Sing praises of school choruses

By Ann Meier Baker

When asked what they want to be when they grow up, most children will tell you a football player, a rock star, a doctor, a pilot – even president. I have yet to hear a child say, “I want to sing in chorus.”

Yet, when you look at the biography of successful athletes, singers and other professionals including Beyonce, Brad Pitt, football great Terry Bradshaw and even our current president, you’ll find that they all sang in a school or community choir.

A new study commissioned by my organization, Chorus America, confirms what many have long suspected: children who sing in a chorus are more likely to do well academically and develop critical social skills.

The Chorus Impact Study found that adult choral singers exhibit increased civic involvement, volunteerism, philanthropy and support of other art forms compared to non-singers.

These findings for both children and adults make the case for keeping chorus programs alive in our public schools. But unfortunately, chorus programs are all too often the first to go and the last to be restored in school budgets. By cutting these programs, we are missing an opportunity for bolstering student achievement and engagement. Among key findings in our study:

Children who participate in a chorus get significantly better grades than children who have never sung in a choir. More than 80 percent of educators surveyed — across multiple academic disciplines — agree with parents that choir participation can enhance numerous aspects of a child’s social development and academic success.

Ninety percent of educators believe singing in a choir can keep students engaged in school.

Even in these tough times, choral singing should be a recession-proof school activity. It’s one of the most accessible art forms available, with fewer economic, cultural and educational barriers than other activities.

Not everyone can play a violin, dance in toe shoes or act in a Shakespeare drama — and not everyone can afford instruments or lessons — but most everyone can carry a tune. It’s something that can be done throughout a lifetime and done well without a great deal of formal training or expensive equipment.

That’s not to say that choruses should be supported at the expense of other activities. The arts and sports are often pitted as rivals for scarce resources, but the fact is, children who sing in choruses are more likely to be sports participants as well: 64 percent of kids in choirs regularly participate in one or more sports. The same is true of other activities: 55 percent of children choristers participate in one or more other activities; only 33 percent of children who don’t sing are doing the same.

Clearly choruses are not the only extracurricular activity most of these children are participating in, yet our study found that parents definitively date their child’s improvements in a variety of areas to their joining a choral group. That, and the breadth of benefits described by both parents and educators, argues for a unique “chorus effect,” one that isn’t replicated by participation in other extracurriculars.

If your school lacks a program, start one using our Parent Guide: Advocating for the Choral Arts in Your Child’s School at www.chorusamerica.org. If your school’s existing programs are at risk, use our Chorus America’s Chorus Impact Study to make the case for continued funding.

If your school already has a thriving chorus program, help to support it and sing its praises all you can.

Not every chorister becomes a Beyonce or a Justin Timberlake or president of the United States — but the evidence shows that singing in a chorus gets you off to a really good start.

Ann Meier Baker is the president and CEO of Chorus America.