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Comment by ludston | Hacker News Reader

It seems like the author is referring specifically to the style of choral music found in churches, although the same thing can be said about other choral genres like barbershop.

However, Backstreet Boys or many of the Korean idol groups do music that could be classified as choral that's highly accessible.

The main difference is drums. Music without drums or some rhythmic equivalent is less accessible.

The other main difference is not in accessibility, but economics. Is cheaper and easier to make a band with only one featured vocalist, so most professional bands do this. It's what people hear, and therefore what they identify with and therefore what they go out of their way to listen to.

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There is, actually, a not insignificant repertoire of secular choral music although it’s lost a lot of its popularity. The liner notes for one collection of Aaron Copland’s music made a comment about how it was strange that Copland had written very little choral music given its indigenous popularity in the US in the first half of the twentieth century.

But yes, solo vocalists have been the primary mode of vocal music in English-speaking culture which presented a challenge in creating post-Vatican II liturgical music which was intended to echo the local culture (something that Dennis Day noted in his book, Why Catholics Can’t Sing). Folk and rock both tend not to work well as a format for congregational music although the former works better in my opinion. Certainly, I don’t buy Day’s argument that the obvious liturgical choice is old-school hymnody (I lean more towards incorporating more of Black gospel instead).

I wouldn’t call the various harmony-based groups like Backstreet Boys or K-Pop as choral music. What makes choral music choral is the fact that there are multiple voices singing each part in the piece.

What about groups like the aforementioned Pentatonix and The Harvard Opportunes. They are quite literally multiple voices singing each part in the piece.

No I wouldn't class the artists as choral artists at all, I'm just pointing out that there are examples of polyphonic singing with multiple voices in pop music, it's just that it's usually accompanied with a rhythm section. Pieces that feature choral singing can be very accessible, although acapella music usually isn't. But take the example of Pentatonix someone mentioned earlier (which isn't really choral singing either because of the lack of voice doubling). What makes them accessible is that they use beat-boxing to provide the rhythm line for the punters.

On the drums: Not entirely, I find folk tradition choral music (without drums) wonderful, but also struggle with classical and church choral.

what styles are contained in folk tradition choral music? I know of sacred harp singing which can be really spectacular.

In our Alpine region there is a long tradition of male choruses singing folk songs about mountain life and tales through rich harmonizations of pieces. An example from coro SAT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZyZggh3SQ

This is sacred male choral music from my region:

https://youtu.be/RpDQduUh9ao?si=JgZUaOmU9Cpbt7kI

This is pretty much a living folk choral tradition. Maybe a bit influenced by classical church choral singing, but definitively its own thing in both vocal style and arrangement style.

I would be interested to hear some examples to see if that would change my understanding. I am expecting to hear things that are very upbeat and rhythmic though.

It doesn't have drums or their approximation, but Saunder Choi's "The New Colossus" is a very rhythmic and emotional work. The words are from Emma Lazarus' poem engraved on a plaque on the Statue of Liberty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RUtWfSNRRY

Another rhythmic piece that comes to mind is Wild Embers by Melissa Dunphy, setting the words of Nikita Gill, who started off as an Instagram poet. Lots of videos of this one, I'm picking one at random: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCSjvGPERKQ

Another piece by Melissa Dunphy, "Dancing in Buses" is from American DREAMers. It begins with a nod to reggaeton, and tells the story of a kid crossing the border, with the bus coming under gunfire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcfNiHDefBw

It's part of a 25 minute series of works, here's the premiere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m3RoCHebIQ&t=193s

And more info here: https://www.melissadunphy.com/composition/72/american-dreame...

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