Music makes life better. Music education's mission is to better the lives of students. Mr. Stomps is correct - most people that learn to sing will sing in local communities and we can give them that by teaching them vocal technique - how to sing properly - and teaching them musicality. These skills will allow them to express themselves, which can make them happier, more involved citizens.
My "highest vision" for a choral group is for each and every singer to have a compelling reason to sing the text as the composer has set it. This means that they have tapped into either their own experiences or their imaginations to justify that forte, that piano, that diminuendo.They know exactly why they're singing the song, to whom they are singing it, how they're trying to affect that "Other," and how the Other is reacting.
Along with this comes a sense of facial, physical, and vocal engagement which is so much greater than that experienced when the singers focus primarily on technical elements such as vocal technique or musicality. Those elements must be there as well, but a primary focus on the technical leaves both singer and audience relatively disconnected from the transformative power of choral music. A sense of choral engagement and purpose -- on the other hand -- will grab and move those in the hall in powerful ways many may never have experienced.
Incidentally, for this to occur, each singer must be freed from the dictate to "stand still." Because of the bodymind connection, a still or stiff singer will be unavoidably hampered by the body's related message to the brain: "I'm bored. Disengaged. Afraid. Passive. Waiting. Tense. Terrified." Such will be the neuropsychobiological impact on the heart and soul of the still and/or stiff singer. (Of course, that sense of stillness will occasionally be perfectly congruent with the text and the music. But not as a matter of chorus... :-)
