Choirboy

Saint Paul's dictum that "women should be silent in churches" (mulieres in ecclesiis taceant) resonated with this largely patriarchal tradition; the development of vocal polyphony from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and Baroque thus took place largely, though not exclusively, in the context of the all-male choir, in which all voice parts were sung by men and boys.

The first known usage in print of the term "choirboy" (rather than the earlier "singing boy") was by the Victorian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) in Chapter Vii of his story The Ravenswing, published in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country (London, Sept. 1843, XXVIII/165, p. 321): "He had been a choir-boy at Windsor".

In more recent years as girls have begun joining formerly all-male choirs, the gender-neutral term chorister is more often being used instead.

[7] They also took part in the United Kingdom's biggest fundraising concert in aid of the victims of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

[9] The 2007 winners of the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year competition were twelve-year-old Joel Whitewood of Canterbury Cathedral and 15-year-old Charlotte Louise McKechnie of Giffnock South Church in Scotland.

The 2008 winners of the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year competition were twelve-year-old Harry Bradford of the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, London and 14-year-old Alice Halstead[10] of St. Alphege's Church, Solihull.

[12] In 2011 Richard Decker of the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy and St Olave's Grammar School was awarded chorister of the year.

[13] The 2012 winners of the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year competition were thirteen-year-old Isaac Waddington [14] of the Choir of Chichester Cathedral, West Sussex and 15-year-old Louisa Stirland.