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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.112325 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Baird, Maureen Jaymin. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Schulich School of Music.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002714080, proquestno: AAIMR51363, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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