A shade of grey: Negative associations with amateur choral singing
Abstract
Background: Amateur choral singing has been associated with a range of beneficial influences on perceived mental and physical well-being and health. However, it is unclear to what extent negative experiences exist that may be related to singing in choral societies. Aims: The main focus of this study was to explore negative experiences of longstanding members of choral societies. In particular, themes of such experiences were to be identified as well as their prevalence. Methods: Written responses to open-ended questions (n = 753) from a large-scale survey (N = 3145) on negative experiences in association with choral singing were submitted to content analysis to identify themes and issues. Two independent jurors then assessed a random selection of a 100 responses to assess the prevalence of themes. Results: Conductor (prevalence: 50%), fellow choristers (prevalence: 38.1%), and performance aspects (prevalence: 13.6%) were identified as main themes of negative experiences in both content and simple kappa analyses. Conclusions: These results suggest that social problems as well as conflicting aesthetic goals dominate negative associations with amateur choral singing.
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Those who lapse in singing sometimes do so because of an unwelcoming environment or relational friction.
“and those who lapse in singing sometimes do so because of an unwelcoming environment or relational friction (Kreutz & Brünger 2012;cf. Pitts & Robinson 2016).”
From ‘I don’t care who joins my choir’: Investigating attitudes to diversity and inclusivity in lower- and upper-voice choirs in the United Kingdom (2025) · cites this paper as Kreutz & Brünger 2012
The potential impact of exclusionary behaviours among choir participants upon recreational singing opportunities has rarely been considered.
“Yet although some research has uncovered exclusionary behaviours among choir participantssuch as the formation of cliques (Kreutz & Brünger 2012), low levels of commitment or attendance (Parkinson 2020), or the perpetuation of racialised or gendered stereotypes (Mantie & Talbot 2020)the potential impact of such problems upon recreational singing opportunities has rarely been considered.”
From ‘I don’t care who joins my choir’: Investigating attitudes to diversity and inclusivity in lower- and upper-voice choirs in the United Kingdom (2025) · cites this paper as Kreutz & Brünger 2012
Cites
Grape, C., Sandgren, M., Hansson, L.-O., Ericson, M., & Theorell, T. (2002) · Integrative Physiological & Behavioral Science · doi:10.1007/bf02734261 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Beck, R. J., Cesario, T. C., Yousefi, A., & Enamoto, H. (2000) · Music Perception · doi:10.2307/40285902 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
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Bullack, A., Gass, C., Nater, U. M., & Kreutz, G. (2018) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00223 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Self-citationMacGregor, E. H., & Pitts, S. E. (2025) · International Journal of Community Music · doi:10.1386/ijcm_00119_1 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kreutz, G., & Brünger, P.
- Affiliations
- Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (DE)
- Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Kreutz, Gunter
- ORCID
- Kreutz, Gunter
- Venue
- Arts & Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-10
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 230-238
- ISSN
- 1753-3015 (ISSN-L)
- 1753-3023
- OpenAlex
- W2067387728
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 1.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Arts & Health (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Diverse Music Education Insights
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Musicians’ Health and Performance
- Keywords
- choral societies, negative experiences, conductors, social problems, aesthetic conflict, well-being
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