Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T18:58:25.893Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘I'm not sure if I can . . . but I want to sing!’ Research on singing as a soloist through the art of improvising verses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2011

Albert Casals ,
Mercè Vilar  and
Jaume Ayats
Albert Casals*
Affiliation:
Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació – G6/157, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, [email protected], [email protected]
Mercè Vilar
Affiliation:
Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació – G6/157, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, [email protected], [email protected]
Jaume Ayats
Affiliation:
Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres – B7/167, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, [email protected]
*
Corresponding author: Albert Casals
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Singing individually is both a necessary activity within the music class and an essential part of the cultural activity of improvising verses through singing. In this article we show how the introduction of this activity in the educational system of Catalonia has made it possible to obtain positive results with regard to participation in singing, especially solo singing. The analysis of the data also shows how this type of singing activity has a positive effect on negative attitudes towards singing derived from western perceptions of who or who isn't competent to sing, depending on gender, age and social status.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , November 2011 , pp. 247 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ABRIL, C. R. (2007) I have a voice but I just can't sing: A narrative investigation of singing and social anxiety. Music Education Research, 9 (1), 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
AYATS, J. (2007) Les chants traditionnels des pays catalans. Toulouse: Centre Occitan des Musiques et Danses Traditionelles Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées.Google Scholar
CAMARA, A. (2004) La actividad de cantar en la escuela: Una práctica en desuso. Revista De Psicodidáctica, 17, 75–84. Retrieved 24 January 2010 from http://alweb.ehu.es/revista-psicodidactica/historico/2004/20041707.pdfGoogle Scholar
CASALS, A. (2009) La cançó amb text improvisat: Disseny i experimentació d'una proposta interdisciplinària per a primària. Ph.D., Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
CASALS, A. (2010) Corrandescola: Proposta didàctica per treballar la glosa a Primària. Cerdanyola del Vallès: ICE-UAB.Google Scholar
CASALS, A., VILAR, M. & AYATS, J. (2008) La investigación-acción colaborativa: Reflexiones metodológicas a partir de su aplicación en un proyecto de música y lengua. Revista Electrónica Complutense de Investigación en Educación Musical, 5 (4), 1–17.Google Scholar
CASALS, A., AYATS, J. & VILAR, M. (2010) Improvised song in schools: breaking away from the perception of traditional song as infantile by introducing a traditional adult practice.Oral Tradition, 25 (2), 365–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CUNNINGHAM, M. & AIATS, J. (2001) Spain: II, 2 (ii): Traditional and popular music, general features: musical characteristics. In SADIE, S. (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd edn, pp. 138–140). London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
DESGAGNÉ, S. (1997) Le concept de recherche collaborative: L'idée d'un rapprochement entre chercheurs universitaires et practiciens enseignants. Revue des Sciences de l'Éducation, XXIII (2), 371–393.Google Scholar
DÍAZ-PIMIENTA, A. (2000) Aproximaciones a una posible gramática generativa de la décima improvisada. In Trapero, M., Santana, E. & Márquez, C. (Eds), Actas del VI Encuentro-festival Iberoamericano de la décima y el verso improvisado (pp. 201–214). Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, & ACADE.Google Scholar
FERRER, F. (2000) Languages, minorities and education in Spain: the case of Catalonia. Comparative Education, 36 (2), 187–197. doi: 10.1080/713656610CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GARZIA, J. (2007) Bertsolaritza in the school curriculum. Oral Tradition, 22 (2), 69–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GREEN, L. (2006) Popular music education in and for itself, and for other music: current research in the classroom. International Journal of Music Education, 24 (2), 101–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GREEN, L. (1997) Music, Gender, Education. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GROSS, J. (2008) Defendiendo la (agri)cultura: reterritorializing culture in the Puerto Rican décima. Oral Tradition, 23 (2), 219–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HALL, C. (2005) Gender and boys’ singing in early childhood. British Journal of Music Education, 22, 5–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HARRISON, S. D. (2007) A perennial problem in gendered participation in music: What's happening to the boys? British Journal of Music Education, 24, 267–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LABORDE, D. (1996) Une chanson, texte et musique? Notes sur un chant basque. In Laborde, D. (Ed.), Repérer, enquêter, analyser, conserver: Tout un monde de musiques (pp. 75–121). Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
LABORDE, D. (1998) Musiques à l'école. Paris: Bertrand-Lacoste.Google Scholar
LACUEVA, A. (2008) Integrar para educar mejor: posibilidades y exigencias. Investigación en la escuela, 66, 43–53.Google Scholar
LEBLER, D. (2007) Student-as-master? Reflections on a learning innovation in popular music pedagogy. International Journal of Music Education, 25, 205–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LIEBERMAN, A. (1986) Collaborative research: Working with, not working on . . .. Educational Leadership, 43 (5), 28–32.Google Scholar
MANG, E. (2006) The effects of age, gender and language on children's singing competency. British Journal of Music Education, 23, 161–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MILLS, J. (2000) Secondary singing inspected. British Journal of Music Education, 17, 61–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MILLS, J. (2005) Music in the School. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
PEDROSA, J. M. (2000) Historia e historias de la canción improvisada (de los misterios de Eleusis y Las mil y una noches al gaucho Santos Vega). In Trapero, M., Santana, E. & Márquez, C. (Eds.), Actas del VI Encuentro-festival Iberoamericano de la décima y el verso improvisado (pp. 95–108). Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, & ACADE.Google Scholar
PUJOL, J. M. (1985) Literatura tradicional i etnopoètica: Balanç d'un folklorista. In Llopart, D., Prat, J. & Prats, L. (Eds.), La cultura popular a debat (pp. 158–167). Barcelona: Alta Fulla i Fundació Serveis de Cultura Popular.Google Scholar
RICHARDS, H. & DURRANT, C. (2003) To sing or not to sing: A study on the development of non-singers in choral activity. Research Studies in Music Education, 20 (1), 78–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RINTA, T. (2008) Potential use of singing in educational settings with pre-pubertal children possessing speech and voice disorders: a psychological perspective. British Journal of Music Education, 25, 139–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCARNECCHIA, P. (1998) Música popular y música culta. Barcelona: CIDOB Ediciones.Google Scholar
SERRÀ, A. (1999) La tençó popular: el combat de corrandistes, glosadors o enversadors. Els Marges, 64, 5–38.Google Scholar
SERRÀ, A. (2005) Funció del glosador en la societat preindustrial. In MUNAR, F. (Ed.), Formes d'expressió oral (pp. 9–11). Manacor: Consell de Mallorca & Associació Cultural Es Canonge de Santa Cirga.Google Scholar
TORRES, J. (2002) Sin muros en las aulas: el currículum integrado. In Sacristán, A. (Ed.), Lecturas de Didáctica (pp. 79–90). Madrid: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.Google Scholar
TRAPERO, M., SANTANA, E. & MÁRQUEZ, C. (Eds.) (2000) Actas del VI Encuentro-festival Iberoamericano de la décima y el verso improvisado. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, & ACADE.Google Scholar
WELCH, G. F., HIMONIDES, E., PAPAGEORGI, I., SAUNDERS, J., RINTA, T., STEWART, C. et al. (2009) The National Singing Programme for Primary schools in England: An initial baseline study. Music Education Research, 11 (1), 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WHITE, L. (2001) Orality and basque nationalism: dancing with the devil or waltzing into the future? Oral Tradition, 16 (1), 3–28.Google Scholar
WOODS, P. (1993) Critical Events in Teaching and Learning. London: The Falmer Press.Google Scholar