Jalah Johnson

Professor Sally Griffin

Inquiry Paper
UWRT 1102-090
March 10, 2015
Why is there a Shortage of Males in Choirs and How Can Teachers Change it?
There are a lot of choirs in the world, singing all types of music from show tunes
to classical to top forty hits. Choirs provide entertainment for multiple audiences and
include different kinds of people. There are choirs in middle school, high school, college,
choirs just for the elderly, children, deaf choirs, even the disabled, a choir can be
composed of anyone with the want and or need to express themselves musically. Talent is
not always required, just the passion for music. With as many different types of choirs
there are, there is often a thought that the ratio of gender would be an even match, but
that is almost never the case. Choirs everywhere, no matter what type have a shortage of
male performers. This trend stretches across other performing arts programs as well, such
as dance and theatre. These clubs are often times filled with mostly females and do not
have enough males to make a difference. Many choir directors deal with the issue of
getting boys to join the choir, how does one appeal to a gender that is taught to avoid
anything that could make them appear less manly or inferior?
There are a lot of different opinions on why males do not join choirs or any type
of extracurricular that does not involve sports and how to get them involved. Most
revolve around societys views and gender stereotypes. Men are supposed to be strong,
aggressive, and athletic, while women supposedly have a need to express themselves

emotionally, so directors should try to appeal to this idea of masculinity. Some resources
blame it on boys having something better to do, playing video games, and joining a sports
team, maybe they simply just dont want to join a choir, that leads to there being no way
to recruit them into something that they are not truly interested in. Some research
suggests that boys are not welcome to the performing arts, or if they are it should be an
all boys choir where they are with others like them, separating choirs into all female and
all male. If like-minded boys, all going through the same thing, are together maybe they
are more likely to invite their friends into the program. Boys not being in a chorus, when
it is something that they want to do, can be dangerous to their sense of expression, feeling
as if they can not express themselves in the way they want to could lead to damaging
acts. For the boys who do not know whether or not it is something they are interested in,
how is it that they will find out if it is something they may be dedicated to, if it is
frowned upon for them to join? Or the case could be that all of these suggestions hold no
actual meaning and boys have their own prerogative, and trying to appeal to an idea of
masculinity is problematic in itself. There is no definitive answer for why there is a
shortage of males in choirs or how that number may grow.
In the article articleEncouraging Male Participation in Chorus from the Music
Educators Journal, the author Steven Demorest explores his own personal experiences
with joining his high schools choir his first year, being encouraged by his father to make
the leap. In the article he mentions junior high as the time when boys choose not to
continue singing because of the causes of puberty and how that affects their already
blossoming insecurity. According to Demorest singing involves taking a somewhat
personal risk especially for young boys who are easily influenced by their peers. Peer

pressure is a main reason boys overlook choir, in their eyes it does not take priority over
the other things they have going on in their life. He also addresses the problem that
teachers have with getting boys to join the choir Teachers and writers of choral methods
books have agonized over the missing males and have offered many strategies for
recruiting and retaining male singers(Demorest 38). According to Demorest teachers
start with carefully selected repertoire to engage males in the activity, shaping and
training their voices, no matter their ability, allowing them to participate more. However
this only helps the boys stay in once they have joined, it does not solve the problem of
getting them there. Other strategies he says focuses on appealing to the boys
masculinity through stereotypes. Teachers try and get athletes to sing to make joining
the choir seem manly or masculine. This is dangerous because it is hard to
disassociate these terms with other traditional terms relating to males such as strength,
and boldness. It insinuates that before a male joins the choir it is the opposite, weak and
inferior. Demorest proposes that teachers use a less stereotypical definition of masculine
as pertaining to thing men do(Demorest 38). He says using this definition will allow
teachers to appeal to a boys identity naturally. Giving them the opportunity to interact
with other boys that are active in singing shows them role models that no matter if they
are like them or not, show an interest in singing.
In the United States there is a frequent and consistent trend to confine women and
men into their own separate categories, things men do and things women do. Male
singing is not as present in the United States as it is in certain other cultures Demorest
provides South Africa and Samoa as examples. When boys join something in this culture
they are often looking to their male friends as guidance. This means that when boys are

looking for something to join they are looking for other men to be there so that it seems
as if their peers have approved it. give young boys opportunities to interact with other
males who sing (39). Giving them this appeals to their perception that singing is
something men do and enjoy.
The approach that Demorest focuses on is a program called A Workshop for Boy
Singers offered first in nineteen ninety two at the University of Washington. It is a
workshop that is publicized through email to elementary, middle, and high school
teachers. Teachers then bring out a certain number of boys from their choirs to the
workshop where they perfect the songs that were sent to them and perform as an
ensemble choir. The workshop relates to many other one-day chorus events with the
exception that it only involves males. It works as any other workshop does, focusing on
vocal issues and needs, but this caters specifically to boys rather than a mix of genders.
Focusing on the technical and musical issues of training the changing voice rather than
focusing on part learning (39). The boys have a chance to grow with each other and have
the opportunity of finding other male singers to look up to.
It is notable to mention the response that occurs each year during after the
workshop. Often teachers call the university trying to find out ahead of time when the
event will happen. They see it as a boost for their own programs to have something
special that only the guys do.(40). Some directors see that the boys in their choir often
feel inferior to the girls because they may not be on the same level musically and are
often outnumbered. It is something that happens in a lot of choirs, there is always a
difference in ability between students whether male or female, that takes a hit to
someones self-esteem. In these cases workshops such as this are beneficial in that they

allow students, in this case boys, to have a boost of confidence. That way they feel better
about their ability to sing and their musicality allowing them to participate more in class
and sing out. The workshop appeals to the perception that singing can be a male activity
as well. Giving boys this type of program shows them that singing doesnt have to be
something that only girls do, they can participate as well, it may increase the number of
males as they see it as something that can be enjoyed.
There is a question that still remains, does giving boys a boy only environment
keep them interested and invested in chorus, or does the cycle start again? Once the boys
leave the workshop their confidence has been lifted, but does it stay consistent? Bridget
Sweet investigates the premise of these questions by observing her own middle school
choir, their motivation behind singing and participating in choir. She includes an
interview with five boys from her choir, her own observances that included a change of
teaching style, where she became stricter in her methods with a no tolerance policy. It
is interesting to have a first look into the motivations of adolescent boys and what makes
them want to continue in choir.
The interview that Sweet conducts focuses on their motivations, reasons for joining the
choir, and what their friends and family think of them singing. The common trend among
the boys is that they think singing is fun and that it provides them with an outlet for
expression, a chance to take a break from their other classes where homework is required
and more intellectual thinking is involved. They enjoy showcasing their talents, showing
off for people, taking pride in their performances. It is just as athletes are proud to show
how hard they work and how that pays off on the court or field. The boys in Sweets class
seem to also be motivated by attention from their peers, more specifically attention from

females. One of her students says, If were not good enough to make the chicks cheer,
then were just not good enough at all!(Sweet 9). She attributes this as the reason the
boys get teased by other boys outside of the choir. With the boys pride comes the
acceptance from their families who had no idea of their musical talents until they joined
the choir. However along with that acceptance came teasing from their peers. The boys
are teased for trying and showing an actual interest in the class.
CliffIf you try, they make fun of you.
Jack: and they say that you dont sound good and that youre a teachers pet
Cornelius: Cause like, come of those people think theyre so cool. They make fun of
people whose voices havent totally dropped yet because they have to sing up higher
they say that they sound like girls or little kids, but its harder than it looks
Jack: That they sound like theyre gay.[long pause]. (10)
This shows exactly why some boys are afraid to join the choir; for fear that they may be
called names and made fun of. It appeals to the argument that there is a misogynistic or
homophobic approach to the way that people think about the performing arts. However in
spite of the views that the peers surrounding the boys they still have a dedication to the
choir program, the reactions from their families, and their own pride taking precedent
over what others think.
Sweets new teaching style included a no-tolerance policy that many teachers
implement in order to raise effort and skill within the choir. She continued to include
individual singing opportunities, group work, and praise her students for their hard work
but because of my new awareness and strict changes in classroom policy, effort and skill
increased with most singers, especially my male choir members (11). The male students

needed opportunities to work with other students that had the same goals and desires as
them in the interest of singing. While Demorests research emphasizes the need for all
male interaction, Sweets observations showed that dedication, caring, and teamwork
were most important to the male students. The boys worked hardest with students who
shared similar goals and depended on one other for support, encouragement, and
understanding (11). This adds another view as to why males join choir, it is not solely
dependent on the role models they see in the program, but it appeals to their intrinsic
motivations, the need to feel proud of something. She kept their interest by appealing to
that feeling inside of them, fulfilling their want to succeed and accomplish something
Therefore their lack of interest in the choir did not directly correlate with the inability to
commit to it, but that maybe if they could not find what they were looking for there, they
would go on to something else that may fulfill that need. It is important to note however
that Sweets observation is not a generalization for all males in all choirs; she had a small
sample size there may be other underlying issues and problems for other teachers in
getting and keeping the attention of their male students.
A consistent thought is that males do not join choir because they are afraid of
being seen as unmanly, singing is not something that men do. So in order to get boys to
join a teacher should appeal to the traditional ideals of what a boy does, making efforts to
pick music that is more masculine so that they may identify with it. This thought is
problematic in that it appeals to traditional forms of sexism and the perception that boys
do what boys do and girls do what girls do, there is no mixing of gender. It takes words
like masculine and manly turns them into compliments and words like sissy, girly, or
feminine then become insults, because the last thing a boy wants to do is be considered

girly, or in more recent times gay. Julia Koza writes an entire article criticizing the
assumptions and thoughts made by other writers who investigated the issue. The texts I
examined drew from and reinforced systems of ideas to perpetuate unequal power
relations and that foster the continued of women and gay men (Koza 49). Other
researchers have taken apart the reason why boys do not join choir, dissected it, and did
not deal with the overt sexism that occurs when wanting to bring more in. Instead of
tackling the problem, they seemed to cover it up, by appealing to the ideas of masculinity
and using that tactic to recruit men. American culture revolves around traditional gender
roles, and singing does not fall into the gender of a man. In a study by Perry A. Castelli
he asked teachers to give the main reasons boys leave choral programs. Most teachers
said that it is because of peer pressure and sexual identity. Also seen in Sweet and
Demorests articles, boys are afraid of being compared to females. Most research done
cites these as reasons but do not discuss the issue itself, instead choose to calm their
thoughts by making it seem something that boys do. They stress common themes
between singing and masculine traits. Another way to help boys view singing as a
masculine activity is to stress the physical training required by the psychomotor
process(52). In this training they begin to associate singing with the same training as
sports that creates this sense of weak vs. strong and good vs. bad. It is good to be strong
and to work physically, bad to do the opposite and if singing is associated with the weak
and bad boys have lost interest. This is the approach most researchers take. The sense of
power has to be felt by the male or else it does not go towards his goal of becoming a
man.

The thoughts that men need to feel manly in order to enjoy something are what
social feminists would call sexist. Researchers take feminine characteristics and
transform into something that it is not desirable. There is a special cater to boys because
of the shortage, they then become more coveted. Often times teachers will change their
direction of teaching, or tactics for recruitment to revolve around boys.
By catering to boys aversions, many of these solutions not only acknowledged but
reinforced discourses that construct femininity, females, and homosexual males as bad.
Thus these proposed solutions were misogynistic due to the multiple meanings of
feminine discussed earlier, homophobic (61).
Some texts tell teachers to avoid using feminine terms, separate the boys from the girls.
Michael Zemek researches the supports behind separating choirs by gender, the
researchers in his article excuse the separation to gender differences, participation, and
vocal development. Overall the thought is that in mixed choirs boys will not prosper as
well as the females, they need to be catered to because of their vocal changes and
identity challenges. These methods leave females behind and cater to the male
perspective. That is not to say that the female student is more important than the male, or
vice versa, but that there should be a sense of equality even in choirs that start as young
as elementary school. Researchers accepted the fact that these were problems, but instead
of dissecting the issue as a whole, they chose to reinforce the beliefs. Boys should sing,
but they still should not cry (Shouldice 486). Boys should come and join choir, enjoy it,
be proud of it, but do not show any emotion, because that is against what they are
believed to think being a man is. It is extremely dangerous to their growth, how are boys
expected to truly express themselves if there is a fear of homophobia and sexism around

every corner. Perhaps instead of feeding into this, teachers should cater to all their
students and show no bias to how they treat the males and females.
There is so much research behind why boys do not join choirs, and how to get
them there. However, there are also so many contradictions between researchers. Appeal
to a boys idea of masculinity, separate them from girls, in order to prevent them from
feeling feminine. There does not appear to be one simple reason or solution, it is
something that continues to be a problem today. The shortage of males in choirs has been
an issue in specifically the United States for as long as gender roles have been
established. The answer is not as simple as showing boys that other men do it, giving
them someone to lookup to. Perhaps the problem starts with America itself, maybe there
should be a more dramatic jump from traditional beliefs, to the idea that boys can do
anything and be whoever they want to be, and the same for girls. Boys should not have to
be confined into boy only choirs, to have a desire to stay or join choir. They should
however be able to decide for themselves what they want to do, with no encouragement
from peers or family. It is time that boys recognize that they are allowed to join what they
want without the fear of being teased for their choices.

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