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Study Strongly Validates HVS Members'
Experience
Chorus Impact Study by Chorus America Clearly Reflected in Westchester Chorus
FEBRUARY 27, 2003
Contact: Carol Morse, President
Hudson Valley Singers
914-674-2865
A new national study
finds that choral singing is the top choice for participation in the performing
arts by adults and children, with an estimated 28.5 million Americans
regularly performing in a chorus. The study also estimates the number
of choruses in the U.S. to be 250,000, marking the first time the total
number has been determined.
The Westchester-based
Hudson Valley Singers, a member of the national group that commissioned
the study, hails the report as providing further evidence of the importance
of choral music in the lives of many Americans in communities large and
small.
"It's reassuring
to see research that verifies what we as musicians have always believed
to be true, but I must confess the magnitude of the numbers really took
our breath away," said Carol Morse, President of the Hudson Valley
Singers. "Choral singing is the ideal art form for bridging the generation
gap that so often fractures communities. A previous concert, Mozart's
C Minor Mass, featured 73 singers spanning three generations, from
high schoolers to great-grandparents, all brought together though one
artistic expression."
"Mastering truly
difficult music like Mozart or Bach is an experience that's hard to put
into words," said Eugene Sirotkine, Music
Director for the Hudson Valley Singers and Assistant Chorusmaster at the
Metropolitan Opera. "It's both a personal triumph and a glorious
gift back to the community. Everyone is better off because of it."
Surprisingly, most
choral singers (59%) are involved in amateur community choruses just like
the Hudson Valley Singers. They're multi-taskers, too: fully 44 percent
of the people surveyed in the national study reported singing regularly
with more than one chorus.
The study also shows
that choral singing is a life-long passion. The vast majority of respondents
(83%) report having their first choral experience in grade school or high
school. Almost the exact same percentage, 81%, say they've been singing
in choirs for over ten years - with nearly a third (31.5%) involved for
over 30 years.
"The longevity
and consistency of choral participation is, quite frankly, the least surprising
finding to those of us on the inside," added Mrs. Morse. "One
of our Hudson Valley Singers has been singing with the group for 41 years
and counting, and many others have long since passed the 20-year mark."
These findings and
others were announced in Washington, DC this week by Chorus America, the
national service organization for choruses. The study, the first of its
kind, sought to identify the scope of choral participation, public attitudes
about choral music, and the key motivations and behaviors of choral participants.
Professional research firms conducted the study in 2002, using two national
phone surveys of the general public, hundreds of in-depth interviews with
choral singers, and six focus groups.
"Aside from the
large numbers of Americans who are involved in choral singing, we think
the most important finding with long-term implications is the role of
education and families in early exposure to the arts," said John
Alexander, president of Chorus America. "This study provides the
most useful evidence so far about the power of singing to influence people's
lives, and suggests the vital role that parents and schools can play in
its early introduction in a meaningful way."
Additionally, choral
singing provides an extraordinarily accessible entry point for arts exposure,
with fewer barriers to participation - economic, cultural, educational
- than posed by other art forms.
"An important
motivation for this study was to get a clearer idea of the impact choruses
have on communities," said Ann Meier Baker, executive director of
Chorus America. "Choruses are a big part of enriching community life
and culture in cities and towns of all sizes across the country, and choruses
routinely provide education programs that reach across all segments of
the population."
Chorus members in
the study affirmed that performing great music well for enthusiastic audiences
remains a key factor in sustaining their involvement, and may help to
explain the number-one ranking of choral music for participation by Americans.
The study finds that choral singers strongly believe that the impact of
their art is an enormous good to society, and that this is a way of "giving
back" to their communities.
The Study's Other Major Findings:
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The 250,000 choruses include an estimated 12,000 professional and volunteer community choruses, more than 38,000 school choruses, and 200,000 church choirs.
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Early exposure to choral singing is the dominant common factor among adults who participate in choruses, with more than half of the respondents reporting growing up in households where someone regularly sang in a chorus, and more than two-thirds reporting hearing choral music frequently in their homes through recordings or radio. Almost 69 percent said they had their first choral singing experiences in elementary or middle school. This finding provides further evidence to the growing body of national data indicating that early exposure to and training in the performing arts is a key determinant in arts participation by adults.
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Choral singers are far more likely to be involved in charity work, as volunteers and donors (76 percent), than the average person (44 percent, according to a 2001 report by Independent Sector, the national organization of charities).
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Choral singers are more than twice as likely as non-participants to be aware of current events and involved in the political process. Seventy-one percent of choral participants report reading daily newspapers, contrasted with 32 percent of adults generally; and 20 percent of choral singers say they are actively involved in political causes, nearly triple the number of the general public reporting such involvement.
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Choral singers are twice as likely as the general public to be major consumers of other arts - and not just music. The study finds, for example, that 87 percent of choral singers report visiting a museum in the past year, whereas the most recent national study of arts participation conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997 estimated general population attendance at museums at 35 percent. The number of singers who regularly attend live theater performances was nearly double that of the general public.
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The research explored the depth of feeling that participants had about their choral experience, with many reporting that the requirements of choral singing - discipline, attention to detail, teamwork, and the social value of the experience - combine to improve their daily lives, in both their work and in family relationships. Many choristers testified to the degree to which their choral singing made them more aware of other people's life experiences, helping them to bridge social gaps. "That connection with people exposes me to ideas...that aren't otherwise available," one respondent said. Another chorister said of fellow singers, "These people, whom I love dearly, are politically or religiously very different from me." Seventy-four percent said they "agreed strongly" that choral participation had helped them develop new friendships.
Clearly, the presence
of choral singing in childhood - experienced in person at live performances
or through recordings, or done by parents or other family members - is
an enormous influence on the choices adults make later in life. As Americans
debate the goals and content of public education, research showing the
positive influence of the arts continues to grow. The new choral study
illustrates that an early introduction to the performing arts is a building
block for life-long learning - it helps build social skills, community
involvement, and enhances academic skills in general.
Chorus America, headquartered
in Washington, DC, represents the growing choral community in the U.S.
and Canada, and provides data, programs, and networking for professional
and volunteers in the choral field. The 28-page report, America's Performing
Art: A Study of Choruses, Choral Singers, and Their Impact, is available
in its entirety at the Chorus America website, www.chorusamerica.org.
The Hudson Valley
Singers, based in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, was founded in 1951.
Singers interested
in joining the group are encouraged to email Randee Ginsberg at rginsberg@hudsonvalleysingers.org.
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