NYCoS National Boys Choir

Easter 2004

The Choir
The Course
The Performance

The Choir

In 2002, the National Youth Choir of Scotland received National Lottery funding for a pilot to set up a National Boys Choir (NBC) for unchanged voices.

As a result, around 60 boys from all over Scotland met for a weeks residential course followed by a concert.

Since then the course membership has grown to incorporate a younger (nine to 10 year-olds) Junior Corps section, the main National Boys Choir itself and – in some ways most interestingly - a 30-strong Changed Voice Section of 14-to 15-year-olds.

The Course

And so on 4 April, around 150 boys from all over Scotland ranging in age from nine to 15 descended on Loretto School, Musselburgh for the annual residential course.

Music and House Staff quickly sorted out the various groups – a few voices had changed between the time of the auditions and arriving for the course.

A NYCoS run residential course is quite intensive. Periods of rehearsal and musicianship training are interspersed with games and recreation. Good food is essential as is the consumption of large amounts of water!

As the week progresses, the singing from the different sections gains in confidence. A few items are sung where the whole group come together.  This allows the young Junior Corps boys the opportunity to hear the NBC and Changed Voice Sections.

Did you know? The National Boys Choir took part in the BBC Proms in the Park in September 2004 – fantastic national exposure for a recently formed group.

The Performance

On the last evening of the course an open rehearsal is held which acts as a ‘run through’ for the final concert. A small audience of staff and parents gives encouragement.  The boys realise how much they have achieved in a week and are better prepared for the public concert the following day.

During the concert each section has their repertoire to perform and then the finale of ‘Rhythm of Life’ brings the audience in a packed St Cuthberts Church in Edinburgh to their feet.

A few engagements are planned for the coming year when groups of NBC singers will perform at other events.  The residential course is where the real preparation takes place and where being a member of the NBC ‘team’ will hopefully encourage boys to regard being a member of a choir as something meaningful and worthwhile.

For more information on the National Youth Choir of Scotland and the National Boys Choir have a look at their website.