Making Space for Inclusive Approaches: A Review of Adolescent Gender Identity in High School Choirs

Gender identity has received significant attention in choral music education, perhaps more than any other field of music education research. Issues concerning gender in choirs continue to prove challenging for adolescents and secondary school teachers. This article synthesizes a narrative literature review on gender identity research in high school choirs, offers suggestions for inclusive choral practices, and raises possibilities for future research. Gender research in Western cultural school choral contexts over the last century focused on a preoccupation with the shortage of male singers. Female participation in choir was considered commonplace and taken for granted, resulting in females being neglected in research until recently. Early material on male adolescent choral involvement tended to make very broad generalizations situated in hegemonic masculinity. By the 1990s, writers such as Koza were noting that these approaches to the issue had been unsuccessful, and recent writers have exposed the rich personal and contextual aspects of singers and their approaches to singing. Research in the past decade has attempted to demystify and empower transgender singers, though there is still much to learn in this area. Common inclusive approaches for diverse gender identities emerged from the literature. These include gender-inclusive language, a welcoming environment and supportive mentors, considered and contextualized repertoire choices, and whole group vocal pedagogy sensitive to individual needs. Future research is recommended to investigate the evolving relationship of contemporary gender identities with other components of the self, how multiple gender identities can be supported and positively co-exist, and the possible contributions of choral music education to gender identity development in a greater range of contexts, cultures, and traditions.