On the whole, different styles of song require different styles of singing, unless you are of the opinion that anything goes these days and why can’t we sing baroque style songs like a rap artist? We have to move with the times after all.
I personally think we should aim to understand how the song would have been performed at the time it was written and then make a decision to either imitate or create something totally different. For instance a lot of musical theatre and pop songs are being sung with a classical voice, this is called “cross over”. A few songs are combining styles – think “Barcelona” (Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Cabellé) a fusion of pop and classical. The Swedish soprano Malena Ernman (Greta Thunberg’s mother) represented Sweden in the 2009 Eurovision song festival with a classical/pop song called “La Voix”.
Ideally a choir would have songs from different time periods in their repertoire as this makes for a rounded education for singers and a variety for both choir and the audience. A choir that wishes to attract a large enough audience that will enable them to cover their financial costs, will sing songs that appeal to their audience.
Sometimes a choir might be resistant to learning say an opera chorus but find that once they have put in the effort they really enjoy singing in such a manner. Such might also be the case with a religious work.
It is rarely possible to like all the repertoire an MD selects for the choir and I feel that as long as you like most of it and are happy to feel a bit uncomfortable for a small section of the time then you are in a good choir for you when it comes to repertoire. Consider what you are learning in the process of singing songs you are not so enthusiastic about.
I remember being very reluctant and frustrated to learn Poulenc’s “Gloria” yet now I love singing it.
Exercise
Take a look at your repertoire and assign it to categories : classical, pop, folk etc. Which styles do you like best and why? What are the songs about?
Is there a song you would particularly like to have included in the repertoire? Suggest it to the MD.
