Adaptive Characteristics of Group Singing: Perceptions from Members of a Choir Forhomeless Men

Abstract

German

Spanish

French

Italian

There is considerable evidence to suggest that music has adaptive characteristics. Individuals use recorded music to transform the emotional landscape to coincide with transitory needs and desires. Also, music has frequently been reported to provoke uncommon emotional and physical reactions often referred to as peak experiences. In many cultures, that have limited industrial and technological development, active participation in musical activities is pervasive and all individuals are considered musical. In contrast, the musical elitism that has evolved in the Western world intimates that musical ability is specific to a talented minority. The elitist notion of musicality restricts the majority to procurers of rather than producers of music. However, experimental and theoretical sources indicate that music is an innate and universal ability and, therefore, active participation in music may have adaptive characteristics at many levels of proficiency. Positive life transformations that occurred for members of a choir for homeless men, since joining the choir, provided an opportunity to determine if group singing was a factor in promoting adaptive behaviour. A phenomenological approach utilizing a semi-structured interview wasemployed to explore the choristers' group singing experience. Analysis of the interviews indicated that group singing appears positively to influence emotional, social and cognitive processes. The choristers' perceptions of the adaptive characteristics of group singing fell within four principal categories: clinical-type benefits, benefits derived from audience-choir reciprocity, benefits associated with group process and benefits related tomental engagement. Active participation in singing may act to alleviate depression, increase self-esteem, improve social interaction skills and induce cognitive stimulation. The themes adhere to the tenets of flow theory which advocate the importance of mental stimulation and social interaction in increased life satisfaction. The emergent themes provide a preliminary basis for the development of a theory of the adaptive characteristics of group singing and also provide a framework for further investigation in this area.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adams

(2000). How can I keep from singing: A lifetime of sweet singing in the choir. In Roberts

and Rose

(eds), Proceeding of the International Symposium Sharing the Voices: The Phenomenon of Singing 2 (pp. 7–15). St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Adams

(1996). Piano lessons: Music, lave and true adventures. New York: Dell.

Alberti

(1974). Music through the ages. Toronto: Cassell and Company.

Areni

C. S.

Kim

(1993). The influence of background music in consumer mood and advertising responses. Advances in Consumer Research, 20

, 336–40.

Ayres

(1973). Effects of infant carrying practises on rhythm in music. Ethos, 1, 387–404.

Bailey

B. A.

Davidson

J. W.

(2002). [Responses to music listening and music participation survey]. Unpublished raw data.

Beck

R. J.

Cesario

T. C.

Yousefi

Enamoto

(2000). Choral singing, performance perception, and immune system changes in salivary immunoglobulin A and Cortisol. Music Perception, 18 (1), 87–106.

Blacking

(1973). How musical is man? Seattle: University of Washington Press.

10.

Brown

(1986). Social Psychology. New York: Free Press.

11.

Brownstein

(2000 November). Campaign on the street: He's starting from nothing. Montreal Gazette [Online], 2 pp.: Retrieved April 22, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.montrealgazette.com/election2000/001109/4838l62.html.

12.

Bull

(2000). Sounding out the city. Personal stereos and the management of everyday life. New York: Berg.

13.

Capra

(1982). The turning point: Science, society and the rising culture. New York: Simon and Schuster.

14.

Clift

S. M.

Hancox

(2001). The perceived benefits of singing: findings from preliminary surveys of a university college choral society. The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, 121 (4), 248–56.

15.

Cooper

J. R.

Bloom

F. E.

Roth

R. H.

(1991). The biochemical basis of neuropharmacology. New York: Oxford University Press.

16.

Csikszentmihalyi

(1997). Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life. New York: Basic Books.

17.

Davis

(1985, Summer). Pop lyrics: A mirror and moulder of society. Et cetera, pp. 167–9.

18.

DeNora

(2000). Music in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

19.

DeNora

(2001). Aesthetic agency and musical practice: New directions in the sociology of music and emotion. In Sloboda

J. A.

and Juslin

(eds), Music and emotion: Theory and research (pp. 161–80). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

20.

Gabrielsson

(2001). Emotions in strong experiences with music. In Sloboda

J. A.

and Juslin

(eds), Music and emotion: Theory and research (pp. 431–49). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

21.

Gordon

(1987). The nature, description, measurement and evaluation of music aptitudes. Chicago: G. I. A. Publications.

22.

Hargreaves

D. J.

North

A. C.

(1999). The functions of music in everyday life: Redefining the social in music psychology. Psychology of Music, 27, 71–83.

23.

Horton

(1973). The Kalabari Ekine Society: A Borderland of Religion and Art. In Skinner

E. P.

(ed.), Peoples and cultures of Africa (pp. 600–27). New York: Doubleday.

24.

Kaemmer

J. E.

(1993). Music in human life: Anthropological perspectives on music. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.

25.

Knight

(2000). Exploring a cultural myth: What adult non-singers may reveal about the nature of singing. In Roberts

and Rose

(eds), Proceedings of the International Symposium Sharing the Voices: The Phenomenon of Singing 2 (pp. 144–54). St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland.

26.

Lerdahl

Jackendoff

(1983). A generative theory of tonal music. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

27.

McKay

(2000, December). A song in their hearts. Reader's Digest, 6 pp. Retrieved April 22, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2000/12/song.html.

28.

Maslow

A. H.

(1968). Toward a psychology of being. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

29.

Merriam

A. P.

(1964). The anthropology of music. Chicago: Northwestern University Press.

30.

Messenger

(1958). Esthetic talent. Basic College Quarterly, 4, 20–4.

31.

Milliman

R. E.

(1982). The influence of background music to affect the behaviour of supermarket shoppers. Journal of Consumer Research, 13, 286–9.

32.

Mudrick

A. W.

(1998). Student motivation in four successful high school choral programs in south central Pennsylvania: A qualitative study (Doctoral dissertation, Temple University, 1998). Dissertation Abstracts International, 58 (10-A), 3869.

33.

Murningham

J. K.

Conlon

D. E.

(1991). The dynamics of intense work groups: A study of British string quartets. Administrative Science Quarterly. June, 165–86.

34.

Panvini

(1998). Singing, bioenergetics, and the process of change: Theoretical constructs and case studies. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute, 1996). Dissertation Abstracts International, 59 (2-B), 0883.

35.

Papoušek

(1996). Intuitive parenting: A hidden source of musical stimulation in infancy. In Deliège

and Sloboda

(eds), Musical beginnings: Origins and development of musical competence (pp. 88–112). New York: Oxford University Press.

36.

Pascale

L. M.

(2000). The power of simply singing together in the classroom. In Roberts

and Rose

(eds), Proceedings of the International Symposium Sharing the Voices: The Phenomenon of Singing 2 (pp. 177–83). St. John's, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland.

37.

Patteson

(2000). Singing a woman's life: How singing lessons transformed the lives of nine women. In Roberts

and Rose

(eds), Proceedings of the International Symposium Sharing the Voices: The Phenomenon of Singing 2 (pp. 184–95). St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland.

38.

Rossi

P. H.

(1989). Down and out in America: The origins of homelessness. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

39.

Sears

(1968). Processes in music therapy. In Gaston

E. T.

(ed.), Music in therapy (pp. 30–44). New York: Macmillan Publishing.

40.

Sloboda

J. A.

(1985). The musical mind Oxford: Oxford University Press.

41.

Sloboda

J. A.

Davidson

J. W.

Howe

M. J. A.

(1994). Is everyone musical? The Psychologist, 1 (8), 349–54.

42.

Sloboda

J. A.

O'Neill

(2001). Emotions in everyday listening to music. In Sloboda

J. A.

and Juslin

(eds), Music and emotion: Theory and research (pp. 415–29). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

43.

Sloboda

J. A.

O'Neill

Ivaldi

(2001). Functions of music in everyday life: An exploratory study using the experience sampling method. Musicæ Scientiæ, 5, 9–32.

44.

Smith

J. A.

(1999). Identity development during the transition to motherhood: An interpretative analysis. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 17 (3), 281–99.

45.

Storr

(1992). Music and the mind. New York: Ballantine Books.

46.

Strouse

(1987). From analysis to gesture: A comprehensive approach to score preparation for the conductor. Doctoral Dissertation, Ball State University, Indiana.

47.

Suliteanu

(1979). The role of songs for children in the formation of musical perception. In Blacking

and Kealiinohomoku

J. W.

(eds), The performing arts: Music and dance (pp. 205–19). The Hague: Mouton.

48.

Thompson

W. F.

Cuddy

L. L.

Plaus

(1997). Expectancies generated by melodic intervals: Evaluation of principles of melodic implication in a melody completion task. Perception and Psychophysics, 59, 1069–76.

49.

Trehub

S. E.

Schellenburg

E. G.

(1995). Music: Its relevance to infants. Annals of Child Development, 11, 1–24.

50.

Trehub

S. E.

Trainor

(1998). Singing to infants: Lullabies and play songs. Advances in Infancy Research, 12, 43–77.

51.

Wright

J. D.

(1989). Address unknown: The homeless in America. New York Aldine de Gruyter.