Why boys do not join the choir

Published: 15 March, 2007

Boys tend not to join choirs because they think their singing voices "do not sound like boys", research suggests.

Dr Martin Ashley of the University of the West of England says they associate "boy" bands with adult voices.

He found pupils in a range of schools thought bands and even soloists "cool" - but regarded choristers as "weird".

At least the majority did – but he estimates that about one in 20 boys would love to be in a choir, and would develop a real love of singing.

In schools, boys are highly unlikely to join the choir – even though many of them will sing their hearts out at football matches on a Saturday.

The researchers' starting point was that it has long been known that singing is not top of boys' wish lists, a reason commonly given being that boys do not want to "sound like girls".

But that was not the reason. What they found was a vocal redefinition of the word "boy". Dr Ashley worked with a nationally representative sample of schools of different sorts and five cathedral choirs.

The schools included rural and urban performing arts colleges, inner-city and Welsh-speaking comprehensives, a boys' grammar school, three cathedral choir schools and a similar range of primary schools.

"The first thing we discovered is that it's choral singing that's in trouble," he said. "Solo or band singing is actually quite 'cool' for boys.”