Welcome & background!
Welcome!
Welcome to our blog about an exciting new research project exploring singing, group leadership and mental health. In collaboration with people who live with mental health conditions, community music practitioners, group singing leaders, and researchers in the field, we are developing evidence-based guidelines and practical toolkits for leaders of group singing. The toolkits will consist of a set of shared resources designed to support singing group facilitators who are working in a broad spectrum of mental health contexts. The aim of this project is to encourage and empower singing group leaders whilst promoting the wellbeing benefits of singing together for people living with mental health conditions.
Background
Over the past few years, the benefits of group singing have been widely publicised in the media as well as in academic research papers. Singing has obvious positive effects on many physical aspects of wellbeing, including improving respiration; breathing slowly and deeply while singing can help to regulate the heart rate, reducing signs of physiological and psychological stress (1). Experiments have shown that singing can also reduce the stress hormone, cortisol (2); encourage the production of endorphins responsible for raising pain thresholds (3); and increase the bonding hormones, oxytocin and beta-endorphins, which help us to form collaborative social relationships (4).
Singing in groups can provide emotional release, mood enhancement and social support for all participants, and research has demonstrated particularly strong associations between group singing activities, emotional engagement, increased social bonding, and reduced loneliness for people living with mental health conditions (5). The news of these benefits has led to the formation of choirs designed specifically to help improve mental wellbeing, and positive effects have been reported in group singing activities for mental health service users (6).
The case for our new research project is strengthened by recent global developments. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts predict a ‘tsunami’ of mental health referrals, which will add to the existing backlog of patients on mental health services’ waiting lists for clinical treatment (7). In the current climate of uncertainty, it is therefore becoming increasingly important to strengthen community mental health assets which can play a key role in supporting people in improving their mental wellbeing. Sadly, group singing has recently been restricted due to the obvious need to reduce socially transmitted Covid-19 infections. However, as the world recovers from the pandemic, singing together will once more be a powerful tool for rebuilding interactive communities and enhancing mental wellbeing.
Meet the Team
We are an interdisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in music therapy, health psychology, clinical psychology, music psychology, choir leadership and community engagement. The research project has been set up by Dr Yoon Irons and Professor David Sheffield (University of Derby), who will be working alongside Liesbeth Tipp (University of Edinburgh), Dr Michael Bonshor (University of Sheffield), and Lewis Hou (Director of Science Ceilidh), with additional support from Sophie Boyd (University of Glasgow University) and Nicola Wydenbach (Royal College of Music). Funding has been provided by the March Network: https://www.marchnetwork.org/
Why are we Doing this Research?
Singing together, whether in choirs or informal community groups, is a popular activity in many contemporary settings, including groups specifically formed for people living with mental health conditions. The physical, psychological, and social health benefits of group singing have been receiving increasing media attention, and many choirs have been formed with the explicit aim of improving wellbeing.
The leaders of these singing groups are ‘front line workers’ in the community, facilitating enjoyable and uplifting singing experiences in a variety of musical and social contexts. They are constantly multi-tasking, using their skills in musicianship, leadership, and group facilitation, often whilst also seeking community funding, encouraging inclusive musical participation, and providing rewarding performance opportunities.
When working with people living with mental health conditions, who can present with a range of different concerns and needs in the context of singing activities, group leaders may need additional skills, support, and knowledge to help the singers to fully benefit from their group singing activities. So far, however, few specific resources have been made available to singing leaders who run groups with a particular focus on mental health.
During the project, we will explore the diverse needs (in relation to accessing and participating in group singing) of people with personal experience of living with mental health conditions. We will also examine the training and support needs of community group singing leaders who are working (or would like to work) with people living with mental health conditions.
Who will be Participating in the Research?
We will initially be asking anyone interested in participating in our research to complete an online survey. Later in the project, there may opportunities to take part in one-to-one interviews. Because of the current pandemic and the restrictions on personal interaction, the interviews may take place online. Later, if circumstances allow, we would like to meet some of our interviewees in person, but there will be no pressure on participants to do this.
The project will include consulting leaders of singing groups for people living with mental health conditions. For the purposes of this project, ‘leaders of group singing’ has a wide definition, including choir conductors working in all genres, community choir leaders, and facilitators of informal group singing activities in a wide range of contexts. By ‘group singing activities’, we mean any gathering in which people get together to sing with each other (whether in a formal choir, a community setting or an informal singing ensemble) and in which there is a designated facilitator or group leader.
We will also be consulting people with personal experience of mental health conditions who participate in organized group singing activities. The input from all the research participants will help us to design our ‘toolkit’ of resources for leaders of group singing; to deliver interactive workshops to check the effectiveness of these resources; and to take on board feedback about the research process and its outcomes.
Watch this Space
The watchwords for this project are collaboration, consultation and co-production, so we’ll be asking people to participate in all stages of the research.
Your contribution could include completing questionnaires, being interviewed, taking part in the interactive workshops, and/or providing feedback as we build the ‘toolkit’ of shared resources. We’ll let you know more about all of this very soon, so please keep an eye on our blog; follow us on Twitter@SingSideBySide; and spread the word about our work wherever you can.
If you are interested in finding out more about the project, you can email us for further details: mentalhealthinclusivechoirs@gmail.com
#MarchPlusFunds #MentalHealthInclusiveChoirs #SingingForMentalHealth
References
1.Vickhoff, B., Malmgren, H., Åström, R., Nyberg, G., Engvall, M., Snygg, J., Nilsson, M. and Jörnsten, R. (2013). Music structure determines heart rate variability of singers. Frontiers in psychology, 4, p.334.
2.Beck, R. J., Cesario, T. C., Yousefi, A., & Enamoto, H. (2000). Choral singing, performance perception, and immune system changes in salivary immunoglobulin A and cortisol. Music perception, 18(1), 87-106.
3.Weinstein, D., Launay, J., Pearce, E., Dunbar, R. I., & Stewart, L. (2016). Singing and social bonding: changes in connectivity and pain threshold as a function of group size. Evolution and Human Behavior, 37(2), 152-158.
4.Grape, C., Sandgren, M., Hansson, L. O., Ericson, M., & Theorell, T. (2002). Does singing promote well-being?: An empirical study of professional and amateur singers during a singing lesson. Integrative Physiological & Behavioral Science, 38(1), 65-74.
5.Williams, E., Dingle, G. A., & Clift, S. (2018). A systematic review of mental health and wellbeing outcomes of group singing for adults with a mental health condition. European Journal of Public Health, 28(6), 1035-1042.
6.Mellor, L., Bates, C., & Bonshor, M. (2016). Converge Music Research Project: A report on the impact and benefits of shared musical experience with adults who use mental health services within Converge, a social enterprise in a university setting. York St John University.
7.The Times, (May 16th 2020). Coronavirus in Brief.