Summary
Background
Choir singing is an activity that engages individuals all over the world with a broad
demographic representation. Both qualitative and quantitative studies have examined
the benefits of the activity but very few have examined the effects when someone loses
access to it and stops singing.
Objectives
Examining the governmental and organisational responses precipitated by the COVID-19
pandemic, we asked what happens when a choir singer loses all of their routines associated
with regular participation in choir singing.
Materials and Methods
One national choir organization in Sweden (n = 3163) and one in Norway (n = 1881)
were approached with a short survey. This comprised questions relating to the issue
“what do you as a choir singer misses the most?” Each participant was asked to rate
the importance of a number of elements that pertain to the experience of choir singing.
Results
The social aspect of singing emerged as having the strongest weight in terms of perceived
loss that is, it was the element that the participants missed the most. Professional
singers report that they miss the aesthetic experiences, flow, and all the physical
aspects (physical training, voice training, and breathing training) to a greater degree
as compared to reports from the amateurs. The importance of aesthetic experiences
and physical components appeared to rise with increasing number of years that an individual
had engaged with choir singing.
Conclusion
In the Scandinavian setting, the social aspect has a stronger weight than the other
components and this seemed to be more significant in Norway compared to Sweden.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 04, 2020
Accepted:
November 16,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
