Singing is a part of life. We are here to sing.
The voice is the ancestral instrument of mankind. It is unique because it is innate. Before we are able to communicate using words, we emit melodic sounds. These already signalise well-being or discomfort. Those who conscientiously form melodic sounds and join them in a predetermined pattern are singing. To preserve, promote and develop this singing as an elementary form of expression of human existence is already by itself a task of cultural policy. The German Choral Association has already codified this in its own constitution. The “Cultural Programme” is its most important task. To promote singing in and for communities also attests responsibility for the social policy. The choirs devote themselves to both tasks. They form the basis of the singing movement. Nearly 22,000 choirs with about 700,000 active women, men, children and youths as well as over one million supporting members form the backbone of the 24 individual associations and of the Youth Choir under the auspices of the German Choral Association. All these people stand for the fact that the German Choral Association was able to develop into the strongest association of singing people. This German Choral Association links with its work the friends of choral singing across all borders, also by means of the 450 member choirs, spread out between Santiago de Chile and Tokyo, who feel linked to the German and European choir tradition.
The German Choral Association is an organisational link of choirs in the Working Committee of European Choral Associations (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Europäischer Chorverbände, AGEC) and the World Choral Association, the IFCM. We, the German Choral Association are also the most experienced choral association and were established 141 years ago in 1862. With about 230,000 female singers we are also the largest women’s association in the area of the lay choirs. Thanks to the more than 110,000 young voices under the age of 27, which represent the independent Youth Choir within the German Choral Association, also the largest actively singing youth organisation is found under the joint roof of the association. This Youth Choir increasingly develops a profile of its own by setting its own accents: Within the youth forum it organises under the motto „fit for top" the practical education of the trainees for holding of honorary offices, it personifies the quality of the musical training of the young with its "Chamber Choir of the German Youth and ensures an annual supply of new German voices in "Eurochor", the Working Committee of European Choral Associations (AGEC). Finally, the Youth Choir represents the area of culture as the only association on the German Federal Youth Council.
Music has to be experienced. We provide musical experiences.
Choral singing renders music capable of being experienced; it becomes the experience of one’s own ability to perform and the strength which arises from being a community. The umbrella organisation contributes to this in a large variety of ways: we motivate new composer to create new music for choirs and provide information about the new compositions. We initiate and promote the international gatherings of choirs, hold choral days relating to certain forms of choral music and invite to comprehensive congresses to choir leaders. We inform about events in the world of choir music. We train choir leaders and promote their continued professional development.
What all this turned into was presented in the 141st year of our existence at the 20. Choir Festival of the German Choral Association in Berlin at the middle of June 2003. More than 550 choirs with an active membership of 22,000 attended, accompanied by more than 10,000 fans who wanted to experience one of the more than 800 concerts during the four days.
New blood belongs to music. We promote and motivate the youth.
Singing promotes the development of the personality, reinforces both sensibility and intelligence. Singing in a community promotes social competence. As families have forgotten how to sing and there is a shortage of singers in kindergartens and schools, the German Choral Association has decided to do something about this:
- We demand together with organisations such as the German Music Council and the Association of German Music Schools a safeguarding of the musical education at public schools and the preservation of the communal music schools.
- We promote singing in kindergartens by a prize. This prize would decorate kindergartens which conduct qualified daily singing lessons with the youngest. In the meantime our “Felix” has been awarded on more than 600 occasions and the number continues to rise steadily
- We cooperate with music schools in the area of children and the young.
- We promote the training of trainee choir leaders.
- We offer special training for the training of management.
Choirs need partners. We are there for them.
Whether it is an ensemble, a group of singers or a choir – singing together is more fun than singing alone in the bath. Whether it is a project group or a registered association - organisation and exchange function better in a community. An association such as the German Choral Association, together with the grass-root individual associations in the German federal states, can offer all groups a service which they could not afford alone. Examples for this are:
- Negotiations with GEMA (Copyright Organisation) about special rates for performance rights.
- Group insurance policies (e.g. accident, third party liability) for choirs, choir leaders and individual choir members.
- Political representation of the interests of choirs at municipal, state and federal levels.
- Attending to international relations and to cross-border exchange of experiences.
- Looking after the interests of choral music in national organisations.
- Regular information in own specialist magazines and also on Internet in the future.
- Organisation of congresses, seminars and choir festivals of national importance.
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