How can I keep from singing: A lifetime of sweet singing in the choir

o the rising of the sun and the running of the deer;The playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir.(Refrain from The Holly and the Ivy)As often happens with research projects, this study has evolved from several seemingly unrelated events which converged and suddenly became inextricably linked.The genesis for this study occurred in the early 80s when I took a new organist/choirmaster position at Cochrane Street United Church in S1.John's, Newfoundland, Canada.I was lured to Cochrane Street, not by the choristers, but by the magnificent four-manualCasavant organ and the extraordinary acoustic in this Byzantine edifice.At the first choir rehearsal, I met three women that would permanently alter my perception of the often maligned 'mature' church choir soprano.There, in the front row, were three sopranos who, in their early seventies, had been together in the same church choir for almost 50 years.During my subsequent ten year employment at Cochrane Street United Church (1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992), all three celebrated their 80 th birthdays.Now, at the end of the twentieth century, their individual years of participation in this particular choir has increased to 60 years.As these three choristers continued to make a vital contribution to the Senior Choir (and two continued to sing lovely solos), I became increasingly aware of how unusual it was to have, not one, but three octogenarians that I was not anxious to retire.At the time, I was the Music Education Consultant for the Department of Education, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.As we began to develop Ensemble Performance courses in the early 90s, I became interested in the notion of voluntary, continued participation in all musical ensembles and, in particular, continued participation in choirs, both K-12 and post-secondary.More recently, as the role and status of music education within the K-12 curriculum is challenged and threatened, it is obvious that there is an increasing imperative for inquiry into lifelong participation in a choir.This study is further fueled by the recent campaign by MENC, the Barbershop Society (SPEBSQSA), Chorus America, Sweet Adelines International, and the American Choral Directors Association to "build up the common life of singing in schools and communities" (Whitlock, 1996), Bannan's (1993) attack on indifference toward choral singing in Great Britain, and the publication of a report in the British Medicaljournal suggesting that cultural activity (i.e., singing in a choir) may have a positive influence on

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