The role of choral singing in the lives of amateur choral singers in Iceland

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivates people to sing in choirs as a leisure activity. Subjects were retrieved from members of 10 amateur choirs of various types in Iceland through a paper-based survey. Results indicated that participants gain both personal and social benefits from singing in a choir. Findings revealed differences between participants in terms of their perceptions regarding social and personal aspects of choral singing according to gender, age, level of education and music education. Personal enjoyment of singing and a positive social atmosphere seem to be the strongest motivating factors for voluntary participation in choirs.

Keywords:

• choir
• choral singing
• personal benefits of singing
• social benefits of singing
• music and wellbeing

Acknowledgements

We thank all respondents in 10 participant choirs for their part in this research. Furthermore, we thank also the conductors of participant choirs for their support and interest and Sigrún Sif Jóelsdóttir, research analyst at the Educational Research Institute at the University of Iceland, for her help and expertise in analysing the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sigrun Lilja Einarsdottir is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Science, Bifröst University, Iceland. Sigrun holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from University of Exeter (supervisor: Professor Tia DeNora), M.A. in Cultural Management (Bifröst University), PGCE in Education (University of Akureyri, Iceland) and B.A. in Comparative Literature (University of Iceland). In 2012, Sigrun defended her Ph.D. thesis J.S. Bach in Everyday Life: The Choral Identity of Amateur ‘Art Music’ Bach Choir and the Concept of ‘Choral Capital’ at University of Exeter.

Helga Rut Gudmundsdottir is an Assistant Professor of music education at the School of Education, University of Iceland. She graduated with a Ph.D. in music education from McGill University, Faculty of Music in 2003 and an M.A. in music education from the same institution in 1997. She graduated as a music teacher in 1992 from the Iceland University of Education in Reykjavik, Iceland. Helga is a member of the steering committee of the AIRS international research project on singing, and leader of its sub-theme ‘Singing and education’. Helga is the founder and president of the Iceland Centre for Music Research.

Notes

1 Manual labour was frowned upon and only suitable for slaves.