research proposal
Good in parts: individual identity and choral singing
1: INTRODUCTION
2: PROPOSAL
3: LITERATURE
4: CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD
5: BIBLIOGRAPHY
1: INTRODUCTION
This proposal pulls together strands in my experience as a singer, animateur and teacher, aligning them with the belief that there are anomalies in how choral singing is understood and undertaken. These anomalies are rooted in the history, teaching, commissioning, performance and reception of choral singing, and compounded by contradictions in the circumstances of professional and amateur singing, which mirror fundamental contrasts that can be summarised as the difference between the individual and the group.
Professional singers train and often work as soloists alongside their choral singing, producing a sound and musicianship that is personal and powerful: this is the logical, physiological and psychological consequence of their training. Amateur singing is underpinned by a principle of voluntary participation, and takes place on a spectrum from singing on prescription to a self-image of being effectively professional. Of particular relevance in the context of Cambridge, youth and collegiate choirs offer a rich combination of related concerns and influence.
2: PROPOSAL
i) to examine theories of individual and group identity applicable to choral singing;
ii) to align the history of choral singing with current practices;
iii) to generate accounts of choral singing by professional singers using autoethnographic, ethnographic and oral history methodologies;
iv) to describe the experiences of singers with reference to physical, mental, social and, importantly, cultural wellbeing;
v) to identify and address themes including ‘empowerment’, ‘ownership’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘belonging’;
vi) through unique access to specialist websites, to invite responses from a worldwide community of professional singers;
vii) to consider parallels with other activities (eg orchestral playing, dance, sport).
3: LITERATURE
The literature on the ‘biopsychosocial wellbeing benefits’ of singing together concludes that it is a valuable activity (eg Welch, 2005), but findings ‘remain inconclusive and more rigorous research is needed’ (Williams, Clift & Dingle, 2018). The Sidney de Haan Research Centre undertook a systematic review of this literature (Clift etc, 2008) that perpetuated a bias towards public health. Ideas about theoretical frameworks applicable to choral singing range from the concept of ’choral capital’ (Einarsdottir, 2012), by way of sports training, to social science, anthropology and psychology writings by Canetti, Klein and others. Jansson (2018) contrasts leadership theory and organisation theory, but from the perspective of the leader (director) and without reference to the cultural backgrounds and assumptions of the singers. The British Library’s EThOS website identifies over 100 doctoral theses with ‘choir’, ‘choral’ and other synonyms in the title, but with few links between culture and wellbeing.
There is minimal research on professional singing. Sandgren (2002, 2007, 2012) brings the perspective of a psychologist but does not identify routine and deeply rooted problems from ‘captive time’ to #MeToo. Jordan (2009) identifies a pressure to conform that is manifested externally – for example in choice of dress – but does not link this with issues around gender, sexuality, age or other factors, or indeed with the innate coercion of conformity of singing together.
There is a recent trend, to which I ally myself, for experienced professional musicians to undertake formal research (eg Munday, 2019; Taylor-Jones, 2018). Addressing negative issues, Can music make you sick (Gross & Musgrave, 2017) is ‘the first UK academic study of mental health and musicians’, identifying 32 themes derived from interviews with musicians across all genres. Culture is bad for you (Brook, O’Brien & Taylor, 2020) and Class, control, and classical music (Bull, 2019) take sociological approaches to look critically at class, inequality and culture.
A key source for this proposal is Dingle, Clift, Finn etc (2019), which identifies six needs: to explore negative physical and psychological experiences associated with choral singing; research into societal, educational and political dimensions; testing theoretical models and adopting robust methodologies; interdisciplinary collaboration; allowing singing group leaders a voice; and the potential relevance beyond group singing to other areas of music research, and other disciplines.
4: CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD
There is a gap in existing research between the culture of choral singing, and its effects on participants, that I want to bridge. There is currently minimal understanding of the negative and coercive effects of implicit knowledge, the controlling role of hierarchies (notably in leadership), the implications of this in terms of wellbeing, or the distinctions between the experiences of professional and amateur singers.
In addition to pulling together strands of knowledge about the development of choral singing and superimposing this on current practice, this will be the first time that theories of the group will have been considered in this context, and the characteristic subsuming of the singer into the larger group inverted to prioritise individual experience. This has significant implications in terms of informing and rebalancing assumptions about choral singing, generating a positive and informed environment for training and performance, and encouraging an empowered community of singers.
5: BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following titles have had a direct influence on my ideas and preparation for this proposal:-
Ansdell, G. and Pavlicevic, M. (2004) Community music therapy. London, Jessica Kingsley.
Bailey, D. (1980; rev 1992) Improvisation: its nature and practice in music. Ashbourne, Moorland Publishers; revised edition London: British Library National Sound Archive
Bamford, A. and Clift, S. (2006) Making singing for health happen: reflections on a ‘Singing for the brain’ training course. Canterbury: Canterbury Christchurch University.
Bamford, A. and Clift, S. (2006) Music into Upton: reflections on an initiative to bring live music into a hospital setting. Canterbury: Canterbury Christchurch University.
Bamford, A. and Clift, S. (2006) Southampton Silver Song Club: reflections on making music with elderly people facilitated by student volunteers. Canterbury: Canterbury Christchurch University.
Bamford, A and Vella-Burrows, T. (2015) Choir of the Year Competition 2014: an evaluation of wellbeing and health effects. Canterbury: Canterbury Christchurch University.
Brook, O., O’Brien, D. and Taylor, M. (2020) Culture is bad for you. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Bull, A. (2019) Class, control, and classical music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Canetti, E. (1960) Masse und macht, translated from the German by Carol Stewart (1962) as Crowds and power. London: Gollancz.
Clift, S., Hancox, G., Staricoff, R. and Whitmore, C. (2008) Singing for health: a systematic mapping and review of non-clinical research. Canterbury: Canterbury Christchurch University.
Day, T. (1989) A discography of Tudor church music. London: British Library National Sound Archive.
Day, T. (2019) I saw eternity the other night: King’s College Cambridge and an English singing style. London: Allen Lane.
Dingle, G.A., Clift, S. and Finn, S. (2019) An agenda for best practice research on group singing, health and wellbeing. Music and science 2.
Durrant, C. (2005) Shaping identity through choral activity: singers’ and conductors’ perceptions. Research studies in music education.
Einarsdottir, S.L. (2012) J.S. Bach in everyday life: the ‘choral identity of an amateur ‘art music’ Bach choir and the concept of choral capital’. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Exeter.
Freeman, J. (1970; nd) The tyranny of structurelessness. Reprinted by the Anarchist Workers Association.
Gant, A. (2015) O sing unto the Lord: a history of English church music. London: Profile.
Gant, A. (2020) The making of Handel’s Messiah. Oxford: Bodleian Library.
Gross, S.A. and Musgrave, G. (2017) Can music make you sick? London: University of Westminster/Music Tank.
Harris, P. 2012) The virtuoso teacher. London: Faber Music.
Hauser, M. (2000) Wild minds: what animals really think. London: Allen Lane.
Hawker, T. (2014) How does interaction with prisoners affect punitiveness? A study of a student choir visiting prison. Unpublished MPhil thesis, University of Cambridge.
Huitson, T. (2020). The choristers of Canterbury Cathedral. Canterbury: Canterbury Cathedral Old Choristers Association
Jansson, D. (2018) Leading musically. Abingdon: Routledge.
Jordan, N. (2009) Musical identity of classical singers: musical labels, stereotypes and behaviour. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.
Klein, J. (1956) The study of groups. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Marsh, J. (1752-1828; pub 1998) Journals (History of my private life). Cambridge University Library MS 7757, published as The John Marsh journals: the life and times of a gentleman composer (19752-1828). Ed. Brian Robins. Stuyvesant: Pendragon Press.
Marshall, A. (2015) Republic or death: travels in search of national anthems. London: Random House.
Mould, A. (2012) The English chorister: a history. London: Hambledon Continuum.
Munday, V. (2019) Singers’ uses of cognitive and behavioural skills during performance. Unpublished MSc thesis, Royal College of Music.
Nelson, R. (2013) Practice as research in the arts: principles, protocols, pedagogies, resistances. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Newham, P. (1993) The singing cure: an introduction to Voice Movement Therapy. London: Rider Random House.
Parikian, L. and Orwell, B. (pseudonym) (2013) Waving, not drowning. London: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Perks, R. (1990) Oral history: an annotated bibliography. London: British Library.
Rodenburg, P. (1992) The right to speak: working with the voice. London: Methuen.
Salaman, E. (1989) Unlocking the voice: freedom to sing. London: Gollancz.
Sandgren, M. (2002) Voice, soma and psyche: a qualitative and quantitative study of opera singers. In Medical problems of performance artists 17, pp.11-21
Sandgren, M. (2007) The complexity of artistic strivings and anxiety among opera singers. In Proceedings of the third conference on interdisciplinary musicology.
Sandgren, M. (2012) Health anxiety instead of performance anxiety among opera singers. In Proceedings of the seventh triennial conference of the European society for the cognitive sciences of music.
Small, C. (1987) Music of the common tongue: survival and celebration in Afro-American music. London: John Calder.
Stewart, M. (1970) English singer: the life of Steuart Wilson. London: Duckworth.
Storr, A. (1992) Music and the mind. London: Harper Collins.
Taylor-Jones, K. (2018) The silenced voice: the psychological impact of vocal trauma. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Sheffield.
Thompson, P. (1978/1988 2nd edn.) The voice of the past: oral history. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Walmsley-Pledl, S. (2013) Transforming the singing body: exploring musical narratives of gender and place in Eastern Bavaria. In Performing gender, place, and emotion in music: global perspectives. Ed. Fiona Magowan and Louise Wrazen. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer.
Welch, G. (2003) The nature and development of the female cathedral chorister. Arts and Humanities Research Board Report B/SG/AN8886/APN14717.
Welch.G. (2005) Singing as communication. In Musical communication. Ed Dorothy Miell, Raymond MacDonald and David J. Hargreaves. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
William, E., Dingle, G.A. and Clift, s. (2018) A systematic review of mental health and well-being outcomes of group singing for adults with a mental health condition. European journal of public health.
Williams, J. (2010) The implications of intensive singing training on the vocal health and development of boy choristers in an English cathedral choir. Unpublished PhD thesis, Institute of Education.
Young, Percy M. (1962) The choral tradition. London: Hutchinson.