The Confident Choir

A Handbook for Leaders of Group Singing

The Confident Choir is an exploration of conditions affecting the confidence levels in singers of all levels to create an accessible synthesis of the psychological models and offer practical confidence-building strategies for conductors, teachers, community musicians, and workshop leaders.

Michael Bonshor combines his experience as a singing teacher and choral director with a series of in-depth interviews that give an intimate depiction of the challenges faced by the contemporary choral singer. These insights provide the basis for a range of suggested techniques to bolster confidence and reduce anxiety in the group-singing context.

This book is primarily designed as a guide for leaders of amateur group singing activities and is relevant to choirs of all sizes and genres. The content will appeal to singers, teachers, and choir leaders; students and scholars in the fields of choral research, community music, music psychology, and adult education; and educators training the musical leaders of the future.