Select eighth-grade chorister and choir director views of why the students may continue in high school curricular choir

In this study, I examined the value that 8th-grade choristers (N = 53) assign to various topics that may or may not inform their decision to continue in curricular choral singing as they transition into high school. I also examined the perceptions of choir directors (N = 100) who teach in grades K-12 regarding their perceptions of how 8th-grade choristers assign value to the same topics. Teacher participants were the choir directors of the 8th-grade chorister participants (n = 14), choir directors at the high school where the student participants will be enrolled (n = 10), and additional K-12 choir directors who were members of the American Choral Directors Association (n = 76). Student participants and the choir directors in their school district received an author-created email with information about the study and a URL link to an anonymous 70-question survey not including demographic questions. ACDA member participants accessed a 65-question survey through a monthly newsletter in an email sent by the ACDA national office. Among the primary findings, survey results showed that 8th-grade choristers most highly valued factors related to personal growth, how the students enjoy the challenges of the choral literature, and perceptions of their professional interactions with the choir director (Academic Integration). Although the 8th-grade choristers indicated Academic Integration as the most highly valued category, results from a Spearman rank-order correlation analysis indicated that Academic Integration had a very low correlation (rs = .071) to the likelihood of students actually continuing to sing in high school. The 8th-grade choristers indicated that they least value factors related to how students feel about the cultural connections they experience with other choir members and the literature that they perform (Culture). The correlation analysis revealed that Value of Music and Self-Concept of Musical Abilities (rs = .779) as well as Culture and Value of Music (rs = .700) are the most correlated categories. Although the 8th-grade choristers indicated Culture as least valued when considering whether to continue singing in a high school choir, a correlation analysis showed a moderate correlation between Culture and the likelihood of students to continue (rs = .477). Choir director participants perceived that 70.1% of 8th-grade students would highly value the factors related to the sense of community that students experience in choir, how the students respond to having friends in choir, and perceptions of their social interactions with the choir director (Social Integration). Results of this study might assist choir directors both in middle schools and high schools as they work together with parents, guardians, and school counselors to ensure that students are best supported in their decisions to continue in choral singing during the transition to high school. Results might also inform music teacher educators who work with pre-service choral music teachers. If these students understand the factors that inform middle school students’ decisions to continue in choral ensembles as they transition into high school, this knowledge may benefit them when these pre-service choral music educators have their own choral programs.