Interdisciplinary Research Examines the Power of Singing

A multi-faceted research project based at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) has been awarded $2.5 million by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to create significant new knowledge about a basic human activity that crosses and connects generations, cultures and disciplines.

Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS) is headed by UPEI's Dr. Annabel Cohen, a pioneer in the growing field of music psychology. She is leading an international, multidisciplinary research team in the exploration of the continuum between speech and song. AIRS is one of just four projects in Canada supported under the Major Collaborative Research Initiatives fund this year, and the only one in the Atlantic region.

'The superb and innovative research initiatives launched this year illustrate how the social sciences and humanities build understanding of complex issues that affect our society,' says Dr. Chad Gaffield, President of SSHRC.

The seven-year initiative will co-ordinate the work of more than 70 researchers from every province in Canada, and numerous countries on every continent except Antarctica. It will focus on three areas: the development of singing ability; the connections between singing and learning; and the enhancement of health and well-being through singing. AIRS researchers will contribute and share knowledge and expertise from the perspectives of numerous fields of study, including social psychology, musicology, education and medicine. They will present and develop their work audiovisually, using a digital library and virtual research environment (VRE) already established at UPEI.

'The collaborative research environment at UPEI is an important factor in our ability to host a major initiative with such broad participation from scholars around the world,' says UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan. 'Moreover, a project of this scale requires special inspiration and leadership, and for that we can thank Dr. Annabel Cohen.'

"This is such an exciting development for Annabel and her team and this university,' says Dr. Richard Kurial, Dean of Arts. 'This grant is one of only four approved by the federal government. Not only that, it's the first time ever that a SSHRC MCRI has been awarded to a university in Atlantic Canada. This is a singular achievement."

The UPEI-based research team underwent a world-class peer-review process before being selected. Various strengths of the team and the proposal were recognized, including their international and interdisciplinary scope.

'Our AIRS team represents an extraordinary collection of the best minds worldwide,' says Dr. Cohen. 'Our commitment to promoting opportunities for student research was singled out for special mention, as well as our plans to disseminate our findings in non-traditional ways that are directly useful to the general community.'

Approximately half of the funding will be used to support graduate students in the three major research fields under investigation. In addition to using traditional methods of disseminating the results of their research through scholarly articles, journals and conferences, AIRS researchers will share their findings through guidelines and handbooks, and singing festivals. The research will provide resources and best practices for teaching singing across cultures and generations, and will provide a means for enhancing quality of life through improved intercultural and intergenerational understanding.

For further information contact: Dr. Annabel Cohen, Department of Psychology, (902) 628-4325 or acohen@upei.ca, or go to vre.upei.ca/AIRS.

Photo: UPEI psychology professor Annabelle Cohen, PhD (seated), director of the AIRS project; Nicolas Germain (left), program officer, SSHRC's research grant division; Corrine Hendricken-Eldershaw, CEO, Alzheimer's Society of PEI, a partner in the project; and Jean-Francois Fortin, PhD (right), team leader, SSHRC's research grant division, at a recent start-up meeting held for the UPEI AIRS team.

Backgrounder

Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing: AIRS

WHY IS THIS RESEARCH IMPORTANT?
Singing, like speaking, is a natural human expressive ability. Yet, in comparison to speaking, less scholarly inquiry has been directed to it. Linked to social, cultural, and biological development, singing draws on many disciplines and submits to many forms of analysis and specific explorations.

WHO IS INVOLVED?

An international collaboration of more than 70 scholars is integrating new multidisciplinary knowledge about singing from the perspectives of psychology, music, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and education, assisted by computer science and audio engineering.

WHAT ARE THE AREAS OF FOCUS?

AIRS will address the following three main themes from the perspective of individual, cultural, and universal influences:

Singing and Well-being

Cultural Understanding through Singing: Examining the role of teaching songs of foreign cultures to children to promote lifelong cultural understanding of others and themselves. This entails acquiring information about the songs of various cultures.

Intergenerational Singing: Determining how singing increases individual physical and psychological well-being and community well-being, with a special focus on intergenerational singing where elder members of a society teach children songs of their culture.

Singing and Health: Specific health benefits of singing as in breathing exercise compliance in lung disease through singing

Education

Teaching Singing and Educating through Singing: Assessing and improving instructional methods for teaching and learning, and using singing to teach and learn the curricula of other disciplines.

Development of Singing

Acquisition of Singing: Determining through cross-cultural and longitudinal research, the universal, culture specific and idiosyncratic aspects of the development of singing.

Singing and Speaking Comparisons: Defining the features that distinguish singing and speech acquisition so as to advance linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, music and education.

HOW WILL KNOWLEDGE BE SHARED?

An interactive web-based virtual research environment, already in development (vre.upei.ca/AIRS) is supporting the research team, enabling discussion forums and information sharing across Canada and throughout the world. The site is hosting a one-of-a-kind comprehensive digital library database of singing that will accelerate progress on each research theme. Internet access to the AIRS database will enable multidisciplinary teams of experts and students to address the five related research themes.

WHAT IS THE EXPECTED IMPACT?

The research program will heighten the value of singing as an effective source of well-being for individuals, communities, and societies.

The digital multimedia resources will furnish cultural contexts for education and enhancing learning in general through singing.

Through broad and varied means of dissemination of the AIRS findings, the research will benefit universal education, language training, peaceful co-existence, intergenerational understanding, personal well-being, societal cohesion, and the preservation of cultural diversity.

More than 40 university students will receive training opportunities through involvement in all intellectual aspects of the work and through participation in videoconferences, workshops, and annual meetings.

AIRS will revolutionize research in singing resulting in growth of basic knowledge and advances on practical issues that will benefit the human condition.

Access to the vast new AIRS data repository of singing will advance basic knowledge by:

• Identifying universals and particulars of singing development and defining the distinctions between singing and speaking and between song and speech
• Producing pedagogy protocols for teaching singing in general, teaching songs of foreign cultures, and using singing to teach other knowledge while providing benefit of the arts,
• Improving intercultural understanding within communities and across nations
• Developing guidelines for intergenerational singing, aimed at enhancing quality of life for older adults, inspiring children, and benefiting general health for all who sing.

For further information contact:

Dr. Annabel Cohen, Department of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island

902 628-4325 or acohen@upei.ca, or go to vre.upei.ca/AIRS

AIRS Director and Theme Leaders

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Annabel J. Cohen, Professor of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island, and Project Leader of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Culture, Multimedia, Technology and Cognition

RESEARCH THEME LEADERS/CO-LEADERS

Acquisition of Singing

Laurel Trainor, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour; Director McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind

Steven Brown, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser (moving to the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind)

Comparison of Singing and Speaking

Sandra Trehub, Professor Emerita, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

Frank Russo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University

Singing and Education

Andrea Rose, Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Darryl Edwards, Director of Voice Program, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto

Singing and Intercultural Understanding

Godfrey Baldacchino, Canada Research Chair in Island Studies, UPEI

Singing and Intergenerational Understanding

Rachel Heydon, Associate Professor Education, U. Western Ontario

Music & Health

Jennifer Nicol, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, U. Saskatchewan,

AIRS Digital Library of Singing

Mark Leggott, University Librarian, UPEI