Attitudes of Children toward Singing and Choir Participation and Assessed Singing Skill

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of elementary music students toward singing and choir participation in relation to grade level and gender, classroom singing activities, previous and current out-of-school singing experiences, and degree of singing skill, both self-perceived and assessed. Data were obtained from 542 third- through sixth-grade children from responses to a questionnaire and from taped singing performances. Cross-tabulations of response data showed that most subjects indicated a positive attitude toward singing, but less than half were interested in choral singing. Girls, younger students, those who liked to sing, and those who wanted to sing in a choir generally responded more positively to most questionnaire items. Fourth and fifth graders had higher scores on one aspect of singing accuracy, but no other significant differences were found between singing skill and other variables in the study.