Boys choir for 6yr olds??

[NothingIsGoing2GetBetterItsNot]

Name changed for this as anyone who knows me in RL knows how perplexed/cross I am about this, so much so I'm thinking of writing to the school but thought I'd check my sanity via Aibu first in case!!

DD goes to an infant's school for 4-7 yr Olds, great school with super facilities, lovely teachers, great after school clubs and a (mostly) great approach to all inclusiveness apart from this one thing which is driving me mad!! As per the title, one of the after school clubs is a boys choir... They have no girls choir. They have a mixed choir which is obviously for boys and girls, but only boys are allowed in the boys choir. Am I going mad or is this really sexist?? I genuinely can't see any reason for it for a six year old, noone's voice has broken they all sound really similar and even then if you're going to have a boys only choir surely it's only fair that the girls should have a girls only option too??

I know of a school with a boys choir and a girls choir and there are quite a few places that do boys' dancing classes. Almost all "mixed" dancing classes are 99% girls and I don't see people clamouring for girl only dancing classes.

On the other side of the coin, most football clubs are mixed at this age but have no or few girls and girls clubs redress the balance.

I think YABU a bit, I'd love my DS to go to a boys' choir and my DD to girls' football. I'm very happy for DS to go to mixed football and DD to mixed dancing as neither if them feel left out.

No idea, but my ds was given the opportunity to join our local church choir, because he had a good singing voice. He lasted a fortnight, when I asked him why he didn't want to go anymore, he told me they sang songs he didn't know
I kinda sat and thought well duh! But didn't say anything.

Far fewer boys join in the mixed choirs and dance clubs at the school I work in. When we run all boy choirs or dance clubs then loads join in. Boys who join in the mixed groups were fearful of being seen as "girly" and teased.

As pp have said, mixed choirs are 95% girls. My ds is a very enthusiastic singer and a member of 2 choirs, in both there are only 1or 2 other boys. More boys would definitely participate in singing if it were a boys only choir.

Is it not the same as rainbows and beavers?
My DS has joined the choir, he is the only boy in his year. He gave up dance after being the only boy in his group of 2 school years. Unfortunately a choir is more likely to be majority girls but an all boy choir may work therefore an all girl one isn’t needed.

As the school mine were at, there was a mixed choir for everyone up to the end of year 4. The music teacher was a bit eccentric and overly perfectionist, but probably exceptional looking back. Then, at the start of Year 5, they ALL had to audition for what was called the Chamber Choir. There was 2 classes of about 22 max and they would select about 15 out of this 44 - a balance of girls and boys. So there was NO option of not being in the choir because if you were selected, it was compulsory and you had to be there at 7.45am twice a week - there was big trouble if you were late. If you didn’t get into the Chamber Choir, there was still the Senior School Choir that all of Years 5 and 6 were in anyway by default. The singing was outstanding for primary level, it really was. Everyone was involved and there was no girl / boy stigma to it whatsoever. In fact, the child chosen to sing “Once in Royal..,” at Xmas was usually a boy and this was a highly contested honour! Same with solos in plays. I just don’t recognise this notion of “singing is for girls” at all. My DS discovered his voice at primary. He’s never stopped. He’s now a bass in a Consort Choir at senior school and they’ve performed in Italy, NYC, St Paul’s, Royal Festival Hall, Vienna and Barcelona just in the last few years. He sings and records more contemporary music too. I’m so glad he wasn’t held back by some stupid stigma at primary as he would never have found his passion. And a boys choir would have been less inclusive, I think because it would have singled boys singing out as something unusual before they could even have been aware of such notions.

Musically speaking Male and female voices have different tonal qualities- even at 6 years old! I believe scientifically its not wholly dissimilar to the theory of different muscle masses used in sport as it's all to do with the thickness and flexibility of the vocal folds. Don't forget, boys were still castrated not all that long ago (1900s ish?) To maintain the childhood Male voice. Regardless of if you agree with the male/female equality they are a valid musical institution, not only in relation to organised religion but socially too. Male voice choirs of Wales for example - they aren't just confined to wales! YABVU to complain about a valid musical experience and making it into a gender issue. Equality isn't about treating everybody the same, it's about ensuring everyone gets the opportunity to experiences appropriate to them.

Plus, by the time their voices change there can be no “girly” stigma to it anyway because how can you have a choir without tenors and bass singers? Many of the male singers are also rugby players fwiw It’s not as if sport and singing are mutually incompatible. Look st the Welsh male choirs - loads of them are probably rugby fans (being Welsh)! In the real world, men sing as much as women. Why make a fuss?

They do this at my DC's primary school. It's absolutely about increasing boy's participation in arts. The main choir has one boy in it.
My DS is a member of the boys choir and he loves it. It's sad that that was what he felt he needed to join in, but ultimately it's got him singing so it's great.
And same with football. All the grassroots teams around here are mixed, in theory. In practise, there are hardly any girls playing in them. So we have girls only teams set up. The girls then have a "safe space" to play (and they play against the standard mixed, so pretty much all male, teams in the leagues)

Do they feed into a senior male choir or focus on a particular style suited to male ranges? Girls voices don’t break so maybe the vocal training is different.

My dd is in a mixed choir and she loves it, your set up wouldn’t bother me.

DS’s Primary School only had a mixed choir. DS was in it throughout his time at Primary School. There were always more girls in it than boys. By the time he got to Y6 he was the last man standing, so to speak. I was very proud of him that he stuck with it, but it was a shame no other boys joined.

Traditionally it's very hard to engage boys in singing and choirs once they hit about 10. If you can make a big deal of boys singing at the earliest possible opportunity they might stick with it . It's quite common to have boys choirs.

Don't forget, boys were still castrated not all that long ago (1900s ish?)
Err...well not in this country,fortunately. It was an Italian peculiarity as far as singing went and was mainly for operatic performance,especially popular in the 18th century.

I think the reasons for a separate boys' choir have been pretty well explained already and I hope OP can see the reasoning. Though why not just ask school?
Look at your average primary school choir and there's the odd boy and a plethora of girls. So they've done something about it! Rejoice at their proactive mindset.
Many all boys' schools have large, enthusiastic choirs but as soon as you mix boys and girls in the same choir,the boys start to drop away. The choral tradition,especially at a high level, is a very fragile thing so anything that encourages boys to see singing as a positive and enjoyable experience is to be applauded.

I've got two primary age boys.
At 7/8, one dropped out of Musical Club because he was the only boy from his class/ year. A few 10-11 year old boys were involved and had main parts because they had the confidence of what they enjoy by that stage, but there were very, very few younger boys.

At 7, he dropped out of gymnastics when he was the penultimate male in the class. His brother dropped out at 6. Boys joined at 4 (still heavily biased to girls), but the ratio of boys to girls deteriorated rapidly as they got older. They've switched to karate which is mixed with a male bias and love it.

Little things like having brightly painted fingernails have been switched off by silly comments from other children by the age of 5-6.

Children need safe single sex spaces to follow their interests free from bigoted comments and with the social security of their peers. Primary school friendships polarise by sex through the primary years then mix back up again through secondary years.

Boys need the safe space to sing, dance, be arty, readers and writers. Girls need the safe space for "masculine" sports, maths and science. It sounds counter-intuitive but is a good way to break down toxic, restrictive sexist stereotypes which seem to be going backwards rapidly.