How community choirs learn if they do not sight-read : profiling community choirs in Australia

The Australian community choir movement, which boomed out of the a cappella scene that emerged in the 1980s, was formed with a distinct objective to distance itself from the formal choral society model which had existed prior. Little research has been conducted concerning the members of these choirs, their music reading skills and how they learn music. The method adopted for this research was an anonymous questionnaire distributed to choristers of four choirs at one of their weekly rehearsals. This paper discusses responses to three questions regarding score reading skills, preferred visual reference and music learning preferences. The study found that each choir consisted of singers across a broad spectrum of score reading skills, from those stating they could not read music to proficient sight readers. How then do the choristers who do not sight read learn? In all four choirs, the full music score and notated melody line with words were the preferred visual reference. Choristers who were not strong score readers still liked to use notation because it provided a visual reference. Full scores were useful for longer or more complex songs, for singers on parts other than the melody and to see how each of the vocal lines fit together in the texture of the song. Other learning strategies beyond the score included hearing the director sing or play the part, watching the director conduct the pitch contour in rhythm, listening to recordings and playing parts on an instrument at home.