Why join choir?

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Music has been around for centuries, therefore has developed its place within our
culture. Music is not only an artistic form of expression for an individual, but it also expresses
the artistic opinion of the culture and community as well. In order to share these opinions, a set
of vocabulary and terms, or ideals, have been set up in order for the aesthetics and
performance of music to be assessed and critiqued.  Our learners, the futures of our culture
and community, need the ability to communicate their opinions and critiques of music, past
and present, in order to progress as productive and active members of society.

Elliot Eisner states that there are four things that people do when they associate with
art; they make works of art, they appreciate art, they learn to understand art in relation to
cultures, and they make judgments about art (Brandt, 1987). In relation to music, we focus on
music production, music criticism, music history, and musical aesthetics. Eisner describes
criticism as a growth in perception while aesthetics is the actual perception of music. The
questions that get raised during and after this perception bridge the gap between the two.
The learning of aesthetics in schools comes from providing our learners with adequate
musical experiences which evoke questioning and dialogue within the classroom. Weak or
ordinary experiences will evoke few to no responses while strong, unique experiences evoke
creative and thoughtful responses.

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We can examine Dewey and focus on how we can enforce plasticity from these musical
experiences. Plasticity, as defined by Dewey, is "the ability to learn from experience; the power
to retain from one experience something which is of avail in coping with the difficulties of a
later situation." (Hansen, 2010) When Dewey addresses plasticity, he perceives it from the
angle that learning a certain ability from experience will steer the learner to discover their
personal ‘style’ of executing that ability, or traits of personal method. (Hansen, 2010) This state
of self-discovery leads the learner to creativity, originality, critical thinking and autonomy. For
that reason, plasticity encourages a moral attitude that identifies the learner’s abilities as personal works of art, bridging the barriers separating how the learner perceive works of art
and everyday events, doings and sufferings.

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Dewey’s plasticity is not restricted to only an executed art. Dewey describes personal
attitudes in thinking and in perceiving the world that inspire enduring open-mindedness
towards human beings, projects and the learner’s own interests, which he labels as the
‘essential moral interest’; essential meaning that this must occur for a human being to progress.
(Hansen, 2010)

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How can choir help me outside of the musical arts?

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​There are numerous studies that advocate musical studies in high school increase standardized test scores, as well as provide the learner with critical thinking skills.

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The 2010 report, College-Bound Seniors by the College Board reported SAT scores for students with arts instruction: Students who took four years of arts coursework outperformed their peers who had one half-year or less of arts coursework by 59 points on the verbal portion, 43 points on the math portion, and 62 points on the writing portion of the SAT. Moreover, students whose arts course- work was in music appreciation or music performance scored an average of 533 (appreciation)/529 (performance) on the verbal portion and 536 (appreciation)/538 (performance) on the math portion, outperforming all other arts disciplines in math scores and all but acting/play production in verbal scores.

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The Chorus Impact Study charts  parents’ assessment of their student’s academic success. See chart 1, above.

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According to Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement, the benefits of student learning experiences in the arts also include these basics: 

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• the arts build thinking skills (reasoning ability, intuition, perception, imagination, creativity, and problem-solving)
• social skills (self-confidence, self- control, conflict resolution, empathy, and social tolerance)
• motivation to learn (active engagement, sustained attention, persistence, and risk-taking).

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​The Chorus Impact Study charts educators’ assessment of students’ social skills.  See chart 2, above.

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Sources

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America, C. (2009). The chorus impact study: How children, adults, and communities benefit from choruses. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved August, 14, 2011.

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Brandt, Ron. (1987). On Discipline-Based Art Education: A Conversation with Elliot Eisner (Vol.
45, pp. 6): Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

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Hansen, David T. (2002). Dewey's Conception of an Environment for Teaching and Learning.
Curriculum Inquiry, 32(3), 267-280.