Participants expressed their love of singing, with half using the term ‘joy’ to describe their experience. Image: Garry KnightCHORAL singing appears to have numerous psychological benefits for members of the general public involved in community singing groups, both on an individual and collective group experience level.
Stemming from their mutual appreciation of choirs, researchers Julie Ann Pooley and Marianne Judd from ECU’s School of Psychology and Social Science were keen to explore the experience of members from the general public involved in a choir, to determine the psychological benefits of singing with others.
“There has been a lot of work looking at choirs for particularly vulnerable groups such as the homeless and prisoners,” Associate Professor Pooley says.
“This study enabled us to look at the experience from the general population’s perspective.”
Six female and four male participants ranging from 33-74 years of age in the Perth metropolitan region were recruited through their involvement in choirs.
The researchers conducted in-depth qualitative interviews to explore their personal experiences of singing in choirs, and how their involvement as a choir member has impacted their daily life.
Thematic analysis of the data uncovered three broad themes—psychological benefits for the individual, for the group, and various mediating factors which influenced outcomes of the individual and group experiences.
“Benefits to the individual [included] the psychological, these being the positive emotions felt; the physical, the endorphin rush, and finally the musicality of music making and music meaning,” A/Prof Pooley says.
Participants expressed their love of singing, with half using the term ‘joy’ to describe their experience.
In addition, many participants conveyed the positive effect singing had within their physical bodies, including for pain and stress relief, supporting the concept that singing releases endorphins.
“For the group, connectedness and group personality were aspects that choir members spoke about as important to their experience of the choir.”
The social aspect of being part of a choir, as well as the interdependent nature of choral singing, working together to create a whole, were significant sub-themes that emerged within the group theme.
“The mediating factors were things like the type of choir they were in and the role of the musical director…they are very important to the way the choir ‘feels’ and thus the individual’s experience in the choir.”
A/Prof Pooley recommends future research to investigate the connection between the psychological and physical aspects of choral singing, as well as the role of choirs in schools for nurturing social cohesion in children and adolescents.