Figure 1.--Many American boy choirs have given considerable attention to their costumes. American choirs have generally worn blazers with both long and short pants, but the short pants uniforms disappeared in the 1960s. These boys are members of the Wilmington Boys Choir

Boy choirs are strongly associated with Europe. A very large numbers of choirs have been founded in the United States based on the European tradition. Here the principal influence has been the choral tradition of the English Anglicn church. I believe that almost all american boy choirs have been founded in the 20th century, many after World War I. Most have adopted contemporary uniforms, most commonly blazers. A few have destinctive uniforms reflecting their state and community.

Chronology

Background

The boy choir tradition is a European tradition originating in the needs of the medieval Catholic church for litugical music. Many countries of Western and Central Europe, have long choral traditions. The Western choral tradition is based on that of the medieval Catholic church. The role of the choir was one of the issue in the refomation. Following the Reformation it was the English Anglican Church which maintained the strongest coral tradition. Only in the 20th century were choirs founded by other Protestnt and Catholic churches. merica developed a srong boy choir movement in the late 19th century. I do not know of any residential choirs, but many churches in large cities had very substantial boy choirs. As far as I know, all of these notable early choirs were church choirs. Soloists at those choirs received considerable notice. One such solist at the Grace Church in Chicago was Blatchford Kavanagh. American boy choirs as not as strongly associated with the Catholic church as those in Europe. Many American choirs are associate with protestant churches or are secular in nature.

Choir Types

There are several different types of children's choirs in the United States. There are boy, girl, and mixed choirs. Many churches have children's choirs. This began as boy choirs, but now are mostly children's choirs. Choirs have been organized by a variety of groups including church groups, municipalities, schools, the Boy Scouts, and various private groups. The greatest number of choirs is of course church choirs. The most accomplished choirs are some of the other choirs with deeper funding and larger recruitment areas. There have been few residential choirs in the United States.

Individual Choirs

HBC has noted a very substntial number of boy choirs in America. Some have come and gone after only functioning for a few years. Others have now been functioning for several decades. The choral music tradition in the United States is young, but there are a large number of American choirs, sponsored by both church and secular groups. In fact there are probably more boy choirs in America than any other countries. Quite a number have been organized and disbanded, but an increasingly large number have set firm roots in their local communities. There are few residebntial boy choirs, however, as is the case in a few European countries--especially England. The American choirs, however, generally lack the destinctive dress of many European boy choirs. Many have adopted blazers, loking rather like English schoolboys. Only a few have distintive regional outfits.

Figure 2.--American boys primarily participate in choral singing through choirs organized by their churches. These choirs wear a variety of robes, although the children's choir at a church may not have expensive formal robes.

Choir Costumes

The costumes worn by American choirs, especially the secular ones, tend to be much simpler than has been true of European choirs. Americans have generally not been as interested in uniforms for children as the Europeans. Most American children, for example, have not worn school uniforms, although that does appear to be changing in the 1990s. American choirs have often copied the non-liturgical costumes worn by British choirs in recent years. American choirs often have blazers with the choir crest. The American choirs, however, have generally not had the short pants and knee socks worn by British choirs and schoolboys, at least until the 1980s. American choirs have not copied the common uniforms worn by French (blue sweaters and short pants and white kneesocks) and German (sailor suits) choirs. Most American boy singers participate in church choirs, usually a children's choirs of boy boys and girls. Some talented boys may also sing in the adult choir. These choirs wear robes, but usually not the fancy ruffled collars worn by English boy choirs as well as some other Euroean choirs.

Individuals

We see portraits of choir boys beginning in the late 19th century. American churches began to take an interest in boy choirs at that time. It is not always easy to destinguish between choir boys and altar boys. We think that the boys pictured with books (presumably hymnals) were choir boys. There were also differences in the costuming. Boys with floppy bows or Eton collars were likely to be choir boys. Altar boys commonly wore a floor-length Roman-style cassock with white surplice. Some but not all choir boys wore similar costumes.