• AIRS in China

• AIRS Test Battery of Singing Skills at Acoustical Society of American and the Chinese Acoustical Society's meeting in Hong Kong

• Dr. June Countryman on CBC PEI Radio 1's Island Morning

AIRS Student Funding

The Student Funding Review Committee has completed its review for Year 4 of the AIRS Project and is pleased to announce that over 30 project proposals have been approved with a potential student involvement of over 90 students. Congratulations to all AIRS team members and their students and best wishes for a productive project year.

AIRS at ECMA Awards

As part of the AIRS Partnership with the East Coast Music Association, AIRS visited the ECMA Awards in Moncton, NB this month and once again invited participation on the 'Melody on the Spot' contest. The contest challenges participants to create and perform an original song based on visual images presented to them. Entries have been forwarded to judges for evaluation. Watch for the winners in our May 2012 news!

On-line Well-Being Survey on Singing

Rito Bento, a graduate student working with AIRS Co-investigator Dr. Stephen Clift  at the Sidney De Haan Institute at Canterbury Christ Church University, has created an online survey which aims to gather information regarding the impact of singing on general well being and quality of life.

AIRS invites everyone to complete this survey, as this is a great opportunity to provide valuable data for the researchers.

Volume 21 of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain, hot off the press in February, is a special volume entitled `Singing and Psychomusicology`.  Edited by Annabel J. Cohen and Sandra E. Trehub, the volume contains contributions from AIRS co-investigators and collaborators:  Mayumi Adachie, Stefanie Stadler Elmer, Simone Falk, Ichiro Fujinaga,  Mary Gick, Jane Ginsborg, Nathalie Henrich, Susan O`Neill, Jaan Ross,   Frank Russo,  Laurel Trainor, Christine Tsang,  Graham Welch,  and from AIRS Post-doctoral Fellow  Bing-Yi Pan, and students  Johanna Devaney, Rayna Friendly, and  Triinu Ojamaa.  Reviewers included AIRS members Bradley Frankland, Beatriz Illari, Henrietta Lempert, Sten Ternstrom, and Laurel Young among other experts from around the world. The articles will be available on-line through PsycArticles in the near future via publisher American Psychological Association under the EPF  (Educational Publication Foundation) imprint.

Island Songs: A Global Repertoire - Edited by Godfrey Baldacchino (2011) has just been published by Scarecrow Press, a highly regarded publisher in the field of music and an imprint of the Rowman & LIttlefield Publishing Company.  Godfrey is the co-leader of AIRS Theme 3.1 Singing and Cross-Cultural Understanding, and is a Canada Research Chair in Island Studies at U. P. E. I . Congratulations Godfrey on this extraordinary volume arising from your leadership linking the AIRS initiative and Island Studies.  For more information  and how to order, click the hyperlink above.

Welcome  to AIRS!

Therese Antonini - AIRS Project Manager

Ross Dwyer - AIRS Administrative Assistant

Teleconferences are taking place for each of the 9 AIRS subthemes  Jan 9 to 20.