The Singing Class movement was a mid-19th century social phenomenon in the United Kingdom which sought to teach

sight-singing In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descri ...

to children at

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

age, and which ultimately resulted in the formation of a large number of

church choirs Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

and

choral societies A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

History

From the mid-19th century onwards, the Singing-class movement spread around the UK, and its influence was observed to have been felt particularly by the latter half of the 19th century, having instilled "a great enthusiasm for singing among the lower and middle classes", educationalists and reformers having created what was described as a "mania for choral

sight singing In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descri ...

". It was allied to a widening of access to

printed music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Ara ...

, which was particularly championed by

Joseph Mainzer Joseph Mainzer (21 October 1801 – 10 November 1851) was a German music teacher, who spent the last period of his life in the United Kingdom, promoting a vision of choral singing for the masses, as part of the singing-class movement. Life Bor ...

and

John Pyke Hullah John Pyke Hullah (27 June 1812 – 21 February 1884) was an English composer and teacher of music, whose promotion of vocal training is associated with the singing-class movement. Life and career Hullah was born at Worcester. He was a pupil ...

.
Choral Societies and Nationalism in Europe

References

Human voice Singing {{Hist-stub