Benefits of Choral Singing and Vocal Training for Young Singers

We asked Dennis Tupman, Chair of the VBCC Founding Advisory Committee, to describe some of the many benefits — above and beyond artistic expression and growth — that can be gained by young singers who participate in an active choral singing program like our family of choirs. Not surprisingly, there are many…

Choral singing: a lifelong joy

As President of the BC Choral Federation, an organization, that supports and fosters growth in hundreds of choirs and singers in BC, I proudly reflect on what studies have shown to be the benefit of singing in choirs.

As our current slogan states above, singing in choirs is something that one can do for spiritual uplift for most of our lives. Choral singing is a great way to build a sense of community. This kind of purposeful fellowship is increasingly important in our hectic and material-filled lives.

Young people are extremely busy these days. They have an infinite variety of choices. You are right when you ask, “Why is singing in choirs an excellent choice?”

As parents and students you want to know that choral singing has tremendous benefit to your intellectual, emotional, and spiritual development in many ways.

Here are but a few researched points.

Studies have shown that young people who sing in choirs…

• Do better in their school studies, especially in mathematics.
• Develop personal confidence and overcome shyness when speaking in public.
• Have a tendency to be healthier and are sick less often.
• If a stutterer, do not stutter when singing.
• Acquire improved abilities to speak and enunciate more clearly.
• If ESL, learn the language faster and better.
• Have better posture and body alignment.
• Learn to breathe properly.
• Make lasting and wholesome friendships.

We as humans, so the neurologists say, are hard wired to make music. Singing in choirs is the most natural way to make music and express oneself.

By encouraging your child to sing in a choir and to learn how to demonstrate excellence as a group, one is making as a parent an investment of incalculable worth in your child’s life. You are giving them the gift of music — indeed a “lifelong joy.”

Dennis F. Tupman,
Past President of the BC Choral Federation,
For 21 years the District Principal of the Performing Arts for the Vancouver School Board,
Past president & honorary life member of the BC Music and Canadian Music Educators’ Associations,
Chair of the VBCC Founding Advisory Committee.