currently most boys are discouraging from having cropped or long hair styles that differ significantly from the rest of the choir. A former choruster tells us about how hair was dealt with in his choir during the 2000s. " We had to keep short and simple hairstyles. There was no colouring allowed and ot too stylish (like the pop stars). Usually the younger boys are not over concerned about how they look, so you can see that they have almost the same hairstyles as each other. The older boys began to try something more 'interesting'. We combed our own hair. Although sometimes host families on tours may give comments or help us comb it better, especially for the younger boys. If our hair is not appropriate, our teachers or choirmaster will usually tell us in school well before we go on tours."
Most French choirs are very careful about their costmes and appearance during the performances. There is a uniform check before the concert begins to make sure the boys all look smart. The check is usually before concerts or during the concert intermission. The check is done by wach boy, their fllow choristers, and the choirmaster. They check everything, like hair, uniforme, aube, socks and shoes. A chorister tlls us, "We are expected to be neat as choirboys. After awhile it becomes ingrained." The choirs do not provide a check list. The boys are expected to know what to check. And the younger boys joining the choir quickly learn what to check.
When we stay with families and they take us out, we also have to check our uniform and hair. A former chorister tells us, "Sometimes it is the host families who will help to check if we look nice before a concert. On concert day. Our hair was not the major problem. The uniform is a bigger problem and takes a lot of time, especially with the younger or newer boys."
All movwment is carefuly cheorgraphed. The boys commonly perform in churches rater ghan auyfortioriums. Thus there are usyally not stages abd curtauins that can be oopened up with the boys akready in position. Thus a procession to and from the stage is a neat little bit of stagecraft. The boys file into the church, auditorium, or other performnce setting and take their places at the front. The procesion is repeated at intermission and at the end of the concert. A chorister tells us, "Usually at intermission, we hold our hands behind our backs until after the choirmaster talks to us. This was no a strict rule, but just somethng we tended to do."
Up on stage, the boys are taught to stand erect, demonstrating good posture. And they are to avoid fidgiting.
The boys are taught to keep their hands behind their backs. This is both in the procession and on stage. A chorister tells us, " It was a rule for us to place our hands behind our backs, not just only singing, but all the time." They keep their feet together, their shoes touching. Not only does it give a good impression, but it is a way to promote discipline and uniformity in the choir. The boys bow deeply at the end of the concerts. A reader writes, "Actually it is interesting how and why the choirs in France and Belgium make their boys put their hands behind their backs. Especially when the choirs are far apart geographically and not related, so it is not possible to arrange a common practice among all the choirs. If you have information to trace this tradition, it would be itneresting." Surely it is primarily a way of giving the boys somethig to do with their hands. Otherwise each boy would do something different, fidgiting with their hands which would be distracting. We do not know, however, if this was a common practice for historic choirs. Our French contributor replies, "Yes, it is common for nervous fidgiting. For exemple you can watch an impressive Spanish choir. The boys there have been taught to hold their hands at their side, but you can see their nerves if you watch their hands closely. It is interesting why it seems only in France and Belgium that the boys commonly hold their hands behind their backs. Aeader writes, "Although the Spanish soloist is fidgiting, he sings very well. I think he is very nervous which is understandable when doing a solo. The boys behind him, however, are fidgiting too much. You do not see these with the French and Belgian choirs because the boys hold their hands behind their backs. You do not see this with the choirs from othercountries." A factor here may be the French tradition of petits garçons modèles.
Another reader writes, "I think it could be a discipline practice like in the military." I think discipline is surely a factor. Once that become ingrained, the hands are one more factor you do not have to worry about and you can concentrate on the music."
Most French choirs had black leather shoes as part of the uniform, usually worn with white knee socks. Many of the choirs had the boys wear loafers rather than lace up shoes. We are not sure why liafers were preferred. The boys were expcted to have their shoes well polished for their concerts. Thre were rules about feet, much as there were rules bout hands. The boys were instructed as to how to place their feet. This was to both cut down on distractive movements as ell as t give the choir a uniform look. A chorister tells us, "We are told to make sure our shoes touch each other, so we are able to keep our feet together when we are nervous. As we wear short pants on stage, we are shy sometimes, especially during a solo. As we may be nervous and shy, sometimes our knees will bend or we will fidgit a little. If the audience is below, they can see our leg movements very clearly, so we put our feet together to prevent from moving too much. Sometimes older boys still fidgit a little because they feel shy wearing shorts or younger boys bend their knees because they are tired from standingfor such along time. But I think another reason we are taught to keep our feet together is because we are supposed to look the same when we stand, so it is a standard position we must follow."
At the end of their perforance, the boys make a deep bow. This was something else that was tauhjt and practiced as part of the training.
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