Abstract
Research has highlighted the effects of musical engagement on children’s social, academic, and personal development. However, most studies have focused on instrumental training, while the few studies on choral singing have reported effects on self-esteem in children and adolescents and social inclusion in adults. This study examines the impact of choral singing on academic achievement, social interaction, and well-being in children. This research was conducted within the “EVE project,” a three-year choral singing program organized by the Philharmonie de Paris in two socioeconomically disadvantaged schools in Paris and its suburbs. Using a longitudinal design, the study evaluated 133 children in the first year (94 EVE, 39 control), 123 in the second year (86 EVE, 37 control), and 112 in the third year (81 EVE, 31 control). At each yearly assessment, children completed three social interaction tasks (sharing, cooperation, and helping), measures of school learning abilities using the BMT-i test, and well-being questionnaires. Our results showed that regular participation in choir singing was associated with improvements in verbal memory, but no evidence of improvement was observed for working memory, dictation performance, or mathematics achievement. Choir participation was also associated with higher well-being and greater social interaction during cooperative tasks, as reflected by increased smiling and gaze toward peers. Overall, these findings suggest that choral practice may be associated with selective near-transfer benefits, particularly for verbal memory, and underscore the social nature of musical engagement and its potential to support children’s well-being and social bonding.