FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR

What are the elements that contribute to a successful middle school choir?
Juan L. Rivera
University of California, Los Angeles

Music 100B
L. Chen-Hafteck

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR

What are the elements that contribute to a successful middle school choir?
Imagine this scenario: its your first day teaching a middle school choir and you are
excited (and a little nervous) about what kinds of students you will have the pleasure to meet and
how fun you will want your class to be. Youve got your lesson plans and curriculum all laid out,
music ready to start singing, and you are in good spirits. Things move along from that initial first
day jitters and a few months go by and everything seems to be the same with little to no
improvement from the choir, students are losing interest, and the music you selected sounds a
little out of their ranges as they have a hard time singing what you originally thought was their
correct part in the beginning of the year. You sit and wonder if is it you? The repertoire? The
students? There is no one simple and clear cut answer to this question as all of them contribute,
in some way or another, to how well your choir program will be. Even though the answer to the
question is multi-faceted, there are some underlying factors that contribute to a successful middle
school program regardless of geographical area, number of students in a given program, the
facilities, and administration. I have boiled it down to three of what I feel are crucial for a choir
program to be successful. These are:

Teachers knowledge of the adolescent voice.

Appropriate repertoire.
Motivation.

In this short essay, I will be providing the reader with research findings to support this claim,
drawn from three articles that highlight some crucial concepts to keep in mind when creating a
successful middle school choir.
The foundation for how well the choir program will be largely depends on one single
person: the choir director. It is he/she that is in charge of organizing and decorating the
classroom, getting music ready, handling school administrating issues, talking to parents, etc.

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR

The knowledge he or she possesses about the adolescent voice/ vocal technique is a very
important if not the most critical skill a choir teacher possesses. Wendy D. Lebornges (2016)
article entitled, From Kindergarten to College: Understanding Young Voices and Keeping them
Healthy, supports my claim as she presents an in depth look at voice development and
acknowledges the importance of having a choral director with an understanding of how the voice
works. Leborgne writes, Any person who plays a role in the vocal development of young voices
has a unique position to impact the future of a given singer. Through understanding the physical
and vocal changes that occur in the laryngeal mechanism, vocal training of young singers can be
tailored to meet the needs of this population while maintaining and preserving the integrity of
your choir. (Leborgne, 2016, p.10) This article goes on to talk about preventive vocal and
wellness giving a lot of helpful info on areas like hydration, stamina, pedagogical considerations
among other things.
Another important element that I feel is needed in order to have a successful choir
program is having appropriate vocal repertoire. This issue is addressed in Taylor Simpsons
(2013) article entitled, Vocal Technique and Repertoire Choice for Middle School Students,
where she discusses various techniques to aid the choral director in obtaining good quality
music. As mentioned earlier in the scenario at the beginning of this essay, what can make or
break a choir is whether or not the music is suited to their needs. Choir teachers also need to be
aware of the fine line between music that is difficult and music that is not suited for that
particular choir. Though the particular piece of music might be a little difficult for them at first,
nevertheless, it is within their range and takes time to get it right so discarding a piece just
because your choir couldnt sing it right the first few rehearsals might not be the best idea.
Simpson goes on to write that, with more practice time, interest in music tends to increase.
Thus, directors should not give up on a piece if the choir does not seem to enjoy it the first few

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR

times they sing it. (Simpson, 2013, p.23) Simpson urges music teachers to first survey the choir,
taking into account the students age, gender, and their general level of musical aptitude. The
author also provided a finding from a study done by Dennis Siebenaler where Siebenaler taught
middle school children a variety of songs and tested their reactions. He found that various ethnic
groups preferred music from their own language and that adolescents enjoy songs with which
they are familiar with (Siebenaler, 1999, p.213-223). A study done by Gordon Harris that is
mentioned in this article indicates that middle school students enjoy songs that tell a story, are
familiar folk tales or legends, or have religious texts (Harris, 2016, p. 24-31). Simpson goes on to
say that, the factors that play into whether or not a vocal piece is the right choice for students
are: range, subject matter, difficulty level, overall quality of the piece, and the students interest
in the piece. Repertoire that students can feel confident about will not only boost their morale,
but will also be an educational tool to enhance singing and sight-reading ability. (Simpson, p.
22). A choir director should keep in mind the various aspects of repertoire selection as stated by
Simpson in order to have music that students will be challenged with yet enjoy. Building good
experiences in the middle school choir will increase the chances of them sticking with choir into
their high school years especially for males.
Lastly, the last factor I would consider to be important for a successful middle school
choir is motivation. If good vocal modeling by the students is not positively reinforced with
praise and enthusiasm from the teacher and choice of repertoire doesnt give confidence to
students, then they are not going to be motivated to sing or stay in choir. What I mean by
confidence is that the repertoire selected must be appropriate to their level so that it is not too
easy or difficult to discourage motivation but just enough to help them feel that, with practice
and persistence on their part, they are improving. This topic is discussed in depth in Judy
Bowers (2006) article entitled, Motivation in Middle School Choir where she provides an in

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR

depth analysis of the different underlying factors that encourage or discourage motivation in the
context of the middle school choir. Bowers says that the solution to getting students motivated is
not just a one sided approach as the choir director needs to take certain things into account.
Bowers writes, Keeping middle school choral students motivated is a complex challenge
because it involves focusing students in the moment, short term steady improvement, and
achievement in the long term Furthermore, choral classrooms contain many individuals with
unique musical, social and academic needs. The middle school director must strive to meet
individual needs while simultaneously delivering music skill growth and worthy choral
performances. (Bowers, 2006, p.3) To add to this, other key elements to consider are individual
self-esteem, environmental factors (home, school, and community), and intrinsic versus extrinsic
motivation. A contributing factor that the author points out in student success is student
development. The theory is that the more successful a student becomes, the more motivation
he/she will have. Bowers list some of the ways student success can be measure that include:
performance excellence, musical independence, social independence (perhaps defined by
decision making skills), and meeting conductor, choir, or individual goals (Bowers, 2006, p.3).
Bowers also cites a study done by Madsen and Kuhn (1994) where an 80/20 success ration
whereby students should achieve success about eighty percent of the time, but twenty percent of
the task should present a challenge. This ratio is linked to motivation because if a student
succeeds too often (task is too easy) or fails too often (tasks are too hard) students can lose
interest and stop trying (Madsen and Kuhn, 1994). The author also writes on what has been
discussed earlier in this essay which is regarding good vocal instruction and appropriate
literature, The author also recommends the use of what she calls the 1-2-3 approach to
teaching to increase student motivation.

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR

In conclusion, the three key elements for a successful program overlap as they are
dependent in one another to succeed. Being aware of the needs of your students will be of great
importance and will save a lot of time, frustration and confusion on your part. Remembering that
singing should be a fun and rewarding thing for your students can give motivation to the choir
director to give his/her students a wonderful and quality experience that they will remember.

References
Bowers, J. (2006). Motivation in Middle School Choir. The Choral Journal, 47(5), 9093.
Harris, Gordon. Selecting Solo Repertoire for Male Adolescent Changing
Voice Students, Australian Voice 12, no. 1 (2006): 24-31.
Harrison, G. (2016). Children's Choir. Choral Journal, 56(8), 59-61.
Leborgne, W. D. (2016).From Kindergarten to College: Understanding Young Voices and
Keeping them Health. Choral Journal, 56(8), 22-32.
Madsen, C.K. and Kuhn, T. Contemporary Music Education. Raleigh, NC:
Contemporary Publishing Company, 1994.
Siebenaler Dennis., Student Song Preference in the Elementary Music Class,
Journal of Research in Music Education 47, no. 3 (1999): 213-223.
Simpson, Taylor L., "Vocal Technique and Repertoire Choice for Middle School Students"
(2013). Senior Honors Theses. Paper 354.

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR