AIRS

Frère Jacques. Frère Jacques. A children’s song, sung in over 50 languages throughout the world, reminds us that singing, like speaking, is a natural ability of almost every individual (Dalla Bella, Giguère, & Peretz, 2007, Welch, 2005). Moreover, it is said that a child sings before she can talk (Stadler Elmer, 2003; Vihman, 1996). Although much scholarly attention has been directed to speech acquisition, surprisingly little attention has been directed to the acquisition of singing.

Singing enters our lives in many ways. What is a birthday party without the singing of Happy Birthday? Educational television programs such as Sesame Street or Blues Clues move seamlessly from speech to song.  From lullabies and play songs, to popular songs of our youth, to liturgical songs, anthems, and jingles, singing forms part of our culture and identity. Songs have special value today in the face of globalization that threatens the preservation of song styles through acculturation.   

Research from music education, health education and the psychology of music suggests that the act of singing can contribute to individual well-being, both physically and psychologically (Bailey & Davidson, 2005; Clift & Hancox, 2001; Thurman & Welch, 2000). Social psychology further suggests that children’s learning of songs of a minority culture improves attitudes to the minority culture (Chen-Hafteck, 2007a,b; Sousa, Neto & Mullet, 2005). Such evidence shows that singing significantly improves the human condition. Effective application of singing to personal, social, political, or educational issues requires more knowledge than we now have and consolidation and synthesis of what is known. Needed is an integrative foundation encompassing many disciplines in a multicultural context. To this end, AIRS, an international collaboration of scholars in the humanities and social sciences, is committed to Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS). We submit this letter of intent to apply for a SSHRC MCRI grant, so as to actualize our groundbreaking work described in the following.