Changing Voices

Psychologist Joy Conolly, continues her occasional series on men making music. She recently
interviewed Queenslander Paul Holley about his success with the Birralee Blokes, a group of young
men singing through the challenges of adolescence.

Some years ago I watched an interview on television with Aled Jones who was then about 12 years old
and sang like an angel. The part I remember the clearest was the look of horror on Aled’s face when
the interviewer brightly predicted that, once his voice broke, he would probably never be able to sing
again. Happily that interviewer was wrong. Not only wrong, but cruel. It is well known that Aled is
singing again. Unknown, is how many hours, weeks, years of agony he lived through wondering what
his adult life would hold. Thankfully there are now early trends of encouraging young lads to sing
through their maturation process, a huge improvement from the past when boys were cast aside during
this normal phase of development. In Brisbane, Paul Holley is the Musical Director of a group of lads
from 12 to 20 known as the Birralee Blokes.
The Brisbane Birralee Voices had its early beginnings a little over ten years ago and was founded by
Julie Christiansen, a dynamic and talented musician who saw the need for a community choir which
could be accessed from many areas. The choir quickly grew and expanded into several ensembles. It
was in 2003 that the need to have a separate choir entirely for young adolescent boys became apparent.
It was then the expertise of Paul Holley was sought.
Paul, the son of Salvation Army Officers, started his musical career early learning the piano at the age
of seven and then quickly progressing to brass instruments commencing with the cornet, then tenor
horn and the euphonium. He participated in eisteddfods in Brisbane, Newcastle and Rockhampton.
Having completed his Senior Certificate Paul became a student at the Queensland Conservatorium. In
his second year he did six months in choral conducting under the tutelage of John Nickson, from whom
Paul claims he learnt many skills especially in gesture in being able to draw from the singers the tone
and sound he wanted. It was during this training Paul realized that this was the area in which he wished
to specialize.
Having completed his Conservatorium studies Paul was posted to Brisbane State High School and then
Mt.Isa. It was during his two years in Mt.Isa he had the opportunity of conducting musicals as well as
acting and singing. From there he spent twelve months working overseas. For the past eight years he
has been Director of Choral Music at Brisbane Girls Grammar School.
At the time he was asked to form The Blokes, he had been interested in the work of David Jorlett who
has studied the physiology of the changing voice. Additionally, Anton Armstrong, conductor of the
Oregon Bach Festival Youth Choral Academy came to Brisbane for the ANCA Choral Festival in
2002. He encouraged the formation of a choir solely for boys who were all going through the same
maturation process.
To gain interested members The Blokes advertised a Tenor/Bass Singers Camp the same weekend the
other Birralee ensembles were enjoying their annual camp. Initially 17 young boys aged from 12 to 17
showed interest. This was followed up some weeks later and fourteen of the original group returned.
The group has grown steadily to a membership of 42 and now includes boys from 12 to 20. The
attrition rate is very low with boys leaving only if they move away or if they gain other commitments
which absolutely prevent them from attending practices. Since formation they have participated in
choral festivals in Adelaide (2004), Oregon USA (2005), and will be participating in Hobart in July of
this year.
Trips are made possible financially by a combination of parental contribution and fund raising. The
normal fee for a year’s membership is $450 and consideration is given to those whose parents cannot
afford this amount or who need to have the payment spread over the whole year. Billeting is often
available during trips to help defray costs. Comparing these fees with the average cost of being
involved in organised sport indicates that being part of a choir is relatively affordable.
Paul feels strongly for boys who have been thrown out of primary school choirs because of the changes
happening to their voices.
‘I guess my big picture of the future has me in some position where I can try and get training to
primary school teachers who are looking after choirs. This training would be about helping them
encourage every kid to sing. I am not saying primary teachers are failing, they mostly don’t know what
to do with boys when their voices change. But to get a teenage boy back who has been told that he
can’t sing is nigh on impossible.’
Talking with Paul is a great experience, he is a real inspiration and his face radiates enthusiasm. It is
little wonder the boys in his group hold him in such high esteem. I asked Paul what he gained from
working with teenage boys.
‘I get so much out of watching the development of the boys. You can get this boy who comes to his
first rehearsal who is scared stiff and within a month or two, or sometimes longer, he is free and
comfortable and is enjoying himself. Another good motivation for me is to see what they are like after
a performance – good, bad or indifferent; they can be very critical of themselves as well as thrilled.’
With all the choirs Paul conducts he claims he is ‘in their face’ trying to instil in them at all times that
they can’t possibly be doing justice to the music unless they involve the whole of themselves.
‘For me, too, music is so much a part of who I am in my whole being. I hope I demonstrate to them
what the music means to me and inspire them to get fully involved in the music in order to do justice to
the music and themselves. I tell them “you may be singing about something you’ve not experienced or
something that you don’t actually believe in but, at the same time to do the music justice you’ve got to
be able to access that special part of yourself…..You can be very cerebral about the music or you can
be emotional but it’s still your soul that is the thing that takes it to a level that very little else can
match”.’
As well he loves to work with teens as they are a lot of fun and have plenty of energy. Paul also values
the joy of having the boys trust him. Psychologically these boys, lucky enough to be under his tutelage,
are way in front of many of their contemporaries. There are plenty who feel lost and desolate during
the erratic and tumultuous teenage years. Steve Biddulph, expert on the psychology of males and
author of Raising Boys claims that boys need other positive male role models as well as that of their
father. Paul acknowledges that he is not only their Musical Director but has possibly become their
mentor. He takes this responsibility very seriously.
‘I guess there is the spiritual element to it as well. While I would never make a deal of it I guess that I
hope that as a role model I am positive in some sense for them although I would never proselytize.’
Additionally there are the added psychological benefits of learning and performing music. These
benefits have been well documented recently in many areas of growth, development, and a wide
variety of aspects of health and well being.
I attended a rehearsal one Saturday afternoon and asked the boys to fill in a questionnaire in order to
help me write this article. Apart from biographical details I asked them to describe how they felt when
they were singing.
Their responses ranged from
‘Happy,’ ‘Elated,’ ‘ Focussed,’ ‘Excited,’ ‘Bloody fantastic’ to greater elaboration -
‘I feel like I’m flying.’
‘Happy, feels like I have a sense of being.’
‘I feel free and feel like I’m telling a story to an audience.’
‘It is incredibly difficult to describe. It’s partly, in the words of some pop musician, a safe high, but
mostly a very focussed important event. It’s as if nothing else matters.’
‘Tingley when the right notes and harmonies are sung.’
‘It’s sort of like I’m telling a story and reading someone a book. Sort of playing in a sports team.’
‘Energised, confident, focussed, part of a very co-operative team.’
‘Singing makes me happy, alive; it makes me feel like dancing.’
‘Singing changes your mood; you can start a song annoyed and when the song is finished everything
seems fine. It makes you feel very confident in general.’
The choir is divided into TT/BB giving the boys the opportunity of moving between parts as their voice
changes. There are times Paul claims when a lad may only be able to manage a range of four notes. He
encourages them to keep singing as freely as they can and to stay within that range for the time being
as it will only be a short while before it changes again.
Repertoire choices are a tough call as very few choirs are for this age group in this country. Quite a lot
of TTBB work is written for men’s choirs which is unsuitable for boys. Australian music is not readily
available as most of it has too many demands technically for boys. Paul endeavours to have them sing
accessible music but to have some teenage style and content. It has to appeal to them so he tries
different styles, from Bach to Broadway.
Paul finds the boys carry their normal competitive spirit into the choir; they like to do the best they can.
He encourages a relaxed mood and emphasises there must be an element of trust that they will sing the
best they can, this gives them a sense of freedom to have little fear of singing confidently. He
encourages an energised and relatively homogenous sound without losing the individuality of the
performers. He insists The Blokes is the boys’ choir, not his. Their reputation is how they perform.
When the boys responded to the question ‘What does this choir mean to you?’ their answers were
predictably positive. Within the confines of a short article it is impossible to include every comment
even though they were all worth reporting and very eloquent.
‘I know other guys that would love to do this kind of thing but they are “way too cool”. Young guys
should be encouraged to sing, it’s great socially, musically and a great hobby to have.’
‘In school choirs it can be embarrassing singing in front of people who see choirs as “gay” or “lame”.
The Blokes gets rid of that stupid stereotype.’
From my observation during the rehearsal, the boys’ responses and from talking with Paul, it is
apparent that here is a place where adolescent boys can grow in safety emotionally, musically,
psychologically and spiritually. What more could any parent want for their son, what more could a boy
who enjoys singing ask for? What a welcome change from the days when boys were cast out from a
choir at the onset of their approaching manhood.
At a time when life for boys has become somewhat precarious and the statistics show all too glaringly
that teenage boys do poorly compared with girls the same age, it is wonderful to meet with someone
like Paul who is gifted in so many areas and generous in his sharing of himself. Paul is married with
two young children and his wife Sue is very supportive of his spending the time he puts into The
Blokes - which is only one of the choirs for which he is Musical Director. Doubtless Sue is one of life’s
unsung heroines.
Clearly Paul agrees with Anton Armstrong who believes strongly in the power of music to change the
world. If every young male could be offered the opportunity of learning and becoming involved in
music instead of using violence and guns what a better world it would be. Those in Government could
well spend some of the huge amounts they now spend on Defence by funding musical programmes
adequately to include children at risk whose parents (often only one parent) simply cannot afford to
have their child involved.