Day 325: Petits Chanteurs

IMG_5044, originally uploaded by susanvg.

This building sits on the slope leading up to St. Joseph Oratory. It is the school for "Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal" a boys choir. Boys are accepted after second grade and thereafter follow a rigorous musical training in addition to their academic studies.

I do like the sound of a boys choir, but have reservations about funneling children into something so demanding at such a young age. The choice is the parents' not the child's and it leaves minimal time for trying other activities that may have been of interest to the boy.

Some years ago I was in St. Paul's Cathedral in London at Evensong. Listening to the boys choir in that setting was ethereal. The reverberation of the Renaissance music they sang stayed with me for a long time.