Music Program Recruiting

Recruiting Choir Students

An action research project by
Lee Andres
Grand Canyon University
EDU 590

1

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
Slide 1 – Title Page
Slide 2 – Table of Contents
Slide 3 – Focus and Baseline Data
Slide 4 – Performance Objectives
Slide 5 – Clarifying Theories: Literature Review 1
Slide 10 – Hypothesis, Research Question and Intervention
Slide 11 – Graphic Reconstruction: The Problem
Slide 12 – Graphic Reconstruction: Possible Solution
Slide 13 – Collecting the Data
Slide 14 – Triangulation Matrix
Slide 15 – Data Analysis and Report
Slide 16 – Data Analysis and Report continued
Slide 23 – The Action Plan
Slide 24 – The Reflection
Slide 25 – References

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Focus
How do we get more kids to join the vocal music program?
Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado has been faced with declining enrollment over the last several years.
The declining enrollment is primarily due to the natural cycle of the area. That is, the number of young households with
children moving into the area is less than the number of older households without students in the Columbine area schools
that are not moving out of the area. Subsequently, the enrollment in the vocal music program has declined, because there
are fewer students at Columbine, and now there are fewer course offerings throughout the curriculum and competition
among electives has become greater. The researcher strongly believes that this is an appropriate research topic because the
survival of the program is dependent upon the number of students who participate in the program. In addition, the number of
students in a vocal music program directly affects the quality of a program because the more students that participate, the
wider variety of talent that is found in the program.
Baseline Data
The trend in declining enrollment over the last three years at Columbine High School:

The 2002 – 2003 and 2003 – 2004 figures are taken from the official figures sent by Columbine High School to the Colorado
High School Activities Association. The 2004 – 2005 school year is taken from the Columbine High School database.

2002 – 2003 School Year 2003 – 2004 School Year 2004-2005 School Year
Total Enrollment: 1737 Total Enrollment: 1675 Total Enrollment: 1610
Total Department enrollment: 348 Total Department enrollment: 299 Total Department enrollment: 270

The total department enrollment figures for all three years include students enrolled in more than one vocal music class.

Time Line
The researcher plans to survey the students in the program, any new students that join the program, and fellow vocal music
teachers within the school district. The researcher hopes to have all of this accomplished early in January of 2005 when the
new semester begins and the actual number of new student to the program are known.

Criteria for Success
The researcher believes that any increase in the number of students would be a success. However the researcher
feels that a minimum of new of 4 new students would be considered fair, 10 new students good, 16 new students
Excellent and 22 new students would be excellent. The following slide contains the performance objectives for the project.

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Table of Measurable Performance Objectives

TRAIT POOR - 1 FAIR - 2 GOOD - 3 EXCELLENT - 4 OUTSTANDING - 5

The number No new students are added 4 new students are added 10 new students are 16 new students are All goals are met
of students to the program. regardless of what grade added to the program added to the program with a minimum of
that are they are in. regardless of what regardless of what 22 students are
added to the grade they are in. grade they are in. added to the
program by program. The ideal
the end of the ratio would be as
semester. follows:
Seniors – 2
Juniors - 4
Sophomores – 6
Freshman - 10

Present Students in the program Students in the program Students in the Students in the Students in the
students add no new students to the add 3 new students to program add 8 new program add 12 new program add 16 new
recruit new program. the program. students to the students to the students to the
students for program. program. program.
the program.

Teachers Teachers add no new Teachers add 1 new Teachers add 2 new Teachers add 4 new Teachers add 6 new
recruit new students to the program. student to the program. students to the students to the students to the
students for program. program. program.
the program.

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Clarifying Theories
The following slides contain a literature review done by the researcher.

SUMMARY 1
The first article reviewed was “Recruiting and Retaining Males” by Kenneth Phillips, published in
Teaching Music in 1995. The author looked at possible reasons why young boys do not sing in school
choirs and suggested several methods for recruiting boys to sing in the school choir.
Phillips first briefly looked at why boys, especially elementary and middle school age boys choose
not to sing. The primary reason is that young boys think they will be ridiculed by their peers or, as in one
case the author cited, by their own family members (older brothers). The problem for young boys is their
voices are still unchanged and their voices sound much like a girl’s voice. The author points out that boys
need to be taught the proper way to sing and be convinced that the way they sing does not in any way take
away from their “boyness/manhood.” Changing societal attitudes in a positive way about boys and singing
is the biggest challenge for any choir teacher
The vast majority of the article dealt with positive ways to model good singing for boys and
suggestions for recruiting boys to sing in the school choir. The author first discussed ways to equate
singing with sports by emphasizing the physical aspects of singing including physical conditioning and
warm ups, especially when dealing with younger boys. The author also emphasized good modeling when
teaching students to sing including helping them sing in their range, thus giving them success and a
positive self image about their singing. One way for boys to gain a positive image is to see other boys
successfully singing. Having boys see a children’s choir with a large number of boys or a high school
group with boys can help create a positive image of singing. The author then made several suggestions
about how to recruit boys including getting boys to participate in the school musical, recruiting during
study halls and fee periods, and creating a male chorus in the high school.
REFLECTION
While this article was not a traditional research paper, the author made several excellent points
about boys and singing. The researcher taught elementary school for ten years and constantly fought the
image that singing was an activity for “sissies”. While being a male helped to change this attitude and the
researcher certainly understands the problem, he still have to fight it at the high school level. The author’s
suggestions for having young boys see older boys sing is something that is done by the researcher on a
yearly basis. His ensembles annually perform at the five feeder elementary schools and he counts on this
experience to attract kids into singing when they come to the high school. In many ways the author
confirmed that what is already happening at Columbine High School right now, and what the researcher
did as an elementary teacher was on the right track. He has long felt that recruiting kids to sing in a high
school program begins before the kids get to the high school and this article confirms that belief.

Phillips, K. H. (1995). Recruiting and retaining males. [Electronic version] Teaching Music, 2,
28 – 19.

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Clarifying Theories
SUMMARY 2
The second article reviewed was “Recruiting for the Choral Ensemble by Emphasizing Skill and Effort”
By Christopher W. Peterson, published in the Music Educators Journal in 2002. The author looked at why
People feel they cannot sing and how a choral director can change that attitude in order to recruit students for
the program.
The first half of the article focused on why people feel they do not have musical ability. The author
pointed out that studies have shown that attribution theory, the belief about why one succeeds or fails at a
given activity, is primary reason why people have a particular self-concept about their musical abilities. At
some point in their lives, usually at the elementary ages, a student has either had a successful experience or a
poor experience dealing with singing. According to the author, attribution theory states “there are four general
causes to which people attribute success and failure: luck, effort, ability, and task difficulty.” Research has
shown that beliefs about ability and effort come from within the person and luck and task difficulty are derived
from external sources. In addition, ability and task difficulty are perceived as unchangeable in the minds of
many people creating the notion that people are born with musical talent or they are not, thereby making it
difficult for a music teacher to convince the average student that they can sing.
The author then explored ways to recruit students to sing in a choral program armed with the knowledge
that many, if not most, people believe that they do not have the talent to sing. The first thing a teacher has to do
is realize that recruiting students to sing is a fact of life for a choir director. The author points out that research
shows that 95 percent of all people can learn to match pitch and become competent singers, and therefore the
director should make every effort to talk to as many students as they possibly can to raise the number of
singers they have in their program. Even if a singer does not immediately show interest in singing, planting the
seed by explaining that most people can sing, like most people can learn to do math, can result in a student
joining at a later time. Convincing students that they do not have to be the best singer in order to be a
competent singer, and that this can be done purely through effort and hard work, is the challenge for the high
school director. Finally the author points out that making every effort to make the non-singer welcome in your
class by giving them attention, helping them out by assigning a student to be a “choir buddy”, and simply
asking how they are doing after a rehearsal can go a long way in relieving their initial fears about the student’s
lack of talent and ability.
REFLECTION
Once again this article confirms many of the things the researcher already does to recruit students and
maintain singers in his program. His experience with elementary students has shown that a vast majority of
students can sing if given the proper encouragement and training. Singing is a skill to be learned and like
anything else, some people are better at it than others, but that does not mean that the average student cannot
be successful or have fun doing it. Convincing students that with a little effort and hard work they can become
a valuable member of a successful choral program is probably the hardest part of recruiting. Once a teacher has
the proverbial “foot in the door”, they can continue to work on a student, even if they choose to join at a later
time. Probably more than anything else, this article motivates me to work harder at recruiting kids and makes
The researcher realize that bys simply talking to a kid about singing is not a waste of time, because one never
know when that conversation might lead to a kid changing his/her thinking about their own abilities.

Peterson, C. W. (2002). Recruiting for the choral ensemble by emphasizing skill and effort.
[Electronic version] Music Educators Journal, 89, 32-35.

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Clarifying Theories
SUMMARY 3
The third article reviewed was “College Choir Members’ Motivation to Persist in Music: Application of
the Tinto Model” by Veronica O. Sichivista, published in the Journal of Research in Music Education in 2003.
The researcher looked at why college students continued to sing in college and what factors influenced their
decision to sing. The researcher began by discussing previous research in this area. Earlier research found that
parental influences were a very strong factor in why a student continued to sing at the college level. Students
who had musical parents or were supportive of their musical activities tended to continue in choral music. A
second factor was a students view on how hard they needed to work to be successful in a given activity. If the
student felt that the time and effort it took to be a successful was satisfying they were more likely to continue
their pursuit of music. In addition self-concept and how a student viewed their own musical talents was also
important. Finally, the researcher looked at Tinto’s model for students continuing in music including such
factors as background characteristics, external and internal influences, and the perception of the student about
what college life is like.
The researcher then developed six hypotheses to study and then developed a questionnaire for students
that included both multiple choice questions and open-ended questions for them to answer. The researcher
surveyed over 150 students at a southern university that included about 100 women and 50 men. The results
validated many of her hypotheses including parental support, self-concept of musical ability and the student’s
attitude about the value of music.
The researcher then concluded her article with a discussion of her results. The researcher found that how
much the student valued music in their life was a probably the strongest predictor of continued participation in
choral music. Another finding she made was that while musical experience did not have a significant impact,
students raised in a household with a positive musical attitude did influence a student’s decision. She also
concluded that more research was needed in the area of motivation to find better ways to recruit students into
continuing with music.
REFLECTION
While this article dealt specifically with college students, the researcher does not believe that the reasons
high school students sing are very different from the reasons that college students sing. He has found that
students who come from supportive environments tend to stay in my program longer than students who come
from environments that are less supportive. In addition, how students view themselves and their own talents is
also an important factor in their staying in my program. Most kids quit because they feel they either have little
or talent in music, or they feel that they cannot achieve the highest levels of my program and look elsewhere
for an activity to satisfy their need for success. Finally, the researcher feels this article helps to focus on what
to ask students about what it is that keeps them in the program and how to go about that task.

Sichivitsa, V. O. (2003). College choir members’ motivation to persist in music: Application of
the Tinto model. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(4), 330-341.

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Clarifying Theories
SUMMARY 4
The fourth article reviewed for this project was titled “Increasing Middle School and High School in
Choral Groups by Developing a Revised Curriculum through Cooperative Group Process” by David
Weintraub. This dissertation, found in the ERIC database, is a rather lengthy work (164 pages) about a project
to increase enrollment, that was supervised by the author, in the Lakewood Public Schools in Lakewood, New
Jersey. With the cooperation of the district and the choral music teachers in Lakewood, the author worked to
establish a group process with the teachers of the district to increase the enrollment in the vocal music
programs. As a byproduct of this process they also worked to revised the curriculum that was used and worked
to maintain high standards of performance while trying to attract students.
The researcher hypothesized that teachers need to go out and recruit students, rather than wait for the new
school to see if any students had joined the program. He emphasized the need for recruiting boys as a way
to attract more girls, advertising the program, and encouraged teachers to find ways to instill pride into the
program. The curriculum was looked at by the researcher and the teachers to see if revision of educational
goals could possibly bring in more students.
In the end the researcher felt that there was some success and developed a plan for increasing enrollment
In the district vocal music program. Another benefit was the cooperation among the vocal music teachers at the
different grade level, including elementary in working together to increase enrollment and to look at the
curriculum and revise it if needed. Among the revision discussed were adding sight-singing to the secondary
curriculum, as well as emphasizing musical symbology.

RELFECTION
While this article was long and extremely detailed, it did show the need for cooperation in an articulation
area (high school and it’s feeder schools) in order to have a chance at successfully increasing enrollment
Performances at feeder schools and developing cooperation among those schools has always helped the
Columbine area to attract students. The author also made an excellent point that teachers need to the dirty work
and actually recruit students because while you always get students who enjoy music, there are always those
students who never thought about singing or thought that they could sing, walking the halls. All they need is
someone to say something to them.

Weintraub, D. (1992). Increasing middle school and high school enrollment in choral groups
by developing a revised curriculum through cooperative group process. Ft.
Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED356155)

8

Clarifying Theories
SUMMARY 5
The final article reviewed is titled “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Brian Chung published in the
American Music Teacher. This article is actually a transcription of a speech the author gave at a music
convention, and is his topic is about attracting more students to take music and, in his words, to “make music
makers”. His concern begins with a statistic that states there are fewer young people under the age of 35
playing music, whether in groups or on their own, than ever before. While Mr. Chung implies that sports is in
large part responsible for this drop in interest, he tell his audience that they, the music teachers have to be the
ones who go out and attract new students.
Mr. Chung gives several suggestions that center around fun. He believes that the fun in playing and
performing music must be both real and perceived. Teachers must find a way to make what they are doing fun
for their students and they must also find ways of making what they do look fun to people in the outside in
order to attract new students. He emphasizes that perception can be stronger than reality, and by fostering a
positive aura around a music program can go a long way towards recruitment of students to a program.
Another area that Mr. Chung feels needs to exploited is in the area of technology. Teachers need to take
advantage of what is out there in terms of computers, sequencing, MIDI, and so on. Students understand and
relate to new technology and teachers should use that to their advantage. Finally, Mr. Chung’s last suggestion
to teachers is to value participation as much as performance. Too many teachers want a lot of students as long
as they are good, and the author feel this is a mistake and a reason why participation is down. He believes it is
important to accept students at whatever level they are at and try to actually teach them how to play or sing.

RELFECTION
Mr. Chung’s audience leaned towards private music teachers such as piano and voice teachers. However
His suggestions are valuable to the school music teacher as well. Fun is important, and it may be as important
as actually delivering information because if a student is not interested even the best teacher will have
Difficulty. The researcher especially believes that Mr. Chung’s statements about participation are as true as
anything that he said. The program at Columbine will anybody and work to make them into a competent singer
and the researcher strongly believes anybody can sing and should be given the opportunity.

Chung, B. (2002). Where do we go from here? [Electronic version] The American Music
Teacher, 51(6), 25-29

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The following is the hypothesis and research question to be used a the basis for this study.

HYPOTHESIS
The students of the Columbine High School vocal music program have a number of ideas for recruiting more
students for the vocal music program at Columbine.

QUESTION
What can we do to increase the numbers of students participating in the vocal music program?

THE INTERVENTION
The researcher felt that it was in the best interest of the vocal music program to find methods to attract
students to the program. By using surveys the researcher hopes to find new ideas for recruiting students from
the students presently in the program. The researcher strongly believes that the students who are presently in
the program, and especially those who have been a part of the program for several years, are best salespeople
of the program and should be tapped for new ideas.

The following two slides are the Graphic Reconstructions employed by the researcher.

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THE PROBLEM

The Problem: Declining enrollment
in the music department.

WHY?

Declining school enrollment

Competition from other electives courses
How do attract more students in spite
of these obstacles?

Students are becoming limited in the
number of classes they can take

Requirements by the state and higher
education forcing students to make choices
in their choice of courses

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POSSIBLE SOLUTION

1) Have choir students sell
the program:

Have them tell Get recruiting
others what it means ideas from our
to them. students.

2) Sell the program to
the student body

Also talk to kids who
Continue talking to
quit about why they
kids in the halls and at
left the program.
lunch.

3) Keep working on
the quality of
performance.

People naturally want to be a part of Continue performances at
something that is excellent in the elementary schools
quality.

Start performing at the
Middle School

12


Collecting the Data
The researcher will use three surveys to collect the data. The first, and largest, of the three surveys was given
to every student in the vocal music department at Columbine High School that attended school on Friday, November 10,
2004. The survey had 10 questions with eight closed-ended multiple choice questions and two open-ended questions. It
also included a place for grade and gender.

The closed-ended multiple choice questions were as follows:
1) How many semesters have you participated in the vocal music program at Columbine?
2) What grade were you in when you joined the choir program?
3) What do you enjoy the most about choir?
4) What do you enjoy the least about choir?
5) Choir is my favorite class
6) Choir is my least favorite class:
7) Why do you think people quit the choir program?
8) Why did you join the choir program?

The Open-ended questions were:
9) What ideas do you have to attract more students to the choir program?
10) How can we improve the choir program at Columbine High School?

The second survey, that will be distributed at the beginning of next semester, will be for new students inquiring as to what
it was that attracted them to the program. This survey will be short with no more than five questions.

Third survey will be for vocal music teachers in the Jefferson County Public schools asking them the size of their
program, relative to the overall enrollment of their school, and what techniques they use to recruit students.

The following slide contains the triangulation matrix that was used for this project.

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Triangulation Matrix

Research Question Data Source #1 Data Source #2 Data Source #3

What can we do to Student survey given to Short questionnaire given Short questionnaire
increase the all students presently in to new students we given to choral
numbers of students the program. recruited about their directors in the
participation in our views on why they joined district about
vocal music the program. recruiting techniques
program? they have found
useful.

14


Data Analysis and Report
The next six slides show the results of the student survey and the researcher’s analysis/report on the data.

Grade and Gender:
At the beginning of the survey students were asked to give their grade and gender. Names were not asked for.
Traditionally the senior class tends to have the most students while freshman class is usually the smallest and these
numbers bear this out. In addition, females outnumber males anywhere from 2-1 to 4-1, depending on the class.

Grade/Gender
12/Female – 42 Total Seniors – 62
12/Male – 20 Total Juniors – 58
11/Female – 41 Total Sophomores – 43
11/Male – 15 Total Freshman – 34
10/Female – 33 Total Respondents – 197 (Out of about 225 students
10/Male – 10 that are enrolled in the program, not including
09/Female – 26 students that are taking more than one class)
09/Male – 7 Total Females – 142
Other – 11/Unknown – 2 Total Males – 52
09/Unknown – 1 Unknown Gender – 3

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1) How many semesters have you participated in the vocal music program at Columbine?
12/Female: 1 Sem – 1 3 Sem – 1 4 Sem – 1 5 Sem – 6 6 Sem – 2 7 Sem – 31
12/Male: 1 Sem – 1 2 Sem – 1 3 Sem – 4 5 Sem – 2 6 Sem – 2 7 Sem – 10
11/Female: 1 Sem – 3 2 Sem – 3 3 Sem – 12 4 Sem – 3 5 Sem – 20
11/Male: 1 Sem – 5 2 Sem – 0 3 Sem – 4 4 Sem – 2 5 Sem – 4
10/Female: 1 Sem – 7 2 Sem – 1 3 Sem – 25
10/Male: 1 Sem – 1 2 Sem – 0 3 Sem – 9
09/Female: 1 Sem – 26
09/Male: 1 Sem – 7
Unknown: 1 Sem – 2
Sem = Semester

2) What grade were you in when you joined the choir program?
12/Female: 9 – 35 10 – 5 11 – 1 12 – 1
12/Male: 9 – 11 10 – 3 11 – 5 12 – 1
11/Female: 9 – 24 10 – 14 11 – 3
11/Male: 9–6 10 – 4 11 – 5
10/Female: 9 – 27 10 – 6
10/Male: 9–9 10 – 1
09/Female: 9 – 26
09/Male: 9–7
Unknown: 9–2 10 – 0 11 – 1 12 – 0

The students that make up the core of the program have been in the program since the 9th grade. For
example, out of 42 female seniors, 31 or 73%, had been in the program since the 9th grade; Out of 20 male seniors,
10 or 50%, had been in the program for 7 semesters. While senior class, the largest class at Columbine had the most
students in the program as 9th graders during their first semester, the present 9th grade class is only somewhat
smaller in their first semester in the program (5 fewer girls and 3 fewer boys).

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3) What do you enjoy the most about choir?
A) I love music and/or singing 52/197 26%
B) The performances (concerts, musical, gigs, etc.) 11/197 06%
C) I like being with my friends 12/197 07%
D) Everything 133/197 67%
E) Other 12/197 06%

4) What do you enjoy the least about choir?
A) Rehearsals 10/197 05%
B) Performances 11/197 06%
C) Music selection 60/197 30%
D) Nothing 72/197 37%
E) Other 48/192 24%

Questions 3 and 4 inquired about general satisfaction among the students in the vocal music program .
Generally students seem to enjoy what they do in the program. A majority of student enjoy everything about the
program with the love of singing as the second strongest choice. As far as what they enjoy the least, the younger
students tend to like the music selection less than the older students which could be due in part a more mature sense
of taste in literature.

A note: Some students answered some questions with more than one response, therefore some of the percentages
added up to more than 100%

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5) Choir is my favorite class:
Strongly Disagree 5/197 03%
Disagree 3/197 02%
Neutral 37/197 18%
Agree 72/197 37%
Strongly Agree 80/197 40%

6) Choir is my least favorite class:
Strongly Disagree 135/197 68%
Disagree 46/197 23%
Neutral 12/197 06%
Agree 1/197 01%
Strongly Agree 3/197 02%

Choir is clearly an important class to a large percentage of the students that take vocal music at
Columbine High School. 77% of those that took the survey either answered agree or strongly agree that choir is
their favorite class. Conversely, 91% answered disagree or strongly disagree to the statement that choir was their
least favorite class. Only 4 students, or 3% of the total respondents, felt that choir was their least favorite class, and
only 8 students, or 5% of the total respondents disagreed that choir was their favorite class. Overall this again shows
great satisfaction among those students who are presently taking choir at Columbine.

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7) Why do you think people quit the choir program? (Circle all that apply) ***
A) They had to make a choice 125/197 63%
B) They felt they did not have the talent to succeed 140/197 20%
C) The choice of music 9/197 05%
D) They did not feel they were treated fairly 10/197 05%
E) Other 32/197 16%

8) Why did you join the choir program? (Circle all that apply) ***
A) I love music and/or I love to sing 159/197 81%
B) My friends talked me into it 19/197 10%
C) My parents talked me into it 24/197 12%
D) My counselor talked me into it 4/197 02%
E) Mr. Andres or Mr. Marsh talked me into it 24/197 10%
F) I wanted to be a part of a quality program 76/197 39%
G) Other 33/197 17%

*** Percentages will add up to more than 100%

It would appear that the primary reason students leave the program is because of choice in courses.
This was especially true this last year when Columbine reduced its day from 8 period day and to 7 period day, and
staffing was reduced at Columbine by four teachers. Losing four teachers is equivalent to losing 20 sections (five
sections per teacher). Subsequently the depart lost a number of students due to the fact that they had to make a
choice between electives. Additionally, those choices have been compounded by the added requirements mandated
for college entrance into Colorado colleges and Universities by the Colorado Higher Education Commission. The
second highest answer was the feeling that those student who did quit felt like they did not have the talent to
succeed in the program.
Most students joined the program at Columbine because they love music or love to sing, while
many also wanted to be a part of a quality program. Additionally 10% of respondents were recruited either by a
friend or one of the two vocal music teachers.

19

The following is a sampling of responses to questions 9 and 10.

9) What ideas do you have to attract more students to the choir program?
•Announcements on RNN. (Interviews)
•Posters and informational meetings.
•More opportunities for people to come see choir perform.
•More contests.
•Students promote.
•On days of registration perform for students so that they can see/ learn more of choir.
•Sing in underclassman classes.
•Perform during lunches.
•Tell people no experience needed.
•Advertise try-outs.
•Gigs at feeder middle schools, not just elementary

10) How can we improve the choir program at Columbine High School?
•Different music. (Especially ensembles) More modern. More challenging.
•New robes.
•New musicals instead of ones cycled through.
•Eliminate “easy A” people who don’t really want to be here/ like to sing.
•More concerts/ performances out of school.
•Assign levels based on talent not grade

Interestingly, some of the suggestion are already common practice by the researcher and his colleague,
especially about advertising try-outs. There are however useful ideas that need to be considered, especially about
doing more performances around registration and try out time.

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The results and analysis of the New Student Survey will be placed here.

The results and analysis of the Jefferson County Vocal Music Teachers survey will be placed here.

21



Validity and Reliability
The researcher believes the information is both valid and reliable for three reasons. The
first is the students of the vocal music program answered the vast majority of the questions.
The people who sing and participate in the vocal music program are most likely to be the
people with the necessary insight into gaining new students, like themselves. The second is
that the surveys were checked by three different people: the researcher and two student
assistants. Between these three individuals all numbers were checked three different times.
The final check on validity and reliability is due to the use of triangulation of information.
Once the New Student survey and the District Vocal Music Teacher survey are completed
the researcher should have a number of ideas about recruiting new students to a vocal
music program.
Skewing Factors
The researcher feels that there are two potential skewing factors in the study, and both
are external. The first factor is history. The survey was given to all of the students in the
vocal music department the week of tryouts for the annual musical. In fact, it was given on
the day (a Friday) that results were going to be posted when most kids would have had a
relatively optimistic attitude, even though they might very well have been nervous and
somewhat stressed. The researcher purposefully avoided giving the survey the following
Monday because he knew this would have had a somewhat negative effect on some of the
student's responses. The second skewing factor was maturation. Freshman will have a
different,if not naive, outlook about the program, while the Seniors would tend to be more
realistic, if not jaded.

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The Action Plan
The researcher hopes to take the final data and create a protocol for recruiting students.
The project is not yet finished and the results of the New Students survey and the District
Vocal Music Teacher survey will factor into that protocol. Initially the researcher had hoped
to finish the project before the end of the semester, but new students will come during the
registration period in January for the second semester and schedules can change, therefore it
is better to wait a while longer for more accurate results. In addition, it is always difficult to
get teachers from other schools to respond in a timely fashion to surveys due to individual
factors, such as responsibilities and concerts. It is also better to give those individuals more
time to reply to the inquiry in order to get as many responses as possible.
The next possible step may be to survey students who have quit the program, no matter
how difficult their answers might be for the researcher to read. These answers could reveal
invaluable information in terms of gaining and retaining new students.

23


The Reflection

The researcher found this project to be very beneficial to the vocal music program at
Columbine High School and looks forward to receiving the results of the other two surveys. The
fact that most students who take vocal music at Columbine enjoy the classes they take, and are
apparently proud of being a part of the program, is a great relief to the researcher. The researcher
now believes that recruiting at the middle school level may be the most critical element. Since a
majority of students, the core of seniors, begin the program as freshmen, it is imperative that the
program recruits heavily at the middle school during the 8th grade registration period. While this is
considered crucial, recruiting once students are at Columbine is also considered crucial. The
researcher will continue to look for new ways to attract students to the vocal music program at
Columbine High School.

24


References

Chung, B. (2002). Where do we go from here? [Electronic version] The American Music
Teacher, 51(6), 25-29

Peterson, C. W. (2002). Recruiting for the choral ensemble by emphasizing skill and effort.
[Electronic version] Music Educators Journal, 89, 32-35.

Phillips, K. H. (1995). Recruiting and retaining males. [Electronic version] Teaching Music, 2,
28 – 19.

Sichivitsa, V. O. (2003). College choir members’ motivation to persist in music: Application of
the Tinto model. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(4), 330-341.

Weintraub, D. (1992). Increasing middle school and high school enrollment in choral groups
by developing a revised curriculum through cooperative group process. Ft.
Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED356155)

25

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