WHY JOIN A CHORUS?
One of the findings in a study conducted by Chorus in America in 2009 reveals that children who sing in choruses have academic success and valuable life skills. What follows are points made by the study. |
1. Children who sing in choruses get significantly better grades in school than kids who have never been part of a choir, according to their parents, and substantial majorities of parents with children in choirs say their child’s ability or performance in English/language arts, mathematics, and academics overall improved after their child joined a choir.
2. Parents whose children sing in choirs are significantly more likely to report that their child has many other qualities conducive to learning and development than parents of children who don’t sing, including, among others, good memory, good practice and homework habits, and high levels of creativity. Sizable majorities of member’s parents credit joining a choir for achievement in these areas and more.
3. Parents of children in choirs are significantly and consistently more likely to report that their children are better team players and have more advanced social skills than parents of children who’ve never participated. An overwhelming majority of these parents date improvements in these areas to when their child joined a choir, and also say their child’s ability to manage his/her emotions and/or read the emotions of others improved after they became choral singers.
4. Educators—drawn widely across disciplines in our sample—are even more emphatic about the positive role that choirs play in childhood education and development. Large majorities of educators, often 80 percent or more, agree that choir participation can help make students better participants in groups, help develop stronger social skills, lead to better emotional expression and management, improve overall academic performance, help instill self-discipline and punctuality, and more.
5. More than three-quarters of educators surveyed say they can tell which students in their classes participate in choirs, with more than half of these saying they can “always” or “often” tell. And more than half of all educators say they’ve recommended chorus participation to students or
to their parents.
to their parents.
6. In addition, vast majorities of educators believe choirs help schools and communities in a variety of other ways, for
example, that choirs can keep some students engaged in school who might otherwise be lost, help make students more active participants in school and more likely to attend classes in general, help get students more involved in their communities, and add to the overall sense of community in schools.
example, that choirs can keep some students engaged in school who might otherwise be lost, help make students more active participants in school and more likely to attend classes in general, help get students more involved in their communities, and add to the overall sense of community in schools.
7. While the arts and sports are often pitted as rivals for scarce school resources, parents say their young choristers are significantly more likely to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities than other children.
In sum, The Chorus Impact Study confirms that introducing children to choral music opportunities when they are young develops future performers, audience members, and consumers of arts and culture well into adult years. Choral singing is an activity that fosters personal fulfillment and an appreciation of beauty for a lifetime. Moreover, singing with a chorus has life-long collateral benefits including fostering behaviors that lead to good citizenship.
For more information, go to:
http://www.chorusamerica.org/about_choralsinging.cfm
For more information, go to:
http://www.chorusamerica.org/about_choralsinging.cfm
