Vocal Performance and Young Masculinities

上下文。对于男孩来说，唱歌通常被认为是一项“不酷”的活动，合唱团招募成年男性歌手比招募女性歌手更难。在男孩不愿参与唱歌的地方，发展音乐性的重要大门可以关闭。自20世纪50年代以来，流行音乐文化对明星表演者进行了推崇，现在年轻男性更多的是通过‘消费’声乐表演，而不是通过歌唱团体的成员来创造它。许多传统场所，如班级歌唱课或教堂唱诗班，已经变得越来越边缘化。在许多表演背景或流派中，年轻的男声和女声可以互换。这种类型的主要观众很少是表演者的同龄人，通常是年长的一代。这种紧张局势阻碍了年轻男性唱歌，并可能给那些唱歌的人带来社交困难。对于可能对唱歌感兴趣的年轻男孩来说，谁可能是榜样，以及年轻男性声乐表演在流行青年文化公认规范之外的地位，都是不确定的。迫切需要征求同龄人群体观众对广泛的年轻男性声乐表演风格的意见。目的和目的。这项研究的一个主要目的是研究阻碍年轻男性唱歌的文化因素。性别被认为是一种‘表演’，因为年轻人通过具有性别意义的公共行为来创造他们的社交自我。这项研究将调查年轻男性面临的问题，他们通过声音、动作和着装发表重要的公开声明。认识到社会阶层也很重要，这项研究将进一步考察可归因于不同世代品味的文化鸿沟。它将探索某些风格和剧目在多大程度上创造了与表演者的同龄人相去甚远的观众，以及这在多大程度上是一个问题。这样做的一个重要原因是发现年轻人对什么样的表演可以鼓励他们自己作为歌手参与的看法，而不是对年轻人的品味被认为是什么的先入为主的判断。因此，澄清可用来发展音乐性的曲目是重要的，同样重要的是，当年轻男性的曲目与女性声音共享时，调查什么才是真正算作男孩的表演也是重要的。潜在的应用和好处。记录和分析同龄人对各种年轻男性声乐表演流派的反应，将重新引发关于什么是不酷的辩论。这项研究将非常积极地解决人们对唱歌和男子气概的误解，挑战自我延续的刻板印象。这项工作不太可能对歌唱中的性别失衡产生立竿见影的重大影响。然而，它将有助于为年轻人更好地了解文化多样性和扩大社会对差异的容忍度奠定基础。我们对如何向年轻人展示其文化多样性的年轻男性声音的知识将大大增强。这部作品有可能弥合同龄人群体观众和表演者之间的一些差距，从而增加对歌唱的参与。那些发现招募男高音和男低音比男中音和女高音更难的合唱团指挥可能是受益者，也可能是各种组织的受益者，这些组织同意以各种形式向年轻男性推广文化。人们经常声称唱歌通过各种方式提高幸福感，但确凿的证据还没有建立起足够令人信服的理由，足以为所有人的学校音乐和唱歌机会注入大规模资金和资源。这项研究将为这一证据基础做出有益的贡献。

Context. Singing is often perceived as an 'uncool' activity for boys and it is harder for choirs to recruit adult male than female singers. Where boys are reluctant to participate in singing, important doors to the development of musicality can be closed. Since the 1950s, popular musical culture has exalted the star performer and it is now more common for young males to 'consume' vocal performance than create it through membership of singing groups. Many traditional sites, such as the class singing lesson or the church choir have become increasingly marginalized. In many performance contexts or genres, young male and female voices are arguably interchangeable. The main audience for such genres is seldom the performer's peer group and commonly an older generation. Such tensions discourage young males from singing and can create social difficulties for those who do. There is uncertainty about who the role models might be for young boys who might become interested in singing and about the status of young male vocal performance outside the accepted norms of popular youth culture. The views of the peer group audience on a broad range of young male vocal performance styles need urgently to be sought. Aims and Objectives. A key aim of this research is to study the cultural factors that discourage young males from singing. Gender is said to be a 'performance' as young people create their social selves through public behaviour which has gendered meanings. The research will investigate the problems faced by young males who make significant public statements about themselves through voice, movement and dress. Recognising that social class is also significant, the research will additionally examine the cultural rift attributable to the tastes of different generations. It will explore the degree to which certain styles and repertoire create audiences that are far removed from the performer's peer group, and the degree to which this is a problem. An important reason for doing this is to discover young people's views on what kinds of performance might encourage them to participate as singers themselves, discounting prejudgments about what young people's tastes are assumed to be. The clarification of the repertoire through which musicality can be developed is thus important, as is the investigation of what really counts as boys' performance when the repertoire for young males is shared with female voices. Potential Applications and Benefits. The documentation and analysis of peer group reaction to a broad range of young male vocal performance genres will refresh the debate on what is 'uncool'. The research will address very positively any misconceptions held about singing and masculinity, challenging self-perpetuating stereotypes. It is unlikely that the work will have an immediate major impact on the gender imbalance in singing. However, it will contribute to building the basis for greater understanding of cultural diversity and greater social tolerance of difference amongst young people. Our knowledge of how to present the young male voice in all its cultural diversity to young people will be significantly enhanced. The work has the potential to bridge some of the gap between peer group audience and performer, with the subsequent benefit of increased participation in singing. Choir directors who find it harder to recruit tenors and basses than altos and sopranos may be beneficiaries, as may be the diverse range of organizations which subscribe to forms of cultural outreach to young males. Claims that singing enhances wellbeing in a variety of ways are frequently made, but the hard evidence does not yet build a case that is compelling enough to inject large scale funding and resources into school music and singing opportunities for all. This research will contribute usefully to that evidence base.