Three years ago, I released an episode that got me called the “Joe Rogan of Choir Podcasts.” I was branded a “men’s rights advocate,” and I watched a non-trivial portion of the choral community throw up their hands in collective outrage or disbelief.
What was my controversial crime? I dared to argue that boys are an underserved—and in many educational and arts contexts, marginalized—group in our programs. And even worse, I suggested that their plummeting participation might actually be, at least IN PART, our fault as educators.
When you bring up the boy crisis in choir or education in general, the knee-jerk reaction from arts spaces is usually to point outward. It is sports culture. It is general societal pressure. Look, complex problems do not have single causes or simple solutions. But what we desperately avoid talking about is the climate inside our own house.
This episode takes the meatiest bits out of an EXPERT interview with Dr. Brendan Kwiatkawski related to the psychological research about boys, their relationships to their emotions and identity, and why age 13-15 is SO crucial for them…and for our choirs.
Be Sure to Find Choralosophy on TikTok!
For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and Facebook
@choralosophypodca