Posted on 02/13/2018 9:51:59 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
HARTFORD, Conn. — Leaders of the Whiffenpoofs, Yale University's world-famous glee club, say their sound isn't changing, but they are ending their more than century-old tradition of being a male only a cappella ensemble.
The Whiffs, as they are known, and Yale's senior women's a cappella group, Whim 'n Rhythm, issued a joint announcement Feb. 1 that tryouts for both groups will now be open to all rising seniors, including transgender students.
The move, they say, is designed to give more people access to what can be life-changing travel opportunities and music industry contacts that come with being a member of the nation's oldest collegiate a cappella group.
"Both Whim 'n Rhythm and the Whiffenpoofs acknowledge the transgender, gender-nonbinary and gender-nonconforming members in our community, and understand that they feel unseen within the current paradigm of 'all-male' versus 'all-female' senior a cappella," the groups wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
The Whiff and Poofters....................
So, straight guys can join now?
Mama sang bass and Papa sang tenor?
Darn. You beat me to it!
Reminds me of the end of Blazing Saddles.
The Seattle Men’s Choir was mostly (if not entirely) homosexuals* Can you just imagine the off stage drama? ;)
*I NEVER call them “gay”. There is nothing gay about it.
XX == Woman. Join the "Whim 'n' Rhythm" group.
XY == Man. Join the "Whifenpoofs" group.
If you can't figure that out, you have serious problems that you need to resolve first, before wasting your time on a singing group.
Why yes, of course. Couldn't forget them, now, could we?
...me and little cis-ter would join right in there...
Now they will allow bull dykes.
Tenors are overrepresented by male performers. Something must be done about this injustice.
Something else for me to not care about.
Unfortunately (for the politically correct) there are significant differences between men and women.
Particularly in the voice department.
As a "tiefer Alt" or true contralto who is often called upon to fill in for tenor, I am very familiar with this issue.
Without getting into the tall weeds on the issues of breath, resonance, falsetto, and vocal cords, women do not sound like men!. This is particularly true with the male alto/soprano sound that is the Whiffenpoofs' specialty.
Just for example, I want you to take a minute to listen to this very accomplished male alto singing a work that was written for that voice part - Orlando Gibbons' "This is the record of John".
Listen and you will hear that this is definitely a man, with male voice qualities, and a woman singing it would be completely different. I have in fact sung it - but I would never record it. Here's a local version with a contralto singing the solo part - over at Emory. Listen to the timbre, the breath - aside from the fact that they had to drop it 2 whole steps from the original key -
The women (especially women who have runaway soprano vibrato) are going to stick out like sore thumbs. Moreover, the director will have to change all the settings, harmonies and keys to accommodate the female voice.
R.I.P. Whiffenpoofs - you had a good run.
That’s “Pooftahs”
I thought that this would be about the Cayuga Waiters, but it turns out that they were hoisted on their own petard earlier this year for doing the sorts of things that really intelligent 20 year old guys do. http://cornellsun.com/2017/04/26/cayugas-waiters-permanently-dismissed-from-campus/
My simplified take would be making an all female barbershop quartet. There are ones out there but they sound nothing like what one would expect of a form of music that most rarely listen to, if ever. I occasionally don’t mind listening to a good one but the womens ones I heard on the web don’t make me want to hear them again.
In all seriousness, I normally would agree. I sing in a Christian men’s choir in Calgary, Canada. When I started in 2005, 30-35% of our choir were 2nd tenors. For the last several years however, we have been overrun with basses and baritones.
We will all be the same damn it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.