Want your child to have greater academic success and more advanced social skills? You can get help for only the price of a song.

A new national study commissioned by Chorus America found that children who sing in choruses have greater academic success and more advanced social skills than children who don’t sing.

That means parents who bring their children to participate in Wilshire’s preschool, children’s and youth choirs are investing in more than they might have imagined, said Doug Haney, minister of music. In addition to learning the words and truths of Scripture through music, they are building social and academic skills.

The results from this latest research support and advance earlier findings that adult choral singers exhibit increased social skills, civic involvement, volunteerism, philanthropy, and support of other art forms, when compared with non-singers.

The new study documented that children who sing in choirs display many of the enhanced social skills found in adult singers.

Among the study’s major findings for young singers:  

• The majority of parents surveyed believe multiple skills increased after their child joined a chorus. Seventy-one percent say their child has become more self-confident, 70 percent say their child’s self-discipline has improved, and 69 percent said their child’s memory skills have improved. 

• More than 80 percent of educators surveyed—across multiple academic disciplines—agree with parent assessments that choir participation can enhance numerous aspects of a child’s social development and academic success. Educators also observe that children who sing are better participants in group activities, have better emotional expression and exhibit better emotional management.

• Children who participate in a chorus get significantly better grades than children who have never sung in a choir.

The full report and an executive summary are available online at www.chorusamerica.org.

Wilshire offers age-graded choirs for children ages 3 through high school. The current year of children’s choirs has just ended, but a new year will begin in mid-August. For more information, contact Sarah Stafford, music associate, at (214) 452-3121.