Choral singing, wellbeing and health: Summary of findings from a cross-national survey

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the perceived benefits of choral singing through a large-scale cross-national survey assessing choral singers’ perceptions of the effects of singing in England, Germany and Australia. The study is based on the World Health Organization’s definition of health (WHO, 1946) as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of illness or infirmity’ and uses a cross-nationally validated quality of life instrument developed by the WHO Quality of Life project (Power, Harper, Bullinger and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Group, 1999) (the WHOQOL-BREF).