This research sought to explore the meaningfulness of belonging to a choir. Members of 14 Canadian choirs (N=404) responded to 18 statements concerning the perceived benefits of choral singing. Choristers ranked six aspects of choral singing in the following order of importance (from greatest to least): musical, intellectual, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual. An in-depth analysis of three central areas of the choral experience (social, intellectual, and emotional) was done and six sample populations were compared: paid vs. volunteer choristers, choristers living in different areas (urban, suburban, and rural), choristers with a music degree vs. non-degree, age of choristers (young adult, middle-aged, and senior), choir size (large, medium, and small), and type of choir (community and church). / Results showed that choristers in small choirs felt like valued members of their choirs, felt a positive connection with the other choristers, and that singing in choir raised their mood to a significantly higher degree than choristers in medium and large choirs. Significant findings showed that volunteer singers, to a greater extent than paid singers, found that choir raised their mood, helped them to relax, and was a satisfying experience which gave them a sense of accomplishment. The differences in responses between middle-aged and senior choristers were minimal, but both gave responses that were significantly higher when compared with young adult choristers. The older singers felt that singing in choir raised their mood, helped them to relax, provided them with a sense of accomplishment, and that there was a sense of unity within their choir more so than young adults.

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Mental imagery is a common theme in research that clarifies how musical thought relates to musical performance. Unfortunately, minimal information exists regarding mental imagery and singers. The purpose of this study was to probe the role, if any, mental imagery plays in the conceptualization of pitch and vowel. By interviewing singers at differing levels of expertise, basic information was obtained about the mental processes used by singers. Through evaluations of the singers' mental processes, it was concluded that 95% of the singers in the study employed mental imagery. All singers described using kinesthetic imagery, while the majority implemented sensory and auditory imagery. Viso-spatial imagery was implemented among the more experienced singers. The majority of singers also reported: imaging pitch and vowel interactively; imaging from an internal perspective; and utilizing mental rehearsal. Less than half of the singers described using methods other than mental imagery to conceptualize pitch and vowel.

The purpose was to determine the relationship between high or low cultural mistrust and vocal characteristics in African-American adolescent females. The vocal characteristics were vocal self-identification, singing style, and singing range.