Clerk (choral)

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The adult voices of College Choirs at Oxford and Cambridge University are often provided by the clerks. These are groups of singers, usually all-male. Undergraduates admitted to the College on the basis of their ability and potential in both singing and academic study are traditionally called Academical clerks. Lay clerk is the term used to denote the professional singers alongside whom they work, most of them tending to be recent graduates. Clerks Choral, or Choral Clerks are also found in a few of the ancient Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches in Britain and Ireland however these singers are more usually styled 'lay clerks' or occasionally 'lay vicars' or 'lay vicars choral'