In 2009, Chorus America did an “impact study” with the lofty goal of showing the benefits of choral music in the community. You can read the entire thing at https://www.chorusamerica.org/system/files/resources/ImpactStudy09_Report.pdf, but be forewarned…it’s 28 pages of really small type and really large words and bucketloads of charts and graphs and such. Don’t worry, I’m your friend. I’ll just tell you the important bits.

– Choral singing is the most popular form of participation in the performing arts in the United States. How about 32.5 million adults (42.6 million if you count kids, too)? More than one household in five has a choral singer in it. That all adds up to nearly 270,000 choruses. Yikes.

–  Adults who sing in choruses are good citizens (well…err…except the tenors). They tend to be more active volunteers in other non-profit ventures, contribute substantially to both their chorus and the community and are often among the folks who typically vote, read the newspaper, and work well with others; “team” players.

– Children who sing in choruses tend to be better students and have better social skills than their peers. More than 75% of teachers in the survey said they could nearly always tell which of their students participate in the choir.

– It’s not all fairies and roses however. There are fewer opportunities for children to sing than there were when the last study was done in 2003, as many schools have no music program at all (I’m not going to delve into the cave of sports program budgets vs music budgets, it’s just not worth the aggravation).  There’s also a correlation between how much parents are involved with and in communication with the school and the likelihood of there being a chorus.

So when you mash it all together, what do you get?

Well, it’s not surprising that the Windward Choral Society is full of people who have a great time singing, genuinely like each other, have created new friendships and get busy with what needs to be done. Chances are they get involved with all sorts of things in the workplace and the community, volunteering their time and contributing what they can. Students who sing are well on their way to becoming the same kind of adults that I just described, but their opportunities are not as great as they used to be. What can be done? Parents, it’s up to you to be involved with the decision-making in public schools (the “public” part means you’re paying for it, so a sense of ownership is there for you). If you’re a singer, chances are you’re not shy about groups like the PTA, start the conversation. Heck, download that study and wave it in their faces.

I’ve been singing in choirs for 45 years and, much like all of you, it’s very easy to look back and see all of the positive influences it gave me, the adventures I got to have and the way it helped shape me into the person I am today. I simply can’t imagine what I would have become without it.