Singing groups have doubled in size since the spring.
On a Thursday evening in the church hall on Lantern Street, forty-three teenagers are attempting a four-part harmony on a song most of their grandparents would recognise. It goes wrong twice. On the third attempt, the altos come in on time, the basses find the low note, and for a few bars the room fills with something that makes the parents waiting by the door stop scrolling their phones.
The Calder Youth Voices choir had 19 members in March. It now has 43, with a waiting list. Across the city and the valley, other young people’s singing groups report similar growth. A survey of 14 youth choirs by the regional music education hub found combined membership had risen from 260 in the spring to 540 by October – a doubling in six months.
A post-exam surge
Choir leaders say the surge began after a series of school concerts in the spring, when several secondary schools held joint performances at the City Hall concert room for the first time in years. Clips from the concerts spread on social media, and enquiries followed. But they say the reasons teenagers stay are more interesting than the reasons they join.
Many of the new members talk about belonging. In conversations at three choirs in Calder and Ardle, teenagers repeatedly described the rehearsals as one of the few places in their week where they felt neither judged nor pressured to perform as individuals.
“At school everything is about you, your grades, your work,” said Maya Ferreira-Holt, 16, who joined the Lantern Street choir in May. “Here it is about everyone getting it right together. If I mess up, someone next to me covers it. Nobody is filming. It is the most relaxed I feel all week.”
What the research says
There is growing evidence that group singing benefits mental health. Studies have linked it to reduced stress hormones, improved mood and a stronger sense of social connection, and some research suggests the effect is greater in groups than in solo singing, because of the synchrony of breathing and movement. Dr Kwame Oduya, a clinical psychologist who works with young people at the Calder community mental health service, said he was cautious about overstating the case but saw clear benefits.
“Singing in a choir combines several things we know are protective for teenagers,” he said. “Regular contact with peers outside school, a shared goal, physical activity of a kind, and a chance to feel competent at something. It is not a treatment, and it will not replace help where help is needed. But I would much rather a young person was spending Thursday evening singing than alone in their room.”
Several choir leaders said they had seen members who arrived anxious and withdrawn grow in confidence over months. Some groups now have a trained pastoral volunteer at each rehearsal and a quiet room where young people can step out if they feel overwhelmed.
Keeping the momentum going
Growth has brought practical challenges. Most youth choirs in the region run on small budgets, relying on subscription fees of a few pounds a week, grants and fundraising concerts. Rehearsal space has become harder to find, and the cost of hiring halls has risen. The Lantern Street choir’s director, Rosalind Achterberg-Lowe, said she had turned away 15 young people since the summer because the hall could not safely hold more.
Repertoire matters too. Leaders say teenagers are more likely to stay if they have a say in what they sing, and most now mix choral standards with arrangements of pop songs and folk music from the region. The Ardle Valley Youth Chorus asks its members to vote on one song each term. Cost can also be a barrier. Several choirs have introduced free places for young people whose families receive benefits, and the regional music hub is considering a fund to cover travel costs for members from the hill towns, where evening buses are limited.
Back in the church hall, rehearsal ends at 8.30. Several members linger by the piano, singing the last few bars again for fun. A father waiting by the door says his son, who used to spend evenings gaming in his bedroom, now hums in the shower. “I do not know what they are doing in here,” he says. “But please don’t stop.”
