Background
Choir singing is an activity that engages individuals all over the world with a broad
demographic representation. Both qualitative and quantitative studies have examined
the benefits of the activity but very few have examined the effects when someone loses
access to it and stops singing.
Objectives
Examining the governmental and organisational responses precipitated by the COVID
19- pandemic, we asked what happens when a choir singer loses all of their
routines associated with regular participation in choir singing.
Materials and Methods
One national choir organization in Sweden (n= 3163) and one in Norway (n=1881)
were approached with a short survey. This comprised questions relating to the issue
“what do you as a choir singer miss the most?” Each participant was asked to rate the
importance of a number of elements that pertain to the experience of choir singing.
Results
The social aspect of singing emerged as having the strongest weight in terms of
perceived loss i.e. it was the element that the participants missed the most.
Professional singers report that they miss the aesthetic experiences, flow, and all the
physical aspects (physical training, voice training and breathing training) to a greater
degree as compared to reports from the amateurs. The importance of aesthetic
experiences and physical components appeared to rise with increasing number of
years that an individual had engaged with choir singing.
Conclusion
In the Scandinavian setting, the social aspect has a stronger weight than the other
components and this seemed to be more significant in Norway compared to Sweden