THE CHOIR
Friendly Rating: All ages.
Safety Rating: Some muttered cursing, I think.
Quality Rating: Quite excellent.
Documentary series premieres on BBC America at 10 p.m. tonight.
Choir director Gareth Malone is on a mission to bring choral singing to the world, one high school and village at a time. Obviously, this is a British series, but the schools and village look remarkably like our own.
There is some discussion of the troubles teens and kids get into. If there’s any foul language, it was muttered and I wasn’t sure I was hearing what I thought I heard. Then again, I may have.
In any case, the episodes move quickly enough to hold my attention and the stories are engaging. Malone is incredible. BBC America brought him to the TV Critics Press Tour last January, and at the end of the press conference for the show – at the end of the day – Malone got over 30 cranky TV critics up on a stage and singing the Beach Boys Barbara Ann in two-part harmony. Yeah, he’s that good.
Confession time, I was an easy get because I love choral singing. But the show does bring up why such endeavors are important. It’s not so much the music, itself, although complicated harmonies in music by (as Malone puts it) “dead German men” present a wonderful challenge and it is among some of the most beautiful music in the world. The more important part of choral music is the working together, which in the first part of the series focuses on Northolt High School, even changes one girl’s life.
begin rant
It’s also why I have issues with the lack of arts education in our schools. Our kids deserve the chance to try many different things and arts provide a way for them to express themselves and tap into and develop their creative sides. As information gets easier and easier to access, knowing facts is less of an issue. Knowing what to do with those facts – that’s the killer app, if you will. Our kids will need their creativity more than any other generation if only to creatively problem solve.
/end rant
Anyway, this show effectively demonstrates what arts can do for kids and for communities. Do you agree? Please share.
