Sex, Gender and Singing Development: Making a Positive Difference to Boys’ Singing Through a National Programme in England

Welch, Graham; Saunders, Jo; Papageorgi, Ioulia; Himonides, Evangelos

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2660-4_3

Cited by 15 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Our results also lend support to earlier studies that found sex differences in children’s musical skills and behaviors (e.g., Mang, 2006; Welch, Saunders, Papageorgi, & Himonides, 2012), as girls outperformed boys in both tasks. Female researchers administered most singing tasks and this may have influenced children’s performance.…”

Section: Study Phase 1: Quantitativesupporting

confidence: 90%

Improvised song endings in a developmental perspective: A mixed-methods study

Ilari

Fesjian

Ficek

et al. 2017

Psychology of Music

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The aim of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the development of children’s improvised song endings over the course of two years, through researcher-led tasks. While quantitative data were used to examine the roles of age, biological sex, and music training on children’s improvised song endings and pitch-matching skills, qualitative data were gathered to shed light on the musical contents of improvisations, the strategies used by children when improvising, and children’s reactions to different improvisatory tasks. Although scores for both improvised song endings and pitch-matching skills increased with age ( p < .01), there were no significant group differences between musically-trained children and their untrained peers. Additionally, girls outperformed boys in both improvisation and pitch-matching tasks ( p < .01). Qualitative data offered six strategies that children used to improvise song endings, and suggested that engagement in improvisational tasks depends on a combination of children’s musical skills and interests, and familiarity with the tasks.

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Section: Study Phase 1: Quantitativesupporting

confidence: 90%

Improvised song endings in a developmental perspective: A mixed-methods study

Ilari

Fesjian

Ficek

et al. 2017

Psychology of Music

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“…Class teachers and teaching assistants also attended each session in order to experience the programme and to utilise elements in their own teaching subsequently if they wished. The singing content was in line with suggested practice elements in the National Singing Programme 'Sing Up' in England and also what is known about effective singing pedagogy with children (Saunders et al, 2011;Welch et al, 2012b). Linguistic competency was not a pre--requisite in the pedagogical design for the singing programme, but rather there was an emphasis on vocal exploration, imitation and creativity in a broad soundscape.…”

Section: Locationsupporting

confidence: 57%

“…There is evidence for NH children that singing competency tends to improve with age and experience across childhood, with older children usually being measurably more competent than their younger peers (e.g., Davidson, 1994;Mang, 2006;Tafuri, 2008;Welch et al 1997;Welch, 2006;Welch, 2009). However, in cases where children experience specific singing--focused interventions, such as happened recently from 2007 onwards in England under the National Singing Programme "Sing Up" for Primary schools, it is possible for singing competency to be accelerated, such that young children can be up to three years in advance of comparable children who have not had such experience (Welch et al, 2010;Welch et al, 2012b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using singing to nurture children's hearing? A pilot study

Welch

Saunders

Edwards

et al. 2015

Cochlear Implants International

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This article reports a pilot study of the potential benefits of a sustained programme of singing activities on the musical behaviours and hearing acuity of young children with hearing impairment (HI). Twenty-nine children (n=12 HI and n=17 NH) aged between 5 and 7 years from an inner-city primary school in London participated, following appropriate ethical approval. The predominantly classroom-based programme was designed by colleagues from the UCL Institute of Education and UCL Ear Institute in collaboration with a multi-arts charity Creative Futures and delivered by an experienced early years music specialist weekly across two school terms. There was a particular emphasis on building a repertoire of simple songs with actions and allied vocal exploration. Musical learning was also supported by activities that drew on visual imagery for sound and that included simple notation and physical gesture. An overall impact assessment of the pilot programme embraced pre- and post-intervention measures of pitch discrimination, speech perception in noise and singing competency. Subsequent statistical data analyses suggest that the programme had a positive impact on participant children's singing range, particularly (but not only) for HI children with hearing aids, and also in their singing skills. HI children's pitch perception also improved measurably over time. Findings imply that all children, including those with HI, can benefit from regular and sustained access to age-appropriate musical activities.

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“…Singing is frequently experienced as a member of a whole class or within a group of classes, such as in a school assembly. As a result of the children's and their teachers' involvement in the national Sing Up programme, with its emphasis on group-based pedagogy, many children experienced growing mastery in their singing behavior and were developmentally in advance in their singing behaviors compared with children of the same age outside the programme (see Welch et al, 2012b , for an overview of the gendered impact). This is not to say that learning to sing as a member of a group automatically fosters individual development, but it seems that the design of the national programme, which sought to accommodate its group teaching bias by providing a rich range of on-line and paper resources, allowed for differentiated singing tasks that supported opportunities for successful teaching to be observed (Saunders et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 6 Separate analyses of children's normalized singing scores revealed that girls tend to be more advanced in their singing than boys, Black and White children tend to be more advanced in their singing than Asian children, older children tend to be more advanced in their singing than younger children, and that, overall, children with experience of Sing Up were more advanced in their singing than children outside the programme (Welch et al, 2012b ; Welch et al, under review). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Singing and social inclusion

et al. 2014

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There is a growing body of neurological, cognitive, and social psychological research to suggest the possibility of positive transfer effects from structured musical engagement. In particular, there is evidence to suggest that engagement in musical activities may impact on social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Tackling social exclusion and promoting social inclusion are common concerns internationally, such as in the UK and the EC, and there are many diverse Government ministries and agencies globally that see the arts in general and music in particular as a key means by which social needs can be addressed. As part of a wider evaluation of a national, Government-sponsored music education initiative for Primary-aged children in England (“Sing Up”), opportunity was taken by the authors, at the request of the funders, to assess any possible relationship between (a) children's developing singing behavior and development and (b) their social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Subsequently, it was possible to match data from n = 6087 participants, drawn from the final 3 years of data collection (2008–2011), in terms of each child's individually assessed singing ability (based on their singing behavior of two well-known songs to create a “normalized singing score”) and their written responses to a specially-designed questionnaire that included a set of statements related to children's sense of being socially included to which the children indicated their level of agreement on a seven-point Likert scale. Data analyses suggested that the higher the normalized singing development rating, the more positive the child's self-concept and sense of being socially included, irrespective of singer age, sex and ethnicity.

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Sex, Gender and Singing Development: Making a Positive Difference to Boys’ Singing Through a National Programme in England

Cited by 15 publications

References 20 publications

Improvised song endings in a developmental perspective: A mixed-methods study

Improvised song endings in a developmental perspective: A mixed-methods study

Using singing to nurture children's hearing? A pilot study

Singing and social inclusion

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