The relationship between choir leaders’ current practices and experiences of choral singing during their youth

Abstract

This article considers the connections between choir leaders’ experiences from choir singing in their youth and their current practices in choir leading, with a focus on the context of Swedish choir leadership. The study is based on a quantitative survey, completed by 352 choir leaders, where eight mediating tools and ten cultural environments are in focus. The choir leaders responded to questions about their experiences of choir singing during their childhood, formative years and young adulthood, along with their current practices. Results indicate a significant correlation between working approaches that the participants experienced while growing up and their use of those working approaches in their choir leaders’ cultural practice today. Furthermore, results show that two major cultural environments appear particularly dominant: schools and churches. Of the mediating tools, piano and a cappella appear to be dominant. The results also indicate a strong relation between the mediating tools learned in the participants’ youth, and its use in their choir leading practices today. However, the use of prerecorded voice parts for rehearsals seems to have increased significantly. The results reveal a great variety and variation of educations and experiences that the choir leaders bring with them and paints a picture of the development of choir leading practices as a rich and complex interaction between practices that choir leaders had experienced throughout their formative years. The overall results show that the educational environments of choir leading, as described by the participants, is not a straightforward route by way of a specific educational programme. Instead, it may be described as an educational environment that is explored by the participants themselves; pathways through formal and informal cultural environments. The results are discussed from a socio-cultural perspective, with a focus on mediating tools and cultural practices.