For some reason our youth choirs have atendency to get overlooked by those proudly speaking of Finnish music at theinternational forums. This may be due to the Finns’ habitual sense ofinferiority and need to make a convincing impression in the fields at which thecore European countries excel. Or else people here just take the high qualityand large number of Finnish youth choirs for granted.

The youth choir movement – and surely we cancall it that by now – is only a recent phenomenon by both Finnish andinternational standards. In 1960 Finland really had only two children’s choirto speak of. Thirty years later, these choirs run into the hundreds, and yearafter year the brightest stars are reaping glory on the internationalfirmament.

The rise of the Finnish youth choir went handin hand with the birth of the modern music education system. The 1960s saw thesetting up of both special music classes in schools and the music collegesystem. Pupils can, if they are lucky, therefore benefit from a musicallyoriented education from the age of 10 right up to matriculation at 18 or 19.Since the system has right from the beginning been strongly biased towardsvocal music, it has produced an almost endless supply of enthusiastic youngsingers. Due to the amendment to the Education Act, the most recent reliable statisticson music classes are for the 1989–90 academic year. In that year 44municipalities had 526 music classes with a total of about 14,000 pupils.Almost every community calling itself a town (which in Finland does not alwaysmean even 10,000 inhabitants) can boast a youth choir aiming at a high musicalstandard. To locate such places as Loppi, Oulainen or Küminki, you need afairly large-scale map of Finland, yet they all have a youth choir ofinternational proportions.

The Finnish music college system which, whilenot part of the statutory school system does enjoy government subsidy, hasinduced a tremendous increase in musical proficiency and interest. The onehundred or so colleges spread all over the country and enjoying state subsidiesannually provide training in music for some 50,000 young people (15,000 inmusic playschools and 35,000 in music schools and colleges proper, against atotal Finnish population of 5 million). Since it was initiated nearly 30 yearsago, the system has trained several generations of professional and amateurmusicians. The most significant aspect has, however, been its democratisinginfluence: music lessons no longer depend on where a pupil lives or whetherhis/her parents can afford them.

Although the music college system is primarilygeared towards instrumental studies, youth choirs have been able to benefit,too. Most of the singers are drawn from the ranks of music college pupils,which means that they have a far better theoretical grounding than theirparents’ generation. The all-round proficiency has at times astoundedaudiences, such as the occasions on which the singers in the Tapiola Choir havepicked up their instruments and given a performance of which many a youthorchestra would be proud.

Another of the many fruits of the system hasbeen the keen interest shown by young people in choral singing in Finland. Arecent investigation into how the Finns spend their free time revealed that asmany as 12 % of women aged 10–24 sing in a choir. Against this background, itis no longer any wonder that the Finnish youth choirs have a far broader impactthan other choirs, with the possible exception of the chamber choirs to whichthe youth choir protegees in time progress.

Not by music alone

Much of the success story is due not only tothe cast-iron system but also to the music education ideal and its deep respectfor children and young people. One of the reasons for this is that the majorityof the leaders and conductors of Finnish children’s and youth choirs have –ever since the Grand Old Man of the Finnish youth choir and father of theTapiola Choir, Erkki Pohjola – been both teachers and musiciansthem-selves. Choral work is founded on an ideal, the growth of the child, andnot just a musical project.

Almost every leading choral conductor inFinland has personal experience of this idealistic philosophy, and thepedagogical aspect is strongly reflected in the working methods, objectives andrepertoire alike.

Whereas the boys’ choirs attached to theBritish cathedrals, for example, are highly professional in the time devoted torehearsal, their objectives and repertoire, the Finnish youth choirs are partof the amateur tradition. They usually rehearse once a week and produce at mosta few new programmes a year. The training methods naturally vary according tothe singers and leaders, but they do not radically differ from those of otheramateur choirs, apart from the speed at which the singers learn.

Nor does the way the choirs work differ muchfrom that of the adult choirs in any but the administrative sense. In mostcases the choirs are financed by a patrons’ association made up of the singers’parents. Naturally they are assisted in this by the school, music college orchurch if the choir is attached to one. Support from the local authoritiesvaries from nil to considerable sums, and any state sponsorship mostly takesthe form of small grants for tours abroad.

In the course of my travels outside Finland Ihave noticed that a singer orientation in youth choirs often leads to asomewhat limited repertoire of a lighter nature. Maybe the Finns’serious-mindedness and tendency towards eastern European melancholy explain whythese lighter traits have come to occupy only a secondary role, for surprisingthough it may seem, choirs definitely have a preference for contemporary artmusic.

Mutual benefits

This strong link with the music of the presentday is a vital ingredient of the very essence and success of Finnish youthchoirs. It also distinguishes them from the other flourishing youth choirmodel, the European boys’ choir with a repertoire firmly rooted in the church

How, then, has this trend come about? Onecrucial landmark along the road to the present day is undoubtedly the year1968, when the Tapiola Choir premiered the work – now a classic – Paternoster by Bengt Johansson. Although the initial performances leftaudiences accustomed to more traditional expression somewhat perplexed, theysparked off a process that has led to close collaboration with manycontemporary composers.

Virtually all the front-line Finnish composershave written works for youth choir. Maestros such as Erik Bergman, BengtJohansson, Einojuhani Rautavaara and Aulis Sallinen have morethan proved that the youth choir is an instrument well worth taking seriously,and their example has been admirably followed by the younger generation (suchas Harri Wessman, Olli Kortekangas, Tapani Länsiö).

The result has been a virtuous circle: more andmore choirs are rising to the challenge of new music, and the standard isinevitably improving as a consequence. This in turn is inspiring composers, whosee them as a source of new potential.

Another feature characteristic of the youthchoirs’ repertoire is the ethnic orientation, beginning long before the presentethno boom, and the choirs’ refusal to be daunted by musical or linguisticproblems. Teenagers may thus well find themselves singing in six languages inthe space of a single concert, and switching with equal ease from one musicalcontinent to another.

Many roads to Rome

One of the most pronounced trends in the youthchoirs of the 1990s has been the growing pluralism. Despite the old adage thatall roads lead to Rome, the Finnish youth choirs tended in the early decades totread the well-worn paths, and only recently, possibly because there are somany more travelling in the same direction, have they ventured to explore someof the byways.

Up to a certain point, every choir is areflection of its leader. Under its present director, Kari Ala-Pöllänen,the Tapiola Choir has acquired a more theatrical profile, and new wave folkmusic has entered the repertoire alongside new music. Similarly, Ala-Pöllänen’sprevious choir, Vox Aurea of Jyväskylä, is now highlighting the works of itsnew composer-conductor, Pekka Kostiainen.

Many a choir has set off along the routesignposted by the Tapiola Choir. Examples of choirs with an impressive clarityof sound and musical performance are the Oulainen Youth Choir (Tapani Tirilä),the Veräjäpelto Choir (Johan Perälahti), or, a more recent newcomer, theGalante Choir from Vantaa (Jani Sivén).

Similarly, the choirs with leadersconcentrating more on vocal technique often sound more adult, more mature. Thisis, I would say, true of the Kiimingin Kiurut from Northern Finland (LiisaRäisänen), and the Kokkola Youth Choir (Kari Pappinen). Also in thesame category are such first-rate choirs almost producing the sound of an adultfemale choir as Campanella from Tampere (Lisa Räisänen) and Serena fromEspoo (Kjerstin Sikström). A delightful recent addition to the list hasbeen the Linnanneidot from Savonlinna under Leena Astikainen.

Others have placed a stake on new territory byexpanding in the direction of dance. Some promising openings have already beenmade in this respect by Sympaatti of Tampere (Pekka Nikula), the choirsof the Sibelius High-School in Helsinki conducted by Marjukka Rihimäki,and others. Another original trailblazer is the Itämeren tytär (Daughter of theBaltic) choir from Helsinki, which is with its conductor, Iris Sundberg,focusing on music and voice production based on the Finno-Ugrian tradition.

In a category all of their own are, of course,the dozen or so Finnish boys’ choirs headed, as the first among equals, by theCantores Minores (conducted by Christian Hauschild) deriving itsstrength from the German choral tradition.

This list of choirs is anything but exhaustive.The thing that delights me most about our youth choirs today is precisely theirhigh standard. Finland being such a small country, it is difficult for thechoral aficionado to make any new, unexpected acquaintances, but if ever thereis a field where anything can happen, it is choral singing.

On the way to adulthood

For years now the adult Finnish choirs havebeen awaiting the day when all these promising young singers will finally jointheir ranks. And at last their patience is being rewarded. So far the choirs tobenefit most from this supply of well-trained musicians are the student choirsin the major university towns, but a number of choir leaders have reportedsigns that they are also filtering through into the traditional adult choirs.

In certain respects the route has taken someunexpected turns: instead of infiltrating the existing choirs, these youngsingers have been highly active in setting up “time-out” choirs of their ownwith members in the age bracket of 18–25. Examples are the Grex Musicus chamberchoir (Marjukka Riihimäki) consisting of former pupils from the SibeliusHigh School, and various choirs hovering on the borderline between girlhood andwomanhood, such as Campanella, Serena, and Timotei from Loppi (Pekka Perko).

Although the question of these singers’ futureis important to the future of Finnish choral singing, the youth choirs do notlook upon themselves as training grounds for adult choirs but as independentartistic units. This, it is thought, is one of their great strengths, eventhough more attention should be paid to the building of bridges from the youthto the adult choirs, for the sake of the singers alone, if nothing else.

The outlook of the Finnish youth choirs at themoment looks almost too rosy. It has been suggested that the biggest obstacleto an even greater rise in standard lies not so much with the young singersthemselves as with the leaders and conductors, who may have reached theirceiling. Since the youth choirs continue to work hand in glove with theofficial education system, the training of choir leaders, i.e school musicteachers, is of key importance. In this respect a really good, inspiringteacher is worth his/her weight in gold. And so long as this supply of teachersdoes not dry up, the role of the youth choir as the pioneer in Finnish chorallife will in no way be threatened.

This article was originally published in issue1/1997 of Finnish Music Quarterly. It has been slightly edited for thisrepublication.

Featured photo: Tapiola Choir in 2013. Photo:Eino Nurmisto

At the time of writing, Kari Turunen was astudent of choral conducting at the Sibelius Academy, conductor of theEteläsuomalaisen Osuuskunnan Laulajat (student) and Kulkusia (mixed) choir anda member of the Lumen Valo vocal ensemble. Since then, he has pursued a notableinternational career in choral conducting.