Community Choir Research Articles

중·노년 남성 단원들이 인식하는 커뮤니티 합창의 심리사회적 혜택

중·노년 남성 단원들이 인식하는 커뮤니티 합창의 심리사회적 혜택

Music, Exile, and Edward Said: An Interview with Layale Chaker

Abstract The following interview with Layale Chaker, conducted on 14 September 2023, delves into her unique journey as a Palestinian-Lebanese composer, highlighting the pivotal role of music in shaping her sense of “home” following the Lebanese Civil War. Drawing from her diverse musical upbringing, spanning community choirs to formal conservatory education, Chaker elucidates the disparity between institutional training and the lived musical experiences of the Arab world, informing her quest for authenticity in composition. Chaker recounts her involvement with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, juxtaposed with her decision to pursue an individual artistic trajectory. Central to the conversation is her composition “En Présence de l'Absence – Homáge à Edward Saïd,” revealing a deeply personal connection to Said's legacy and a nuanced exploration of his ethos through music. The interview culminates with insights into Chaker's forthcoming opera, “Ruinous Gods,” co-crafted with playwright Lisa Schlesinger. Addressing the profound trauma of refugee children afflicted with uppgivenhetssyndrom (resignation syndrome), the opera promises a poignant musical narrative probing themes of parenthood, displacement, and societal obligation. Set for premiere at the 2024 Spoleto Festival USA, Chaker's work continues to blend artistry with advocacy, offering a resonant reflection on human resilience and responsibility.

Voicing voicing: attuning to the material in studio recording the Lullaby Choir

ABSTRACT This article presents a close ethnographic reading of an intercultural community choir’s experience recording lullabies in a professional studio setting. Bringing together Chadwick’s (2020, 2021) posthuman voice analytics with interdisciplinary voice studies, I turn ethnographic ears to the voice-as-vocalised by attuning to its materialities and more-than-human entanglements. In so doing I work to trouble idealised conceptions of voice that permeate music education practice and research, including the tropes of giving voice, finding voice and collective voice that I deployed in co-developing and facilitating the Lullaby Choir itself. By interrogating naturalised regimes of aurality and voice, this article contributes to broader efforts that enliven the material and the bodily in music, education, and research – considered together and separately – gesturing to pedagogies of sensation.

A community created through group singing: Examining the health benefits of engaging in a hospital community choir

Participating in group singing can positively impact one’s physical, social, and emotional health. Limited research exists regarding the potential health benefits of hospital community choirs as social prescription, and even less on choirs comprised of various members of the hospital community [i.e., mixed staff, clients, and local community choirs]. This study explored whether a hospital community choir supports four domains of choir participants' health [physical, social, emotional, and spiritual] and investigated the possible impact of this experience on participants' perspectives of hospitals. A 10-week choir programme was facilitated by a music therapist. Employing a concurrent transformative design, surveys were distributed to the choir members and five semi-structured interviews were undertaken. Survey responses were statistically insignificant but indicated benefits across all four health domains. Interviews revealed four key themes: healing; positive experiences; social connectedness; and feeling supported. In merging these results, it was concluded that a hospital community choir can be a valuable intervention for improving multiple aspects of health in the hospital community but future larger studies are needed. This study confirms previous evidence of the potential health benefits of group singing and provides insights into the role of community choirs as social prescription in promoting health and well-being.

Reaping the Harvest of Joy: Practitioner Enquiry into Intercultural Group Singing

Singers from community choirs in the UK and Norway participated in research to evaluate their experiences of singing in a collaborative choral event in the UK in June 2023. They shared personal stories of their participation and interpreted the significance of their experiences through the app-based data collection method Sensemaker®. We found strong evidence of fast social bonding through a shared emotional experience, which was amplified by the aesthetic qualities of the singing, the material qualities of the venue and the ethical qualities of leadership to model and express the values and attitudes underpinning the reported positive effects. As an intercultural activity, we found that both bonding and bridging social capital were produced through the activity, highlighting the potential of group singing as a potent form of civic imagination and for developing intercultural empathy. The study also highlights the value of practitioner enquiry as a research methodology for developing an understanding of the complex ways in which participation in cultural activities can lead to positive outcomes for participants.

‘A Light at the End of the Tunnel’

Background: This paper presents the results of an arts-based, phenomenological research project in which members of a therapeutic community choir for people living with dementia and their family and friends reflected on their experiences of singing together pre and post the transition to online sessions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Eleven choir members (three living with dementia and eight family care-partners) participated in interviews about their experience of the choir and its transition to an online format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were conducted in either a traditional, semi-structured interview format, or as a collaborative songwriting session, and participants were able to choose the format that they preferred. Transcripts of the interviews and songs that were composed were analysed using an adapted Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and arts-based research method. Participants verified key themes that emerged from the analysis, which formed the basis of an 18-part Song Cycle, which included two original songs by participants, and 16 songs composed by the first author. Results: Eighteen sub-themes were generated from the analysis, which are expressed as songs and grouped into four overarching themes or ‘Movements’: i) the dementia experience; ii) the choir experience; iii) the COVID-19 experience; and iv) the virtual experience. The songs depict how participants experienced each of the overarching themes, and revealed challenges, new opportunities and resilience. Conclusion: Navigating COVID-19 while living with or caring for someone with dementia was challenging. The virtual choir format was acceptable, provided relief from the stress of COVID-19, and kept members connected, however, there were technological limitations that made the experience challenging at times.

Can You Sing Your Way to Good Citizenship?: Recreational Association Structures and Member Political Participation

Abstract What is the relationship of recreational associations to the political engagement of their members? We answer this question using multilevel data on 25 community choirs and the 1,032 members within them. Using structural equation modelling, we model the relationships between recreational association structures and member political participation through member experiences along with countervailing selection effects. We find that selection dynamics are the primary driver of the relationship between recreational associations and member political activity. We also find some evidence that associations foster new political activity in members through an interpretive mechanism—but not through developmental mechanisms. Recreational associations with more-participatory structures and broader organizational identities lead some members to interpret their recreational activity as publicly-oriented. Adopting publicly-oriented interpretations is related to certain kinds of new political activity. The results suggest that, overall, recreational associations are having little impact on political participation; when they do, they do so not by teaching participants how to do civic work but by altering how members think about civic life.

Audiences’ emotional response to choir singing by people living with mental health conditions

Growing evidence shows that choirs improve the well-being of people experiencing chronic mental health conditions; however, the impact of performances by “recovery choirs” (i.e., singers with mental health conditions) on their community audience members has not been examined. In three studies, we explored whether performances foster positive emotions toward recovery choristers. In Study 1, we surveyed 50 audience members before and after a public concert and found that watching the recovery choir sing increased positive emotions and attitudes toward mental health recovery. In a randomized experiment, Study 2a ( n = 322) and 2b ( n = 403) found that watching a short film of both a recovery choir and an amateur community choir singing increased positive emotions toward the choristers in comparison with a control activity condition. There was mixed evidence for effects on social connectedness, acceptance, and belief in mental health recovery. The effects of watching the choirs singing on social connectedness and acceptance of the choristers were mediated by positive emotions. Our results provide new evidence of the audience’s responses to amateur choir performances, by demonstrating that witnessing both community and recovery choir performances can foster admiration, respect, and positive regard toward choristers regardless of their mental health status.

Community Choir Improves Vocal Production Measures in Individuals Living with Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease leading to motor impairments and dystonia across diverse muscle groups including vocal muscles. The vocal production challenges associated with PD have received considerably less research attention than the primary gross motor symptoms of the disease despite having a substantial effect on quality of life. Increasingly, people living with PD are discovering group singing as an asset-based approach to community building that is purported to strengthen vocal muscles and improve vocal quality. The present study investigated the impact of community choir on vocal production in people living with PD across two sites. Prior to and immediately following a 12-week community choir at each site, vocal testing included a range of vocal-acoustic measures, including lowest and highest achievable pitch, duration of phonation, loudness, jitter, and shimmer. Results showed that group singing significantly improved some, though not all, measures of vocal production. Group singing improved lowest pitch (both groups), duration (both groups), intensity (one group), and jitter (one group) and shimmer (both groups). These findings support community choir as a feasible and scalable complementary approach to managing vocal production challenges associated with PD.

Efeitos da Participação em Coros Comunitários Infantis nas Crianças

ABSTRACT Effects on Children of Participation in Children's Community Choirs – This article explores the possibility of developing musical, social and personal skills in children, reflecting on the effects of their participation in community choir projects. Two projects, designed by adults, in which children are active subjects of artistic practices, which enhance music as an instrument for their sociocultural and affective development, are analysed. Through an ethnographic approach, these projects were monitored and focus groups and interviews with participants were conducted. The data collected suggest that those involved recognise positive effects on children in terms of personal and social skills and their ability to enjoy and build musical taste.

Effects on Children of Participation in Children's Community Choirs

RESUMO Efeitos da Participação em Coros Comunitários Infantis nas Crianças – Este artigo explora a possibilidade de desenvolvimento de competências musicais, sociais e pessoais em crianças, refletindo sobre efeitos da sua participação em projetos corais comunitários. Analisam-se dois projetos, idealizados por adultos em que as crianças são sujeitos ativos de práticas artísticas, que potenciam a música como instrumento de desenvolvimento sociocultural e afetivo destas. Através de uma abordagem etnográfica, acompanhou-se estes projetos, realizaram-se grupos focais e entrevistas a participantes. Os dados recolhidos sugerem que os envolvidos reconhecem efeitos positivos nas crianças nas competências pessoais e sociais e na sua capacidade de fruição e construção do gosto musical.

Lifting spirits and building community: the social, emotional and practical benefits of all-female group singing

A mixed-methods concurrent identical design was implemented to explore the following research question: what are the emotional, social, and practical impacts of group singing for women from a regeneration area? Members of an all-female community choir based in an area of disadvantage participated in a focus group and survey. The most significant quantitative finding was an increase in the overall perceived level of health, which seemed linked to qualitative themes of 'positive emotions', 'redefining and reclaiming identity', 'choir as an extended family' and 'community interaction and impact'. Three themes arose from qualitative data: social impact, health and well-being aspects, and practical issues. Integrating qualitative and quantitative findings identified an overarching concept that 'choir participation may increase emotional and social health and well-being'. Group singing was found beneficial, with a potential to serve as a resource in cultivating resilience in individuals living in areas of disadvantage.

Inclusion, auditions and American community choirs: A historical inquiry

This article brings a historical perspective to the study of inclusion and exclusion in American community music ensembles. Focusing specifically on community choirs and using Miami, Florida, as a case study, it traces the history of audition practices in the city’s community choirs, beginning at Miami’s founding in 1896 and ending at the present day. It shows that auditions have been a common, although not universal, practice among Miami’s community choirs and it identifies a trend in recent decades away from holding auditions. By offering a detailed historical account of community choirs’ various exclusive and inclusive practices, it prompts present-day community music scholars, facilitators and participants to reflect on the complex and multi-faceted nature of inclusion in community music.

Inclusion for all; all for inclusion

The title of this editorial speaks to the aspirational goal of inclusion for proponents and practitioners of community music. Inspired by feminist care ethics, Janelize Morelli’s article connects care with love, compassion and Lee Higgins’s oft-cited concept of hospitality. Seán Doherty’s article provides a personalized insight into a composer’s struggles to reconcile conservatory-trained musical thinking with the participatory goal of promoting social inclusion for asylum seekers in Ireland. Lotte Latukefu and Irina Verenikina’s article extends the dialogue on street music by describing the informal learning efforts by the Australian organizers of HONK! Oz. The articles ‘The CI Music Hour’ and ’Exploring approaches to community music delivery by practitioners with and without additional support needs’ address inclusion more directly – the former through a study of the experiences of those with cochlear implants, the latter by interrogating the possibilities of including those with additional support needs as leaders, not just as followers. Finally, Karl Gunther’s article considers the historical practice of auditions for community choirs.

Choral singing and dementia: Exploring musicality as embodied and relational accomplishment

This study explored the impact of participation in Voices in Motion (ViM), an intergenerational community choir program that involved persons with dementia, care partners, and high school students in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Data came from interviews with 23 duets, each consisting of a person with dementia and their care partner; additionally, five focus groups with 29 students across two ViM choirs were conducted. Choir rehearsals and concerts were also observed. The analysis revealed that those with dementia have an embodied ability to fully participate in the choir and perform songs despite cognitive decline and memory loss. Involvement in the choirs also facilitated the emergence of strong social relationships among participants while students reported gaining a deeper understanding of the everyday experiences of living with dementia. Through well-attended concerts and performances at public events, ViM also helped re-humanize persons living with dementia by challenging the narrative of decline and its associated stigma.

Singing in an Odd Time: Choir Members’ Perspectives on Virtual Choir Experience and Live Choir Experience

The lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic created big challenge to choir rehearsal and performance worldwide. Virtual choir has then emerged as a new global phenomenon where technology is used to reunite the choir members virtually during the lockdown. While virtual choirs had almost become the new standard for choir rehearsals and performances, it remained unknown if virtual choirs can provide an equal effective learning experience to the choir members. This study aimed to gauge the choir members’ overall experiences on both virtual rehearsal and performance, this study also aimed to find out the members’ self- reflection and satisfaction when redefining effectiveness in choir rehearsals as well as comparing the differences in terms of virtual experience reception between the universities’ choirs and the community choirs in Malaysia. A total of 112 participants in Malaysia were recruited through purposive sampling method where 83 (74.1%) were from the universities’ choirs and 29 (25.9%) participants came from the community choirs. Data were collected through online questionnaires on Google Form. Results demonstrated that choir members from both university choirs and community choirs faced similar challenges on virtual choir rehearsal and performances, whilst the community choir members are more tolerant and receptive of the virtual choir forms compared to the universities’ choir members.

Conversations as Vessels and Anchors

Conversations as Vessels and Anchors

Help is on its Way: Exploring the Mental Health and Wellbeing Outcomes of a Massed Community Choir Program

ABSTRACT Background This paper explores the mental health and wellbeing outcomes of a massed community choir program in Australia. Methods This study employed a mixed methods approach. Data were collected via a survey of choir participants (N = 305), four qualitative interviews and focus groups with facilitators and participants (N = 22), and two workshops with organising staff (N = 5). Questions were derived from a co-designed program logic, and data were triangulated and analysed thematically. Results Participants reported feeling a sense of connectedness (psychological), but also experiencing connection (social) with their fellow singers. Psychological outcomes included the sensations of affect, arousal, and affirmation. Social outcomes included experiencing belonging, inclusion, and sharing. These positive psycho-social experiences promoted positive mental health and wellbeing outcomes in the large group of participating singers. Conclusions This paper addresses gaps in our understanding about the mental health and wellbeing outcomes fostered by community choirs at scale.

Quality of Life for People who Sing

Background: A growing ageing population in New Zealand and worldwide poses a number of challenges, including the predicted strain on public health services due to a consequential increase in neurological conditions, which tend to occur later in life. Diagnosis with a neurological condition is associated with negative psychosocial and quality of life (QOL) outcomes, which medical interventions do not address. There is growing interest in the role of music and singing in improving some of these negative outcomes that provides a rationale for the present research.
 Methods: This mixed methods research explores the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of 90 choir singers who sing in neurological choirs (social singing groups offering choral singing therapy) and community choirs in New Zealand. HRQOL data were obtained using the NZ WHOQOL-BREF and choir involvement perspectives were obtained using a choir participation questionnaire (CPQ). Non-parametric statistical tests were used to explore the NZ WHOQOL-BREF and visual analogue scale (VAS) responses in the CPQ. Qualitative measures were used to explore open-ended responses in the CPQ.
 Results: HRQOL was similar across participants on the psychological, social relationships, and environmental domains, and lower for neurological choir members on the physical domain. Choir involvement perspectives showed that choir members perceived several positive benefits associated with choral singing that were often identified under the psychological, social relationships, and environmental domains.

Singing for Wellbeing: Formulating a Model for Community Group Singing Interventions.

Research into the benefits of community-based group singing, pertaining to positive wellbeing and Quality of Life is lacking. Additionally, no preferred theoretical framework exists for community singing-based interventions. For the present study, six members of a UK community choir were interviewed using a semi-structured interview approach. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed. Analysis produced superordinate themes of: Social Factors with key elements such as social bonds and group identity; Psychological Factors, highlighting self-efficacy, self-identity and positive emotions and Psychological Motivations for Joining the Group, including autonomy, change of life circumstance and seeking a new challenge. The style/method of the group, teaching, music and group leader, were shown to have an influence on perceived benefits of the singing group. A key product of this study beyond the evidenced benefits of group singing is the development of an intervention model that optimises wellbeing outcomes in community singing groups underpinned by psychological theory, findings from the wider literature and the results of this study.