Finding a voice: The art and science of unlocking the potential of adult non-singers

在流行文化和学术界，唱歌越来越受到关注，因为它是一种终身为健康提供许多好处的活动（克利夫特，2012）。从像LSO这样的主要艺术机构举办的参与性艺术活动，到社区合唱团和为受社会或健康问题影响的人举办的歌唱活动，都有前所未有的机会参与其中。然而，许多成年人不让自己唱歌。大约17%的人认为自己是“音盲”（Cuddy et al 2005），可能更多的人认为自己“不会唱歌”。不唱歌的人经常感到遗憾和社交尴尬（Knight 1999），对自己的唱歌能力和声音有消极的联想和信念（Numminen 2005）。许多人，虽然不是全部，唱得不如一般成年人好（Wise & Sloboda 2008）。与“任何人都会唱歌”的说法相反，不唱歌的人持有一种强有力的说法，即“你要么唱歌，要么不会——而我不会”。该项目的重点是那些被剥夺唱歌权利的人，让他们参与专门设计的干预方案。它结合了心理学、教育和艺术研究，对成人非歌手学习唱歌的过程以及他们可以得到支持的方式进行了全面的了解。尽管有充分的证据表明歌唱技能有待提高，但很少有研究表明这是如何发生的。虽然我们知道非歌手的自我形象和自信可以通过支持性的机会得到改善（Richards & Durrant 2003），但我们对这些变化以及技能的提高如何与特定的学习活动和环境相关联的了解有限。与此同时，歌唱教师的专业工艺知识在很大程度上是没有记录的，他们经常报告说他们成功地教授了歌唱困难的学生。实验室环境下的心理学研究已经阐明了音高和旋律加工在声乐俯仰中的作用。唱歌的能力与音高感知本身关系不大，更多的是与感知和行动的复杂协调有关。最近的证据表明，这种协调的一个重要方面可能是听觉意象——在一个人的脑海中想象音乐的能力。这为实践提供了一个令人兴奋的接触点，因为意象在歌唱教学中被广泛使用。该项目将整合迄今为止相当独立的研究和实践领域，并超越音高准确性作为“好”歌唱的主要衡量标准，以反映歌唱作为表达和交流手段的多面性。该项目设在伦敦市政厅音乐与戏剧学院（Guildhall School of Music & Drama），调动了专业教师、音乐心理学家、一名软件设计师和一名作曲家兼动画师的专业知识。它被组织成两股。Strand 1是一门歌唱课程，包括个人教学和小组课程，以及由参与者和老师合作制作的最终表演。它将包括为歌手选择的曲目和在作曲家兼动画师的领导下创作的原创材料，这些材料基于参与者对自己歌唱旅程的反思。Strand 2的参与者在自己家中进行培训。将设计一个手机应用程序来训练听觉意象，并进行一项对照实验来测试这是否能提高歌唱技能。如果成功，应用程序将提供巨大的潜力，成为经过科学验证的自助工具。该项目将在训练前后采用一系列措施，调查成年人在歌唱技能的许多方面是如何进步的，以及他们对歌唱的自我看法和态度是如何变化的。它还将收集视频数据和学习过程的定性说明，以确定与可衡量的技能发展和令人满意的艺术、社会和个人经验有关的教育方法、音乐材料和活动的类型。

Singing is receiving growing attention in both popular culture and academe as an activity that offers numerous benefits for wellbeing (Clift, 2012) throughout life. From the participatory arts events offered by leading arts organisations like the LSO to community choirs and singing initiatives for people affected by social or health issues, there have never been so many opportunities to join in. However, many adults exclude themselves from singing. About 17% of people self-define as 'tone deaf' (Cuddy et al 2005) and probably many more as 'non-singer'. Non-singers often feel regret and social embarrassment (Knight 1999), holding negative associations and beliefs about their own singing ability and voice (Numminen 2005). Many, though not all, sing less well than average adults (Wise & Sloboda 2008). Against a discourse of 'anyone can sing', non-singers hold a powerful narrative that says 'you can either sing or you can't - and I can't'. The project focuses on people who are disenfranchised from singing, engaging them in specially designed intervention programmes. It combines psychological, educational and artistic research to give an integrated understanding of the journeys adult non-singers take in learning to sing, and the ways in which they can be supported. Although there is ample evidence that singing skill is open to improvement, there is little research on how this happens. While we know that non-singers' self-image and confidence can be improved by supportive opportunities (Richards & Durrant 2003), knowledge is limited about how these changes, along with improvements in skills, are related to specific learning activities and contexts. Meanwhile, the professional craft knowledge of singing teachers, who often report success in teaching those with singing difficulties, is largely undocumented. Psychological research in laboratory settings has elucidated the role of pitch and melody processing in vocal pitching. The ability to sing in tune has little to do with pitch perception per se and more to do with the complex co-ordination of perception and action. Recent evidence suggests one important aspect of this co-ordination may be auditory imagery - the ability to imagine music in one's mind. This offers an exciting point of contact with practice, since imagery is widely used in singing teaching. The project will integrate hitherto rather separate areas of research and practice, and move beyond pitch accuracy as the primary measure of 'good' singing to reflect the multifaceted nature of singing as a means of expression and communication. Based at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the project mobilises the expertise of specialist teachers, music psychologists, a software designer and a composer-animateur. It is organised into two strands. Strand 1 is a singing course including individual tuition and group sessions, as well as a final performance produced collaboratively by the participants and teachers. It will include repertoire chosen to suit the singers and original material created under the leadership of a composer-animateur, based on participants' reflections on their own singing journeys. Participants in Strand 2 undertake training in the privacy of their own home. A mobile app will be designed to train auditory imagery and a controlled experiment will test whether this improves singing skills. If successful, an app offers huge potential for a scientifically validated self-help tool.The project will apply a battery of measures before and after training to investigate how adults progress in the many dimensions of singing skill, and how their self-views and attitudes towards singing change. It will also collect video data and qualitative accounts of the learning process, to identify the types of educational approaches, musical materials and activities that are associated with measurable developments in skill and with satisfying artistic, social and personal experiences.