The future is......

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 14 years ago

TullyBascombe wrote: HOP is the "Hour of Power", i.e., the Crystal Cathedral. The problem there could have been partially the acoustics and/or difficulty with the sound system. Remember the "Love and Mercy" performance in Washington? The reason it sounded off was that the person controlling the sound board made a mistake.

I had suspected that Joe might have been unhappy about his role in Libera. IIRC wasn't the "Salva" solo his only solo? It's not a very complex solo - though he did it well. RP might have thought that he really wasn't up to anything more complex - and RP might have been correct.

Zack performed with Libera for more than 5 years. His early career performances included "Abide With Me" and "Be Still My Soul". He was tiny then, probably smaller than Freddie.

Remember that in the UK these guys have to take a major exam early in their high school career, a test which will have a great deal of influence on their future. I wonder if some of them leave at age 13 or 14 to study for this exam?

Thanks for that- I agree about HOP acoustics, the venue plus sound set up might well be to blame there (plus the very hot conditions by all accounts).

Re the UK exam thing - there is testing at 7, 11 & 14 and yes it's importantish (to schools mainly as it is used to measure how good they are via league tables) but it isn't the major exam that determines their qualifications - those are taken at 16 and then at 18 if you wish to go on to university/college. I suppose the exams might be used to filter the kids in to ability streams (sling all the poor performers in to a holding class and filter off the brighter ones to get more attention) - maybe one of the younger UK members could comment.........

dani · Post by **dani** » 14 years ago

I personally think Joe S could of done alot more solo's from little we saw he should of got more songs on New Dawn but with it being Tom last cd he got a lot of solo,s. also think it sucks Liam has not got more solo's and hopefully he will be on at least 1 more Libera cd before his voice changes.

Think Stfen and Matthew are two boys to watch personally.

JimmyRiddle · Post by **JimmyRiddle** » 14 years ago

I'm thinking RP would have had some concrete plans for Joe S to feature heavily in more solo's had he stayed. We don't know the circumstances around him leaving, and we never will - but I expect had he been able to remain in Libera, he would have got a barrel load of solo's by now. It was evident from his Salva Me solo, that he had exceptional treble ability.

Saying that for Stefan to be contributing his high solo's the way he his now at his young age, definately bodes well for the future. You can easily pick his voice out during concert songs like Sanctus, Sacris Solemnis etc.. In time to come, their will be a solidfying of middle harmony voices from boys such as Ralph Skan, and Alfie Smart etc.. so I expect the Libera sound will carry on it's fine reputation as a leading vocal group for many years to come.

Narnian · Post by **Narnian** » 14 years ago

JimmyRiddle wrote:I'm thinking RP would have had some concrete plans for Joe S to feature heavily in more solo's had he stayed. We don't know the circumstances around him leaving, and we never will - but I expect had he been able to remain in Libera, he would have got a barrel load of solo's by now. It was evident from his Salva Me solo, that he had exceptional treble ability.

You are absolutely right

I think so too!

libera36 · Post by **libera36** » 14 years ago

Joe also had a small solo in 'You'll Never Be Alone' and had the main solo part in 'Stay With Me'. In my opinion, Joe did an excellent job on 'Stay With Me' and he was undoubtedly being prepared to take on the job of one of the top soloists, when it came to the time! We saw it with many of the younger boys this spring: 7 or 8 'small boys' had one solo each, one thing for them to focus on, one thing for them to perfect.

I expect Joe's leaving was probably much more personal! For all we know his family had to move away from London, or one of his family members could have become seriously ill and he could no longer commit to being in such a demanding choir. If Joe's mother was ill, we would not begrudge his leaving. However, I hope this was not the case! Wherever he is and whatever he is doing now, I wish Joe the best and I am sure that his enthusiasm for what he does will take him far in life.

dani · Post by **dani** » 14 years ago

libera36 wrote:Joe also had a small solo in 'You'll Never Be Alone' and had the main solo part in 'Stay With Me'. In my opinion, Joe did an excellent job on 'Stay With Me' and he was undoubtedly being prepared to take on the job of one of the top soloists, when it came to the time! We saw it with many of the younger boys this spring: 7 or 8 'small boys' had one solo each, one thing for them to focus on, one thing for them to perfect.

That was his only solo on New Dawn hence i think there may of been friction, could be totally wrong but Joes cousin was on facebook time he left , i never knew full story but they did confirm to fans on the facebook it was not voice change why he left, voice change is just a reason RP likes to give, something went on behind the scenes that much was clear.

TEB · Post by **TEB** » 14 years ago

libera36 wrote: I expect Joe's leaving was probably much more personal! For all we know his family had to move away from London, .

Actually, Joe and his family did not live in London. They had quite a commute to get Joe to Norbury for him to be at practices. I imagine this was part of the reason.

TEB · Post by **TEB** » 14 years ago

About the different boys receiving or not receiving solos. All the years I was a performer( I started playing french horn and piano around 10 and performed until I was about 26 I think), I never wanted a solo. Beyond the occasional solo performed in church( usually a duet with the keyboardist), I never sought out being more than part of the group. Not everyone is cut out to be a soloist or even wants to be a soloist. It could really be that all the different boys mentioned in this thread not having solos really didn't want them.

dani · Post by **dani** » 14 years ago

TEB wrote:About the different boys receiving or not receiving solos. All the years I was a performer( I started playing french horn and piano around 10 and performed until I was about 26 I think), I never wanted a solo. Beyond the occasional solo performed in church( usually a duet with the keyboardist), I never sought out being more than part of the group. Not everyone is cut out to be a soloist or even wants to be a soloist. It could really be that all the different boys mentioned in this thread not having solos really didn't want them.

I think alot of boys would jump as a chance to get a solo, not all of them but a lot of them Alex never got a solo till Tom left then got one and he didnt seem to mind doing that. There have got to be other boys like that.

tcenrt · Post by **tcenrt** » 14 years ago

I am sure that the future is in the work. Although I have a feeling that we may not be seeing a lot of individual personality coming through like the past few year, simply because the group is growing. (I think I have read somewhere that they have about 90 - 100 boys in the group). When we look back to Ben C. and Steve G. era, the group may have about 15 boys performing, but they have about 23 in their last concert.

Ann

dani · Post by **dani** » 14 years ago

tcenrt wrote:I am sure that the future is in the work. Although I have a feeling that we may not be seeing a lot of individual personality coming through like the past few year, simply because the group is growing. (I think I have read somewhere that they have about 90 - 100 boys in the group). When we look back to Ben C. and Steve G. era, the group may have about 15 boys performing, but they have about 23 in their last concert.

Ann

There is about 35-40 boys in totel , lol St Phillips is not that big it simple could not hold 100 boys.

plumpuff6 · Post by **plumpuff6** » 14 years ago

libera36 wrote:Joe also had a small solo in 'You'll Never Be Alone' and had the main solo part in 'Stay With Me'. In my opinion, Joe did an excellent job on 'Stay With Me' and he was undoubtedly being prepared to take on the job of one of the top soloists, when it came to the time!

Yes I heard that Joe got the main solo on "Stay With Me" in 2008. What did he sound like? The only solos I've heard are his high notes on "Salva Me" and "Never Be Alone."

plumpuff6 · Post by **plumpuff6** » 14 years ago

Yorkie wrote:
xsakurax wrote: I believe every boy in Libera is as important, even if they do not get any solo. Every boy contribute to the beautiful harmonies and overall quality of the sound. Actually, I'm sure RP takes into consideration every boy's voice quality/tone/etc and makes sure he allocates a suitable solo to the boys. I'm thinking why the old boys like Sam or Alex gets lesser solos might be due to that their voices are more of the lower range. Is it 2nd treble or treble 2.. I'm not sure.. And they play more of the important part in the harmonies so their chances of solos lessens. I notice most of Libera's soloists happen to be those who could hit a higher range eg. Tom, Ed, Liam etc. It's probably due to the nature of each individual song, and the uniqueness of Libera's songs is probably the ability to hit high notes. This probably explains why they get more solos. As far as I know when I'm in my school choir, majority of solos are given to sopranos and lesser to that of altos. But that might be a different case.
I think you are 100% correct. Also, I hope nothing I said sounded demeaning to the guys who are not soloists - that wasn't my intention and I'll apologise now it I came across that way. I respect all of the guys hugely and every one of them deserves credit for their great singing.

I guess RP might not be so pleased with my ramblings though as undoubtedly my posts do #mildly# criticise/question the direction of Libera. I just find it strange that we are in a position that could see 6+ of the best known faces (singers?) leave the group in the same year. Of course there will always be a turnover of lads, but it just seems to me to be a bit more than that at the moment.

Perhaps the answer is that the real problem occurred several years ago. Maybe he had a couple of lean recruiting years which meant the flow of new talent was reduced. In turn this meant RP had to rely more heavily and for longer on the established lads than he would have liked.

In the meantime Libera's fame took off and the recruiting problem has eased but the bubble has now burst and that golden generation is leaving and he is having to fill the gap with the younger lads who are not quite ready - yet.

Maybe I've answered my own question

Your point about lean recruiting years is definitely a possibility. When I was in high school choir one year there were a lot of really good sopranos and the next year, the really good ones had graduated, so the choir was not as good. There weren't many returning singers with experience. So RP may have had to rely more heavily on the "old" boys than he would have liked to for the past few years, while the newbies got ready to join Libera as full members. I still look forward to what Libera brings to the music world though.

xsakurax · Post by **xsakurax** » 14 years ago

No Yorkie, you don't sound demeaning to the guys who are not soloists with the comments. I think we all are just very concerned for Libera's future. And of course no fan would want Libera to disappear or fade away.. a little input/suggestions from fans like us is good.

Libera's future looks really bright, I think!

yo-tiffa-gurt · Post by **yo-tiffa-gurt** » 14 years ago

yes everybody here has a point from commuting, to voice change, to strong soloists leaving. It's true and happens with all choirs. In fact my choir is struggling right now too. We have a girl that commutes from Sacramento all the way to a bit East of San Francisco. and for the past few years we've lost some really good soprano ones (they've all graduated and moved on to college.) Our choir is significantly smaller, three years ago we had 86 people in the Advanced performing choir, now we only have 73. hence it happens to every choir and no matter what libera will always be around. guaranteed. But i'm sure in the net three years or so, libera will be up and running again.