Conductor feedback and the amateur singer: The role of criticism and praise in building choral confidence

Abstract

This article is based on the findings of a qualitative exploration of factors influencing confidence levels among adult amateur choral singers. Three focus group interviews, involving 18 singers in total, and 16 individual interviews were carried out. These provided over 40 hours of recorded verbal data, which then underwent a process of interpretative phenomenological analysis. The research aims were: to explore the lived experience of choral singers; to identify some of the main influences on their perceptions of their voices and performance ability; to highlight some of the factors affecting their confidence as singers; and to extrapolate strategies designed to manage confidence issues among amateur choral singers. The superordinate emergent themes included the impact of verbal feedback on the reported confidence levels of adult amateur choral singers. The findings indicate that some of their needs and preferences, in relation to criticism and praise from conductors, differ from those of music students in educational settings.