Senior choir

The Ernst Busch Choir Berlin at its traditional January concert 2015. Conductor: Daniel Selke

A senior choir is a singing formation of older people (" seniors ") in which each voice , as is usually the case in choirs, has multiple members.

Labelling

In addition to the children's choir and the youth choir , the senior choir is another type of choir community in which the age of the choir members is characteristic. The term senior choir means that there is no upper age limit, while the lower age limit is different and is usually between 60 and 50 years. In the context of choir competitions that begin with senior choirs as a separate category, a minimum age of 55 years has been established. Most senior choirs are mixed choirs with the voices soprano , alto , tenor and bass . Occasionally there are also formations of the women's choir such as the senior choir of the city of Bonn, founded in 1982, and the men's choir such as the senior choir Spätlese of the Philharmonic Choir Fellbach.

Emergence

The first senior choirs emerged in German-speaking countries in the 1970s, such as the Ernst Busch Choir Berlin . Since then, their number has been increasing due to demographic developments, stimulated by films such as Young @ Heart , television appearances such as the German Silver Singers 2012 on RTL or the production "Rock instead of Rente - The best comes to the end" on SAT1 with Carsten Gerlitz and due to the increasing number of Support from German choir associations and the regional music councils continues to increase. They follow the wish of older people to continue singing or to start singing in a choir for the first time after the end of the professional phase or to take up again.

The founding of senior choirs is also a response to the conflicts between the getting older of the choir members and the performance demands of some choirs. Senior choirs are also formed in church congregations in order to offer church members who enjoy singing a suitable form of active participation. The Internet platform Singen im Alter lists over one hundred and twenty senior choirs and provides information on literature and suitable sheet music. There are church and secular choirs, rock and pop choirs as well as choirs for people with dementia.

Goals and claims

The goals of the senior choirs are mostly the joy of singing, the community with peers and the cultivation of the voice in the foreground: “Making music against being alone, in making music experience the nice feeling of being carried away, forgetting complaints, living emotions as well as experiencing spirituality and sensuality are outstanding motives for making music, especially for singing in the third phase of life. Vitality , resilience, mental health , musicality and self-confidence are all proven factors that keep life worth living in for a long time ”.

On the part of the choir director it is important to create a balanced working atmosphere, to reduce excessive demands on performance, to adjust to the processing speed, to inquire about repertoire requests and to take the choir members seriously regardless of their musical ability. The external framework conditions for the rehearsals (accessibility, location, room acoustics) should also be taken into account.

Nevertheless, the appearance as the highlight of the rehearsal work is usually also part of it. As with other choirs, this happens at different levels and in the appropriate contexts and ranges from participation in church services and small appearances at local festivities to large concerts, radio recordings and television appearances. Examples of a high level of performance are the Dresden senior choir musica74 in the field of classical music and the choir “Die Goldies” in the field of rock and pop music.

Under the project name Rollatorenkonzert , a ten-member Munich senior ensemble made a name for itself on a cultural level on the occasion of the event project “ Listening to Art, Seeing Music ”.

Voice training

The care of the aging voice is an important part of the work in the senior choir. Regular choir work can counteract age-related decline in the voice such as a reduction in the vocal range, decrease in the fine tuning of the musculus vocalis , trembling of the voice and shortness of breath , and they can be musically integrated through the repertoire or a corresponding adaptation in the choir work. Corresponding specialist knowledge is imparted in special advanced training courses at the intersection of choir conducting, voice training and music geragogy , which in turn take into account medical and vocal pedagogical knowledge and their pedagogical-didactic implementation.

repertoire

The repertoire of the senior choirs includes classical choral music with works from the Baroque , Viennese Classic , Romantic and New Music , folk music songs, songs of the labor movement as well as works from folklore, jazz, rock and pop music. A cappella movements as well as works with instrumental accompaniment, works of secular and church choral music are sung .

Often the names of the choirs indicate their musical focus, such as the “Senior Choir of the Georg Philipp Telemann Conservatory ” (Magdeburg), the Swiss Senior Choir CANZIANO! (Graubünden), the “German Silver Singers” (Essen), the “Senior Choir Heaven Can Wait” (Hamburg), the senior choir of the People's Solidarity Chemnitz, the “Rock-Pop Choir Loud and Proud” (Munich). Some provocatively emphasize age with the name, such as the Berlin choir “High Fossility - RockPopChor 60+” with the choir director Michael Betzner-Brandt . Adapting choral movements to the particular characteristics of the individual senior choirs is one of the duties of the choir director - regardless of the musical genre. Special editions of the work can support this. Their selection and large print are aimed specifically at senior choirs.

List of senior choirs (selection)

Germany

• Ernst Busch Choir Berlin , conducted by Daniel Selke
• Hermann Duncker Senior Choir Berlin, conducted by Johanna Blumenthal
• Grandparents' Choir Hof , conducted by Robert Eller
• Heaven Can Wait Choir Hamburg , conducted by Jan Christof Scheibe
• High fossility Berlin, headed by Michael Betzner-Brandt
• Senior Choir of the City of Bonn , directed by Agnes-Dorothee Lang
• Senior Choir SPÄTlese Cologne , conducted by Michael Kokott
• Senior Choir St. Johannes Gilching , directed by Mirjam Siegel
• Senior Choir Loud-and-Proud Munich , conducted by Sebastian Frank
• Senior Choir Schleswig , directed by Christina Selle

The network Singen im Alter maintains a list of regional senior choirs in Germany .

Austria

• Senior Choir Land um Laa , conducted by Friedrich Wolf
• Vienna Senior Choir, conducted by Karl-Hans Straßl

Switzerland

• Bündener senior choir canziano, Graubünden , conducted by Rico Peterelli
• Senior Choir Lucerne , conducted by Heidi Benz

Films about projects

• The song of life by Irene Langemann (direction). 2013, TV film, D, 92 min. Two choirs with Bernhard König in Cologne and Stuttgart, project name “Old Voices”.
• Young @ Heart by Stephen Walker (director), UK, 2008. TV documentary about the formation Young @ Heart , founder Bob Cilman, Northampton (Massachusetts; several tours since 1997).

literature

• Kai Koch : senior choir leader. Empirical studies on choir work with older adults . LIT-Verlag, Münster 2017. ISBN 978-3-643-13864-4 .
• Hans Hermann Wickel : Music knows no age. Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-15-010950-2 .
• Brenda Smith, Robert T. Sataloff. Choral Pedagogy and the Older Singer. Plural Publishing, San Diego, California, ISBN 1597564389 .
• Angelika Jekic, Inge Henrich: Music is good for you. Making music with seniors. Bosse-Verlag, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7649-2646-5 . (With CD.)
• Rosemarie Tüpker , Hans Hermann Wickel : Music into old age. Continuation, new beginning, therapy. Lit-Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 978-3-8258-5623-6 . (2nd edition BoD, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8391-0108-7 .)

Literature database on the website of the Network Singing in Age .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Senior Choirs on Interkultur ( Memento of the original dated December 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Senior Choir of the City of Bonn
3. ↑ Senior Choir Spätlese
4. ^ Rosemarie Tüpker, Hans Hermann Wickel: Music into old age. Continuation, new beginning, therapy. Lit-Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 978-3-8258-5623-6 .
5. ↑ Old iron? A choir director reports on a special choir. Church music communications Diocese Rottenburg-Stuttgart No. 125, November 2008 . Retrieved April 8, 2018
6. ^ Website Singen im Alter , accessed on March 12, 2016
7. ↑ Klaus Brecht in nmz 10/13
8. ↑ Singing with old people in choir work and music therapy In: Tüpker / Wickel: Musik up to old age. 2002, p. 29.
9. ↑ Kati Faude, Nora-Henriette Friedel; Choir singing without age restriction. In: Neue Chorzeit December 2013, pp. 14–17. ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ Dresden Senior Choir musica74
11. ↑ The Goldies
12. ↑ Rollator concert , founded in cooperation with the Munich Cultural Department.
13. ↑ In 2010 he was invited to Hamburg to see Herzrasen, 3rd Theatertreffen [60 +] (Schauspielhaus).
14. ↑ Ruth Geiersberger - Gisela Müller - Walter Siegfried: Rollatorenkonzert Hyperzine publisher c / o Ulrich Matthes, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-938218-29-7 .
15. ↑ Michael Schmutte: Singing with old people in choir work and music therapy In: Tüpker / Wickel: Music into old age. 2002, p. 30f.
16. ^ Bernhard Richter: Disturbances of the singing voice in old age. In: Gerhard Böhme: Voice disorders in old age: An introduction for speech therapists, speech therapists and doctors. Hans Huber Verlag, Bern 2011, ISBN 978-3-456-84920-1 , 95-105.
17. ↑ Elisabeth Bengtson-Opitz, Sophie Opitz: Anti-Aging for the Voice: A Singing Handbook for Healthy and Bells-Clear Voices. Timon Verlag, Hamburg 2008.
18. ↑ Nadja Klinger: High Fossility - The Sound of Life. Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-87134-756-6 .
19. ↑ Alfons Scheirle, Klaus Brecht, Peter Bunting, Leibold (ed.): Next Singing! 100 choral movements for the elderly. Large print. Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 979-0-00714254-4 .
20. ↑ Jutta Michel-Becher: Silberklang. The senior choir for three-part choir (SAB) with piano . Large print, Schott-Verlag, Mainz 2017, ISBN 978-3-7957-7011-2 .
21. ↑ Kai Koch, Franz Josef Ratte (ed.): Now all gates open wide. 60 choir movements for Advent (BOSSE Senior Choir). Large print, Bosse-Verlag, Kassel 2018, ISBN 979-0-2011-0961-9
22. ↑ Database of regional senior choirs at the Network Singing in Old Age
23. ↑ Bibliography - Singing in old age. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .