Introduction
The positive impacts of choral singing on the well-being and health of adult and adolescent choristers have been well documented (Barett & Zhukov, Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022a; Clift & Hancox, Reference CLIFT and HANCOX2010; Parker, Reference PARKER2014; Clift et al., Reference CLIFT, PAGE, DAYKIN and PEASGOOD2016; Stewart & Lonsdale, Reference STEWART and LONSDALE2016; Lynch & Wilson, Reference LYNCH and WILSON2018; Orton & Pitts, Reference ORTON and PITTS2019). A large multinational survey of adult choristers from England, Germany and Australia reported focused attention, social support, cognitive stimulation and regular commitment as positive effects of choral singing (Clift & Hancox, Reference CLIFT and HANCOX2010). Active singing in a choir has been reported to induce a greater state of mindfulness than listening to music in adult participants (Lynch & Wilson, Reference LYNCH and WILSON2018). Choral singing experiences have generated increased friendships and personal confidence, resulting in personal and social benefits for British armed forces personnel and their partners (Clift et al., Reference CLIFT, PAGE, DAYKIN and PEASGOOD2016). Stewart and Lonsdale (Reference STEWART and LONSDALE2016) reported that adult choristers ‘considered their choirs to be a more coherent or meaningful social group than team sport players considered their teams’ (p. 1240), emphasising the importance of music in fostering belonging.
Development of social identity and musical confidence was highlighted in studies of adolescent choristers (Parker, Reference PARKER2014; Orton & Pitts, Reference ORTON and PITTS2019). For female adolescents, in particular, choral singing led to improvement in motivation, confidence and autonomy (Orton & Pitts, Reference ORTON and PITTS2019). The experience of singing in a choir was compared to a membership of a sporting team, thus generating a sense of belonging to a unique ‘musical family’ (Parker, Reference PARKER2014). A recent investigation into an intensive summer choral school in Australia reported personal growth and well-being as well as challenge and professionalism as outcomes for adolescent choristers (Barett & Zhukov, Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022a). In a higher education setting, the development of female vocal identity was interrogated through the lens of the lived experience of 39 university students in the USA (Sweet & Parker, Reference SWEET and PARKER2019). Analyses of interviews identified four themes: others as powerful influences (family, peers, choir directors), voice classification (permanent facet of singing identity), negative emotions (fear, insecurity, pressure, anxiety) and the impact of these factors on future involvement in choral singing.
Cathedral choral training and female vocal development
Cathedral choral training is an ancient tradition in the UK where young children learn from older choristers through immersion in a community of practice (Barrett, Reference BARRETT and Barrett2011). After centuries of male-only choristers, female voices have been introduced in some UK cathedrals since the 1990s, affecting the choral sound, group relationships and chorister identity (Owens & Welch, Reference OWENS, WELCH, Abrahams and Head2017).
An early longitudinal study into female cathedral chorister voice development focused on three singers aged 12–14 singing musical intervals during annual tests (Howard & Welch, Reference HOWARD and WELCH2002). The results showed developmental changes in the larynx, acoustic spectrum and amplitude due to maturation and training. In a later study, this research was extended to evaluating singing of the same carol over a period of five years to trace the development of the female cathedral chorister voice (Howard et al., Reference HOWARD, WELCH, HIMONIDES and OWENS2019). Spectral analyses of recordings showed ‘improvements in tuning, control of note onsets, improvements over time with regard to appropriate pitch control during sung consonants and the development of vibrato’ due to choral training and participation (p. 524).
While generally research tends to focus on singers currently participating in choirs, three recent studies interviewed former choristers to evaluate the long-term impact of cathedral choral training (Barett & Zhukov, Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022b; Dong & Kokotsaki, Reference DONG and KOKOTSAKI2021; Dong & Ward, Reference DONG and WARD2023). Dong and Kokotsaki (Reference DONG and KOKOTSAKI2021) interviewed 30 male and female ex-choristers aged 18–80 who reported the development of a solid foundation for general musicianship, significant sight-reading skills and passion for music during cathedral training. The exploration of the religious and spiritual trajectory of these choristers showed that ex-chorister attitudes towards religion were similar to the general population and that they ‘may be seeking spirituality but not religion’ (Dong & Ward Reference DONG and WARD2023, p. 502). Barett & Zhukov’s (Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022b) analysis of the life stories of two former choristers showed that cathedral choral training was ‘a significant and life-changing force’ in the participants’ lives impacting practice habits, attention to detail, leadership and self-discipline (p.1).
The review of literature demonstrated a strong, positive impact of choral participation on the well-being, social identity and musical confidence of choristers. However, research into cathedral training and female vocal development in that setting has been fragmented, focusing primarily on the impact of introducing females into the cathedral choir culture and on physiological studies of female voice changes rather than the singers’ lived experience in the choir. Recent research into the long-term impacts of cathedral training has reported on musical skills, attitudes towards religion and life trajectories of choristers. This paper contributes to this emerging research focus through an investigation of the enduring impacts of choral singing on female choristers’ lives and learning. Our research questions were:
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1) Why did the female choristers enter the cathedral choir?
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2) What were the pedagogical practices for female choristers?
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3) What impact did the cathedral training have on the female choristers’ musical and life skills during and beyond their time at the cathedral?
Methodology
Narrative case study
The study utilised a narrative inquiry approach described by Clandinin (Reference CLANDININ and Clandinin2020) as ‘the study of human lives conceived as a way of honoring lived experience as a source of important knowledge and understanding’ (p. 217). Narrative inquiry interrogates the experiences of living, telling (participant) and retelling (researcher) life events. Narrative inquiry and case study methodologies can merge to uncover ‘the interplay between structure and agency within stories lives’ (Sonday et al., Reference SONDAY, RAMUGONDO and KATHARD2020, p. 1). This approach was chosen to gain insights into the lived experiences of three female cathedral singers and the impact of cathedral training on their lives. The choristers were all graduates of an eminent cathedral choir that had introduced a girls’ choir to its offerings in the 1990s.
Data collection
Following gaining ethical permission from a University Ethics Committee, the research was advertised in a cathedral newsletter. Three adult former female choristers aged 22 to 32 years volunteered to participate in the study and gave written consent.
Data were collected through retrospective individual life-history interviews of 45–60 min, which were conducted in person and/or online and audio recorded. The interviews focused on the history of becoming a chorister, how choral skills and knowledge were acquired at the cathedral, enduring impacts of training and future plans. A professional transcription company produced the transcripts, which were member-checked prior to analyses.
Analytical approach
Two researchers carried out an initial thematic analysis by independently coding the interviews and then refining the categories through iterative discussions (Braun & Clarke, Reference BRAUN, CLARKE, Cooper, Camic, Long, Panter, Rindskopf and Sher2012). A further comparative analysis across the three life stories was carried out to ‘locate common themes or conceptual manifestations among the stories collected as data’ (Polkinghorne, Reference POLKINGHORNE1995, p. 13). The emerging common themes were singing as a family tradition, being and becoming a chorister, pedagogy and repertoire, enduring signal moments, chorister to career and music and extra-musical learnings. These themes have been employed to shape the narratives and are explored further in the analysis and discussion. The constructed life stories were shared with the participants, who reviewed, edited and approved the final versions.
The former choristers’ names have been changed, and some of the details deliberately obscured to protect their privacy.
Ella’s story
Singing as a family tradition
Ella began singing at age three years in her mother’s Kodály-based music group, where nursery rhymes were introduced to toddlers. The family was very musical and included two uncles who ‘were choristers at various Cambridge chapels’. The early start led to singing in church: ‘I was about eight years old when I joined the school chapel choir and we sang for Mass once a week’. At the age of 10, she transferred to the Cathedral for six years. Later, Ella’s younger sister joined her as the Cathedral chorister: ‘It’s been very transforming the bond between us, that we’ve got this shared thing that no-one really understands’.
Being and becoming a chorister
Ella described the hierarchical structure at the Cathedral:
During your first year as a chorister, you were a probationer. You wear the blue cassock but not the white surplice over the top and it marks you out as a junior visually for the congregation as well. You still go to all the same rehearsals, you sing all the concerts, all the services, you do everything the same, it’s just you’re on probation.
As Ella gained more experience, she was promoted from junior corner girl to senior corner girl. She explained, ‘There were six roles of responsibility within the Girls’ Choir: head, deputy, two senior corner girls and two junior corner girls’. Ella described how this worked in practice: ‘The older girls would take a role of helping the younger girls. I remember once standing next to a new girl, who couldn’t read music, and I would stand there and follow through it with my finger until she was able to follow and wouldn’t need me anymore’.
The Cathedral employed expert choral conductors who provided musical training. One was ‘clearly an excellent musician who taught us a huge amount. I probably owe the vast majority of my musical training to him’. Another conductor ‘was more supportive and encouraging of individuals who weren’t the stars. I was never one of the favourite soloists, so I was there propping up the line, and he saw the value in that and made sure it was perfected’.
Pedagogy and repertoire
Daily rehearsals began early in the morning, Ella recollected: ‘We would walk down to the cathedral every morning in pairs, have our rehearsal for 45 min and then walk back up to school in time to start the school day’. The rehearsals focused on repertoire for services during the week and approaching concerts.
Ella described her sight-reading skills as developing fast: ‘You learnt to sight-read very quickly because most of the rehearsal was focussed on improving the quality of sound or the real precision points in the details rather than actually learning the notes. I think to this day sight-reading is probably my strongest skill which definitely stems from then’.
To develop a pure, non-breathy sound, one conductor ‘wanted us … to imagine a laser beam coming out of the centre of your forehead’. Ella found this very helpful in developing her vocal technique. The conductors also focused on tone quality: ‘There was quite a lot of help with particularly around sound quality and tone and sound production and how to think about breathing and posture, the technicalities of singing’. Demonstration was the main teaching strategy: a conductor ‘would sing phrases for us at pitch in exactly the way he wanted us to produce them, and we would just have to copy them’. Another important skill was clear diction: ‘We were drilled very, very hard on diction, so clear diction was always something we were thinking a lot about’. In addition, choristers had class music lessons at the school, and most achieved at least Grade 5 level of music theory. This was supplemented with some background anecdotes regarding the repertoire: ‘Little bits of trivia around the history of music and composers, a fairly good grounding in what kinds of music were being written when, and where, and why’.
Ella described one issue that had a negative impact on many choristers. This concerned toilet breaks: choristers were supposed to have a short break between the pre-service rehearsal and the actual service, but conductors often ran overtime to make sure everything was perfect and forgot that young children needed a toilet break.
You would have people during the service sitting there having not been able to go to the loo, small children, very tired, desperate for the loo, but knowing they absolutely mustn’t mess up the service because that is the most important thing. So, they’re sitting there crying and wet themselves and try to not let anyone know.
Enduring signal moments
Being a chorister at the Cathedral provided Ella with remarkable performance opportunities: ‘We did BBC live Midnight Mass one year, which obviously felt quite exciting to be on live TV. We did several recordings with a good recording label and it felt prestigious that I’m actually in something good’. These memories stood out for two reasons: ‘It was knowing that the music we were making was of a high quality but also knowing that it was a high-profile event – something that not many people got the opportunity to do’. While at the Cathedral, Ella also travelled overseas: ‘It was the first time I’d done anything like that, first time I’d been away without my parents, first time I’d been to America’.
Chorister to career
Having changed schools for the two final years of high school, Ella joined two different choirs at her new school:
There was the larger school chapel choir that was probably about 50 people and we sang for school services and concerts; and then a much smaller group called the Madrigal Society, which specialised in early madrigals and there were about 15 or 20 of us in that. We were the music scholars, the people who were maybe going to study music later.
At university, Ella joined a college chapel choir at Durham Castle and Cathedral, singing for two services weekly and at concerts. She then lived and worked overseas for a long time and was not able to locate a suitable choir. Ella did not become a professional musician, and she now manages projects for a software company. On her return to London, she ‘spent three years in a chamber choir in London made up of non-professional musicians’. For the last few years, she had played in an orchestra instead of singing in a choir. However, Ella joins in at any opportunity to sing when she visits her family: ‘There’s a man whose children were all choristers with us, and he does a scratch choir at one of the other churches for midnight mass, and if I’m in the area at Christmas I will join in with that, and it’s always good fun’.
Musical and extra-musical learnings
Ella’s musical skills developed during her time as a chorister included ‘attention to detail, a sharp ear, a sense of if you’re in tune or not and if you’re in time or not, and balance issues’. One of the things Ella noted was that musical decisions were often based on conductors’ personal preferences. She had worked as hard as other girl choristers, but her voice was not favoured, and she was not chosen for solos. While this was hard on her, Ella reconciled to this: ‘learning to accept that even if you put in all the work, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to achieve what you’re trying to achieve. If it’s something that’s subjective in other people’s eyes, you can’t make it happen’. On a personal level, Ella developed resilience: ‘The experience at the Cathedral is pretty unusual in terms of level of commitment from such a young age. But I think it has taught me that you have to work hard, even if you sometimes hate it’. She also reported a strong sense of discipline and organisation: ‘I was horribly disorganised before I joined the Cathedral and by the time I left, I was very, very organised’. Ella demonstrated maturity beyond her age in helping younger choristers: ‘As I got older, through the choir I definitely developed a sense of responsibility for the younger girls; there was a lot of care among the girls for each other’.
The questions of gender differences and whether girl choristers could sing as well as boy choristers were hotly discussed during Ella’s time: ‘I always felt this sense of responsibility to prove that yes, we can be as good or maybe even better. I was desperate to not miss a service, not fail, not drop a subject, not get it wrong’.
Ella made lifelong friends during her time at the Cathedral. In particular, weekends when girls’ and boys’ choirs took turns to perform were highlights of her social life: ‘Singing all the services was exhausting but a lot of fun. You were with your friends, we had our meals together and films to watch in the two-hour gap till the next service. I remember enjoying those weekends’.
Ella’s identity as a singer and a Christian has been strongly intertwined: ‘I considered myself Christian until not that long ago, and being part of church choirs had a lot to do with that, and one fed into the other and vice versa’. Leaving the church made it difficult for her to locate high-quality choirs singing the repertoire she is familiar with: ‘You can either stick with the religious music and get the quality and the interest, or you can go for much less inspiring music or choirs that aren’t so good, but you can’t have them both together’. In her view, a high standard of singing should be available for all.
Grace’s story
Singing as a family tradition
Grace was singing from an early age. She recollected a family anecdote about her second birthday: ‘sitting on my godfather’s knee, singing Doe, a Deer from The Sound of Music bang in tune and perfect’. Grace came from a musical family: ‘The whole of my Mum’s side of the family is very musical, so it’s all come from that; and when we all get together at Christmas we always gather around the piano and sing’. Her older sister was a chorister at the Cathedral, and so, naturally, Grace followed her and sang there for eight years.
Being and becoming a chorister
Grace started at the Cathedral at the age of eight and was already playing the cello at that time. While prior instrumental tuition was generally helpful, she was not familiar with reading music in the treble clef: ‘I remember my first rehearsal and I didn’t have a clue how the treble clef worked and panicking, but I got the hang of it’.
Grace claims she acquired her choral skills through immersion: ‘You learn on the job, you’re so young, you just get moulded into it. It’s being completely surrounded by people that are doing it right, and you just pick it up’. She gratefully remembered being helped by a senior girl: ‘We were doing Tippett’s Negro Spirituals and score is broken down into so many different parts; I had a 14-year-old who at the time seemed super adult next to me and she was like, ‘This is the line you sing’. Grace was able to return the favour when she herself became a senior girl: ‘As I got older, I remember helping the girls who were struggling a little bit and tapping the beat if we were sharing copies and doing the counting for them on the page’.
Having gone through puberty over her eight years at the Cathedral, Grace’s voice matured and changed a great deal: ‘In terms of moving voice parts, as I’ve got older my voice has dropped a little, I’m very much a second soprano now, whereas when I was much smaller, I was definitely hitting all the top Bs’.
Pedagogy and repertoire
Grace reported long days of rehearsals and performances: daily before-school rehearsals, twice-weekly after-school rehearsals followed by evening services and weekend services: ‘a long day when you’re eight or nine’. After a brief warm-up, the rehearsals focused on what was coming up next: ‘on a Tuesday morning we’d be rehearsing for Tuesday Evensong; if we had a massive concert on the Saturday, we’d potentially be looking at that. But there wasn’t any let’s just sing this for fun to see how we do it, it was we’ve got this service tonight so we’re going to practice this’.
The intensive music learning occurred during rehearsals: ‘We never practiced outside, unless you had a solo that you wanted to work on privately, we never took the music off the premises.’ Good sight-reading skills were expected from the outset: ‘It was never let’s go through this note by note following the piano; it was – here’s the music, you know how to read music, let’s do it’.
Grace noted differences in conductors’ repertoire preferences. One conductor ‘did a lot of standard repertoire with us that everybody knew and loved, and lots of early music. We did a lot of the same things again and again, so we got to know them extremely well’. A different conductor focused on new music: ‘Right, this got written last week, so we’re learning it’. Grace recollected having mixed feelings about some of the contemporary repertoire, finding it too discordant: ‘When people are taking communion, they don’t want to listen to something clever, they want to listen to something that’s going to transcend their religious experience’. On the other hand, she was inspired by some of the new music: ‘It did feel great to be part of singing at Evensong the world premiere of a new piece, it was a great feeling’.
Grace mentioned a lack of understanding of young children’s needs and a lack of compassion and care. One conductor in particular treated choristers ‘like we were musical instruments rather than human beings’ and forgot ‘that small children need to go to the loo before a long service and over running the rehearsal. The smallest ones of us couldn’t last that long and having to leave halfway through and then getting told off or bursting into tears, because how else does an eight-year-old deal with a stressful situation’. However, Grace had acknowledged that discipline was necessary for the effective running of the choir: ‘That strictness, that discipline is what you need, especially if you’ve got 20 people under 12 in a room, they’re going to mess around and you need someone who’s going to shout at them and tell them to stop it and stand still’.
Enduring signal moments
Some performances stood out for Grace as memorable: ‘performing with Emma Kirkby was incredible’. She also fondly recollected a choral trip to Paris: ‘We did sing in Notre Dame and Sacré-Coeur and Saint-Sulpice. I absolutely adored that, it was so much fun’. The trip had solidified the sense of a tight musical community: ‘It was lots of us doing it together, so it was fun, it was sociable, we were like a family and I think that helped an enormous amount’.
Chorister to career
After Grace ceased singing at the cathedral, she moved to another school. This change had a strong impact on her identity: ‘When I left it had been half my life, eight to 16, it was all I’d ever known, being a chorister was who I had been for half my life. It was everything about who I was, how I’d operated, and leaving was bizarre’.
Grace did not become a professional musician; however, choral singing remained a large part of her life. She is presently singing in a large choir of 40 that rehearses once a week and performs 17 concerts a year. There are ‘a lot of people who were choristers when they were younger and people who do some professional singing on the side; we do the big choral works as well as lots of early music, some more modern stuff, but it’s very much classical’. The choir membership is ‘very high brow, everyone’s very successful, everyone’s a partner in their firm and they’re all lawyers or surgeons or accountants’.
Musical and extra-musical learnings
Grace felt she learnt most of her music skills at the cathedral: ‘I absolutely attribute all of my musical education to that, that definitely was the foundations. It taught me pretty much everything I know’. She also recognised that high-level choral singing has impacted her music-making ever since: ‘The standard was so high at the Cathedral that I think it maybe made me a bit of a snob’. In Grace’s opinion, an effective conductor needs to be a people person: ‘A lot of musicians, classical musicians particularly, are a bit odd and socially awkward and that isn’t going to do you any favours as a conductor’. The conductor of her present choir is ‘able to go to the pub after a concert and have a good conversation over a pint’. He makes rehearsals enjoyable and at the same time has earned the respect of choristers.
Cathedral training instilled a strong sense of discipline in Grace: ‘choristers have fantastic discipline, the ability to sit still without scratching a tickle or coughing for an hour. The ability to pick something up and just learn it like that. You’re so young, you just get moulded into it.’
Family and friends have always supported Grace’s singing: ‘I feel very much supported and my parents come to every concert and my friends come to a lot, a few of my friends are very musical’. The choral community still plays an important role in Grace’s life: ‘I feel very at home in a choir setting’. Singing in choir also helps her cope emotionally: ‘If I’ve had a really terrible day or I’m feeling really upset, going to choir fixes it 100%. I’m always so glad I went, even if I think that going to choir is the last thing I want to do tonight. It just fixes my mood and it reminds me what’s good in the world’. Because of this, Grace thinks her future will always be linked to choral singing: ‘I would imagine I’ll probably always be in a choir one way or another’.
Sophie’s story
Singing as a family tradition
Sophie came from a family where ‘everyone enjoyed music’, and her parents recalled her singing as a young child. She remembered singing in ‘the primary school choir and the Saturday morning choir’. Sophie later auditioned for a chorister position at the cathedral and sang there for three years.
Being and becoming a chorister
Sophie was a local student, so she did not board at the school. However, she reported virtually living at the school: ‘You were in school from about 7:30 in the morning to 6 o’clock at night anyway’. Sophie’s attitude to choral singing was very serious: ‘I was the first of my family to go to a private school. You’ve really got to work hard to show that you deserve to be here, you always try your absolute hardest, you sing your best’.
Sophie described learning by immersion: ‘You listen to the person next to you who’s more experienced, and you copy until you get it. Fake it till you make it. And being surrounded by people who do this all the time provides the motivation as well, because everyone’s doing it, so you need to do it too’. She developed her vocal technique, such as chest and head voice: ‘I internalise a moving scale where in my head it’s as if there is a needle going up as I’m singing down. And that helps me to get into my chest voice, which helps with the lower notes. And, similarly, when I’m going higher, if I think that the needle is going down, that helps me to go into the head voice, and then it just sounds nicer’. Another skill Sophie acquired in the Cathedral was the ability to lead her section and encourage younger singers to sing out: ‘If you don’t know it, just sing it confidently anyway living the phrase “loud and wrong”’.
Pedagogy and repertoire
Sophie recollected that boys and girls rehearsed separately every morning during the week: ‘We’d have rehearsal, usually girl choristers with the assistant, and boy choristers with the director of music’. Rehearsals began with arpeggio warm-ups, followed by repertoire: ‘We’d do the music for Evensong that night, we’d do the Magnificat and the anthem, run through the responses that would be at the beginning’.
Choristers and specialist musicians were required to do their own practice daily: ‘You’d have at least an hour a day, and you’re given a practice room and put in there, ‘Right, practise for an hour’. There’s someone patrolling the corridors to make sure you’re practising, no fraternisation’. That seemed a little harsh to her at the time, but she appreciated the practice discipline by the time she was in her senior school years.
Over time, Sophie expanded her repertoire knowledge: ‘Regular singing builds up your standard Anglican repertoire’. In addition, choristers were provided with musicianship and music theory lessons: ‘There was also a chorister musicianship session once a week where we worked on not just musical theory but kind of artistic expression, interpretation, sight-reading. And within the school day all musicians had a lesson for music theory as well’.
Sophie reported that while her choral conductor was a musical expert, his people skills were lacking: ‘He had no concept of actually children are children. They’re not going to get it right all the time and they get tired. And they get upset if you give them a solo and then take it away from them two minutes before Evensong’. She did find this difficult at the time, but it developed her resilience: ‘It gave me a very thick skin’.
Enduring signal moments
Barely one week into cathedral singing, Sophie ‘was singing at the Royal Opera House in London for the Countess of Wessex’. This was a major step up from a school choir. She also travelled to Hong Kong and Beijing with that choir. Another occasion was ‘Harry Patch’s funeral, the last surviving British soldier from the First World War. That was pretty moving’. These events stood out in her memory because of the prestige involved: ‘just the calibre of the people that you are singing for was quite motivating but quite pressurising at the same time. We’d rehearsed so hard for it, and it had to be the best’.
Chorister to career
The transition from cathedral chorister to being a music student at the Cathedral School was not easy for Sophie: ‘I think a lot of my friends found that really hard to let go of the choir, there’s not much support for that. The big thing that we did when we left the choir was that we all auditioned for the National Youth Choir. And we all went together, and would hang around together for that course’. After cathedral singing ceased, Sophie continued singing in several choirs at the Cathedral School: ‘It was school chapel choir, school chamber choir, a girls’ choir [X] that was set up when I was in Year 10 and I did that right through, and a chamber choir that me and my friends set up in Sixth Form’. Sophie also continued playing the saxophone in the big band, which introduced her to different musical genres: ‘Playing the saxophone, I was open to jazz singing, and just experimenting with what the voice can do and what instruments you can have together. I found that very interesting’.
At university, Sophie completed a philosophy degree and teacher training, and she missed the intensive music environment of the Cathedral School: ‘It was really hard to leave behind doing different orchestras and big band and singing. I struggled a lot when I had to go to university’. She continued singing in various chamber choirs and as ‘the soprano choral scholar at St. Wilfrid Roman Catholic Church as part of the [X] Oratory’, Sophie found this religious setting very different from what she encountered previously: ‘The liturgical context of Roman Catholic Mass is nothing like the Anglican services that I’ve experienced’. However, she was enjoying singing in a one-per-part choir: ‘It is a quartet, it’s just me on soprano, an alto, a tenor and a bass. And it’s been pretty much the same line-up for the last three years, we have really developed a quartet sound’.
Musical and extra-musical learnings
Sophie believed that chorister training had laid solid foundations for her music journey: ‘I’ve not received that kind of education anywhere since. It was very ingrained into me what constitutes the best choral singing, what it means to have good diction, to have good tone, to do dynamics, to sight-read properly’. Music theory was one of the steepest learning curves for Sophie at the Cathedral: ‘You’re going from never actually professionally having done music to kind of Grade Eight straightaway’. Her sight-reading skills improved radically: ‘just reading everything on the page at sight-reading, because you’ve got one rehearsal, and then you’re in’. Other skills mentioned by Sophie were a good sense of rhythm, the ability to follow the conductor and to blend the sound. She has also developed an understanding of what is required to produce high-quality performance: ‘I have very high standards of people I work with musically. I don’t put up with people being late or having not learned the music, and not having a pencil. So, the Cathedral has had a massive impact on me personally, it’s a big part of who I am’.
Sophie felt that choral conductors need a rehearsal aide with greater knowledge of child development and psychology: ‘Someone who understands children and teenagers, a dedicated pastoral person who you can talk to at any time and actually counteracts the insane professionalism of the conductors that sometimes can happen’. This person does not need to be a musician but ‘understands the kind of things that children go through between seven and 14, because it’s a hectic period’.
Chorister training developed Sophie’s capacity for intensive effort and coping with criticism: ‘The ability to work hard and understand what it’s all for and realise how important it is to a lot of people. And recognise when you make a mistake, and fix it, and not take feedback as an affront, take it constructively, and work with it’. Her organisational skills were also developed at the Cathedral: ‘I’m an incredibly organised person, and I hate when people are disorganised. I get very frustrated when people can’t have something in a diary or haven’t checked something. I’m very much on the dot.’
Sophie made lifelong friendships as a chorister: ‘We were very close friends because we spent so much time together, and I’ve never actually experienced friendships like I had there again. But it was a real sense of family, really encouraging, just always there for you’. She recognised the unique environment of a cathedral school: ‘If I’d been at a normal school, liking music would’ve been a bit weird. But where I was, it was completely normal, and I’m grateful for having a group of friends that understand where I’m coming from, the slightly nerdy music type’.
Sophie was completing her teacher training and looking forward to adding music activities to her primary school classes in the future.
Analysis and discussion
In this section, we analyse across the three chorister life stories and focus on the highlights of their chorister experience and how it affected their lives post-cathedral training.
Singing as a family tradition
All choristers spoke about singing as a family tradition and had members of their extended family as choristers. In particular, Ella had a strong musical bond with her sibling, as their chorister time at the Cathedral overlapped. Family choral singing was also a part of their lives, for example, in Grace’s case of gathering around the piano to sing as a family. These findings address Research Question One and align with family script theory (Davidson & Borthwick, Reference DAVIDSON and BORTHWICK2002) that demonstrates the ways family members provide musical models to children and facilitate the development of a positive image of music-making.
Being and becoming a chorister
All choristers described learning by immersion, starting as probationers copying more experienced choristers, progressively learning the repertoire and technique and learning through doing (Research Question Two). Barrett (Reference BARRETT and Barrett2011) provided a similar description of cathedral training as an ‘opportunity to observe initially and, within a relatively short period of time, perform in an environment in which there is frequent exposure to multiple and varied models of expert performance’ (p. 284).
As choristers gained more knowledge and skills, they were promoted to senior roles, mentoring other singers. Taking on leadership responsibilities involved guiding less experienced choristers. Parker (Reference PARKER2014) described similar leadership opportunities within three mixed high school choirs, reporting that ‘through consistently singing with others, they became a team and then developed into leaders of the choral program’ (p. 29).
While most choristers aspired to reach leading roles and were at times disappointed when missing out on solo opportunities or promotion, one discussed the lack of such ambition, recognising the importance of ‘propping up the line’ (Ella). This chorister highlighted the importance of musical cohesion in a choir through blending the voices to generate a unique choral sound instead of a competitive struggle to be the best singer in a choir. Research has shown that different cathedral choirs have a distinct sound, and different conductors can generate variations in choral sound produced by the same choir (Owens & Welch, Reference OWENS, WELCH, Abrahams and Head2017).
Pedagogy and repertoire
The choristers acquired the knowledge of Anglican psalms, responses and anthems over several years they sang at the cathedral. The repertoire was rotated through the cycle of the annual religious calendar, with certain works becoming favourites, while some conductors introduced new contemporary works. This practice led to a sense of shared community of practice (Wenger, Reference WENGER1998).
All choristers reported rapid development of their sight-reading skills. Most already had some music reading skills from playing a variety of instruments but still found reading open scores with multiple vocal parts a challenge. Older experienced choristers helped younger singers by indicating the correct place on the score. Recent research into cathedral ex-choristers also reported highly developed sight-reading skills (Dong & Kokotsaki, Reference DONG and KOKOTSAKI2021).
The choristers discussed the need for a pure singing sound and focus on the clarity of diction. This highlights the uniqueness of choral singing in a cathedral setting where music has a religious purpose and, therefore, needs to be performed in a dignified manner, and also the importance of clear articulation of the text and communication of its meaning. Cathedral conductors aim at blending girls’ and boys’ voices into a pure sound (Owens & Welch, Reference OWENS, WELCH, Abrahams and Head2017), with diction being an important element of choral pedagogy (Abrahams, Reference ABRAHAMS, Abrahams and Head2017).
Many choristers commented on daily long rehearsals and performances that were very demanding for young singers of only eight or nine years old, a lack of toilet breaks leading to tears and a general lack of understanding of working with children amongst the conductors. A similar heavy workload has been described by Barrett (Reference BARRETT and Barrett2011). Despite ‘brutal’ training, all have acknowledged this was the best music education they received in their life.
Enduring signal moments
Memorable musical experiences have been described as ‘pivotal moments’ of ‘profound importance’ which may underpin continued engagement in and with music (Green, Reference GREEN2021). All choristers recollected singing on many grand occasions at the cathedral as significant events in their musical lives. Making recordings for famous recording companies and live TV programmes was also identified as memorable. The cathedral choir frequently toured overseas and across the UK, and these away-from-home performances generated high-quality singing for high-profile events, thus raising the standard of singing and creating the social bonding of choristers (Pitts, Reference PITTS2016).
Chorister to career
In terms of careers, Sophie chose a teaching career and was keen to introduce music into her primary classroom, Ella became a project manager, and Grace a legal secretary. Recent research reported similar results, with only one-third of 30 male and female ex-choristers aged 18–80 pursuing music-related careers (Dong & Kokotsaki, Reference DONG and KOKOTSAKI2021).
For many, transition out of the cathedral choir was difficult. As Grace mentioned, ‘leaving was bizarre’. It resulted in loss of identity as a cathedral chorister, something that fully occupied their lives all day long, every day for many years (Parker, Reference PARKER2014). All choristers continued singing in school choirs and vocal ensembles that provided new avenues for choral singing. They sang in choirs throughout their lives, from pop-up choirs to high-level performance choirs. This finding is not surprising, since the choristers were inducted into the community of cathedral singing during their childhood and, therefore, were drawn to continue choral singing and maintain high-level standards later in life (Wegner, Reference WENGER1998).
Musical and extra-musical learnings
The choristers recognised advanced choral skills they developed during cathedral training to meet choral conductors’ expectations of high-level performance (Barrett, Reference BARRETT and Barrett2011). This has led to a desire to continue singing challenging choral repertoire post-Cathedral training. Similar findings have been reported from an intensive summer choral school (Barett & Zhukov, Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022a).
The choristers commented on their gender identity, an issue discussed in the literature after the introduction of girl singers into cathedral UK choirs in the 1990s (Owens & Welch, Reference OWENS, WELCH, Abrahams and Head2017). These female choristers reported the desire to sing as well and even better than male choristers.
Choral singing was reported to have a positive impact on education, with Ella suggesting that all children needed access to choral singing. Barrett et al., (Reference BARRETT, ZHUKOV and WELCH2019) showed that introducing singing activities in early primary classrooms had a positive impact on student learning and behaviour. For a choir to succeed, conductors need to make rehearsals stimulating and enjoyable (Grace). Recent research into multiple choirs has highlighted the importance of fast-moving rehearsals and the conductor’s sense of humour (Barett & Zhukov, Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022a).
During cathedral training, the choristers developed many extra-musical skills, such as being organised and flexible, focusing on details, working hard, behaving in a professional manner and taking up leadership roles. Research has shown that singing in high-level choirs leads to individual growth and skill transfer beyond musical expertise (Barrett, Reference BARRETT and Barrett2011; Barett & Zhukov, Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022a).
The importance of music for mental health was raised by Grace, who reported that singing helped to moderate her mood and reminded her of goodness in the world. The positive impact of choral singing on mindfulness has been demonstrated by research (Lynch & Wilson, Reference LYNCH and WILSON2018). Chorister training developed our participants’ ability to cope with criticism. Sophie also identified links to achievement and motivation when she talked about singing one’s best and trying the hardest. Research showed that participation in advanced children’s choirs leads to improvement in self-esteem and self-efficacy (Zhukov et al., Reference ZHUKOV, BARRETT and WELCH2021).
All choristers highlighted lifelong friendships they made during their choral training, with Sophie finding her clan amongst the ‘choral music nerds’. This finding is reflected in the literature (Parker, Reference PARKER2018; Barett & Zhukov, Reference BARRETT and ZHUKOV2022a). In addressing Research Question Three, the choristers speak of the ways in which the experience of choral training developed habits of self-management, including being organised and flexible, focusing on details, working hard, behaving in a professional manner and taking up leadership roles.
Concluding remarks
All three choristers reported life-changing impacts on their lives, beyond the development of advanced music skills: ex-choristers learnt to work hard, focus on details, take up leadership roles and aim for high standards. The experiences described by these choristers and their perceptions of the enduring impacts on their lives capture periods of significant changes in cathedral choral training. While the routines of cathedral training remained constant, the introduction of girl singers has changed the dynamics between the conductors and choristers and between choristers.
This narrative case study of three female cathedral choristers is limited to a particular context and research methodology. Nevertheless, it highlights the need for continued research into the enduring impacts of choral singing on chorister lifelong outcomes, focusing in particular on female singers, to enhance choral education practices.
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