How Important is the “Group” in Group Singing? An Unbiased Investigation of Group Singing Benefits for Wellbeing

How important is the “group” in group singing? An unbiased investigation of group singing benefits for well-being

RESEARCH TEAM

Isabelle Peretz, PhD and Dawn Merrett, PhD | University of Montreal

BACKGROUND

While singing and choir participation are increasingly recognized as impactful interventions for rehabilitation, health and wellbeing, research is still uncovering exactly how singing impacts the brain, body and behaviour. This study investigates possible explanations of the wellbeing effects of singing in different contexts (alone vs. in a group), including participants’ expectations, motivation, perceived competence, group bonding, synchrony, and physiology.

METHODS

Participants (n = 27) completed four weekly singing sessions (40 minutes each), either alone or in small groups of four. Before and after each session, visual analogue mood scales and salivary assays of cortisol were obtained, and after each session, measures of group belonging, motivation, and perceived competence were assessed. Behavioural and physiological outcomes were evaluated using audio recordings to assess vocal synchrony, accelerometers to assess movement synchrony, and physiological sensors to record simultaneous electrocardiograms (heart rate variability).

RESULTS

Preliminary results suggest that self-reported positive mood increases and negative mood decreases after singing, whether alone or in a group. Contrary to our expectations, this mood boost does not seem to be related to how close to the group someone feels, as there was no correlation between changes in mood after singing and measures of group bonding. Further analyses of these data, as well as the audio, accelerometry, and physiological data, are ongoing.

Our findings to date show that both solo and group singing improve well-being and that group bonding may not be a significant factor in producing these effects. Forthcoming results should allow us to evaluate the role of other factors that may need to be taken into account when using singing therapeutically.

KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION

Conferences:

Preliminary findings from this study were presented at the Neurosciences and Music VIII in Helsinki, Finland (June 2024) and at the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC) conference in Banff, Alberta (July 2024).

Publications:

We will begin to write journal articles for peer review as we continue analyzing the data we have collected. We anticipate at least two publications from this study: the first would report group, time, and interaction effects for the primary wellbeing outcomes, while the second would focus on behavioural and physiological synchrony measures.