Research on singing: Development, education and well-being—Introduction to the special volume on “singing and psychomusicology”.

Abstract

Across the entire lifespan, singing influences lives in many ways. It begins with the lullabies and play songs during infancy, and with the infants' own babbling that morphs between speech and song. Singing reaches children in their homes, the playground, and the classroom (e.g., the alphabet song) and, in this century, through their mobile electronic devices. But for decades and centuries past, singing has made celebrations, like birthdays and New Years, even more special. From childhood onward, experiences of singing may include campfire songs, karaoke, American Idol on TV, listening to the car radio, participating in choirs, religious observances and patriotic events, attending concerts (be they rock, folk, classical, or cultural), enjoying favorite vocal recording artists on YouTube, or a weekend cinema broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera, not to mention singing in the shower or other private spaces. While the majority of adults in the Western world participate in singing through appreciative listening or as amateur vocalists, there are voice teachers, choir directors and performers who devote their life to careers in singing, often having dedicated countless hours to lessons and practice in order to achieve superior levels of vocal expertise and pedagogy. Parallels can be found in non-western cultures such as India and China. Singing also has its place in therapeutic settings for those with autism, aphasia, or dementia. Palliative singing at one's final bedside may ease the end of life, and singing may follow beyond the grave through bereavement conventions. Whether engaged in listening or in active vocal production, each of these various forms of participation in singing depends on complex mental activities underlying perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and motor functions. Knowledge about them could disclose an almost infinite amount of basic information about music, mind and brain. Surprising then, is it not, that there is so little psychological research on singing as compared to the psychological study of language or other aspects of music. For example, although speaking and singing are acquired early in life (see for example, Stadler Elmer this volume), a recent search in PsycINFO on the terms language acquisition and singing acquisition produced almost 13,000 article titles on language acquisition versus merely over 50 titles on singing acquisition. What is more, over a third of the articles on singing were about songbirds and singing mice! A similar imbalance arises in a search for books on the psychology of language and the psychology of singing. It is not only the paucity of literature available, but it is also that research on singing is scattered across many domains, be it psychology, education, musicology, ethnomusicology, aesthetics, or engineering acoustics to name only a few. What psychological research work there is on singing cannot necessarily be easily found or readily accessed. The present volume aims to bring together much of the extant literature in one place. ADVANCING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SINGING (AIRS) In 2008, the recognition of the potential for, and needs of, researchers in singing, motivated the formation of an international group of over 70 collaborators having interests in singing research from many disciplinary perspectives. A grant proposal was developed to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for support of a Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) entitled Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing, otherwise known as AIRS (www.airsplace.ca). Several AIRS planning meetings in the summer of 2008 were organized in conjunction with other major conferences scheduled at that time. Among the first of these was the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at which Sandra Trehub gave an invited keynote address on infant music development for the CPA Developmental section. …