Connections Between Theatre and Choral Music in a High School Setting

All of the arts, fine and performing, are often referred to in the collective by the public, but only rarely seem to collaborate. To encourage collaboration in the arts I set out to create a survey that would reliably measure whether high school choir students saw similarities between their choral skills and theatrical skills. Using previous research and personal experience, I created a list of eighteen skills used in both choir and theatre and had students rate the similarity of their application in the two settings from 1 (not at all similar) to 5 (extremely similar). With the help of Perry High School and the Ames Children’s Choir the survey was piloted and sixteen of the items were found to have high reliability. The raw data also showed that the students found the application of the skills moderately to very similar. In short, these preliminary findings suggest that choir students see how they may use choir skills in theatre. The collaboration of the two subjects would potentially allow students additional chances not only to practice these skills, but also to successfully understand key concepts and improve overall success. It also suggests the possibility of a united educational arts community