To Segregate or Not to Segregate

In his survey of more than forty music educators and choral directors, titled Strategies for Teaching Junior High & Middle School Male Singers, Terry J. Barham notes the consistency with which music directors conclude that the best environment for welcoming boys into a singing environment is one that does not include females:
   “Boys are masses of paranoid hormones that can be totally intimidated by females…The nature of the young adolescent boy is such that he’s still deciding if singing is OK for boys. I want a boy’s complete attention, and I won’t have it with girls in the room…There’s the possibility of embarrassment with ones tone quality and the voice breaking…Boys are more relaxed, more willing to experiment with their voices when their social status isn’t on the line…” Even teachers whose schedules do not allow for male-only choirs or testing periods agree that “Testing without girls might be better, but it is not possible in my situation.”
   Puberty wreaks havoc with both genders: witness the loss of coordination that besets adolescents in the teen years. Any parent will testify that growth occurs randomly, and often with great alacrity. Most of the clues that an adolescent is undergoing a physiological mutation are visual—increased height, long and gangly limbs, the appearance of facial and bodily hair.

   With adolescent males, however, the first indicator that puberty has commenced is often aural: a noticeable drop in speaking pitch, a huskiness to the voice, and an inability to control the registers—resulting in what is commonly known as “cracking.” Consequently, the prospect of an event wherein a pubescent male is required to publicly display his vocal uncertainty is likely to cause both vocal and emotional stress. It is therefore incumbent on vocal professionals to ensure that a boy’s initial experience with singing is as positive as possible.
   Certainly at some point boys will be required to sing in front of girls; helping each gender to appreciate the common problems the other faces during adolescence is an important step towards socialization. “Making girls as well as boys aware of what’s happening with boy’s changing voices is crucial…Both sexes must come to realize that singing is a natural process.” And, “It is important to me to establish a classroom atmosphere in which everyone understands that boys who sing are an absolutely normal, every day thing.” Even so, erring on the side of caution initially and allowing the boys to become accustomed to not only the notion of singing but also to the unpredictability of their own voices may, in the long run, establish a more comfortable framework from which the teacher may lead his charges.