It’s not that bad singing with other people - The effect of a single Outreach on singing attitudes and confidence in adults

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

Singing can be anxiety-provoking when others may hear, limiting many adults’ willingness to participate. Guided by the Music Outreach Principle (MOP), Outreach Singing places groups into aged care facilities to sing with residents as a socio-altruistic act. This study examined whether a single Outreach episode changes individual singing confidence. Adults (n=140) completed two questionnaires before and after the workshop and Outreach, including tone-deaf self-identification; results showed improved singing attitudes and confidence for all participants, with the strongest gains for those who considered themselves tone-deaf.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Singing, 'Tone-deafness', and Music Educators

‘It’s not that bad singing with other people’: The effect of a single Outreach on singing attitudesand confidence in adults Sally Bodkin-Allen Southern Institute of Technology, Invercargill, New Zealand Nicola Swain Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Susan West Charles Sturt University, Australia a u s t r a l i a n a s o c i e t y s f o r m u s i c m e d u c a t i o n e i n c o r p o r a t e d Abstract Singing is an activity fundamental to human existence, yet for many, the act of singing where others may hear them is confronting and can generate anxiety. The Music Outreach Principle (MOP) offers an approach that has singing at its heart, and is socio-altruistic music making. One aspect of the MOP involves taking groups into aged care facilities to sing with the residents. Known as Outreach Singing, the focus is on using music for another’s benefit. This study uses the philosophy of the MOP to determine if one episode of Outreach Singing can have a difference on an individual’s singing confidence. The participants were adults (n=140) who attended a workshop where they were introduced to the philosophy of the MOP and then partook in an Outreach at a local aged care facility. Data were gathered via two questionnaires prior to the workshop and post the Outreach. Participants were asked about their singing behaviour, and also whether or not they considered themselves ‘tone-deaf’. The results indicate that the single Outreach session positively affected the way the participants thought about singing, and had an impact on the singing confidence of all participants. The greatest positive impact was for the group who considered themselves ‘tone-deaf’. Keywords: Altruism, Singing Confidence, Tone-deaf Introduction Singing is a basic human act, yet for so many the thought of singing where others may hear them induces anxiety. It is not uncommon for adults in many Western cultures to become disengaged from singing (Widden, 2010) or to inhibit their singing behaviours in particular singing situations (West, 2009). Terms often self-applied by people who believe they cannot sing include ‘tone-deaf’(Sloboda, Wise & Peretz, 2005; Swain & BodkinAllen, 2014) or ‘non-singer’(Knight, 2013). At the same time there is growing acknowledgement of the benefits from singing, particularly group singing (Anshel & Kipper, 1988; Moss, Lynch, & O’Donoghue, 2018; Vaillancourt, Da Costa, Han,& Lipski, 2018; Von Lob, Camic, & Clift, 2010). So, while we are meant to sing and it is beneficial for us to do it, cultural beliefs persist that label particular individuals negatively (Ruddock, 2012) and these labels are perceived as unchangeable. As Knight (2013) posits: that people should spend their whole lives not engaging in singing because they believe they are fundamentally not able to, is of concern. The Music Outreach Principle (MOP) is a specific music education philosophy developed at the Australian National University in Canberra by Susan West. It is based on socio-altruistic music making: the giving of music to others with the aim 22 52(2) of encouraging shared music making. The focus is on this intent embedded in the music making, rather than on the skills that are typically defined as‘progress’ in music education (West, 2011). Through shared engagement each participant is both a music maker and a facilitator of the music making of others. The act of singing is not about performing, it is about the sharing of music and giving it to others. This philosophy has been employed in Invercargill, New Zealand in a series of singing workshops involving members of the community, followed by visits to local aged care facilities to sing with the residents there. The aim of our research was to explore the effect of the MOP on the singing confidence of adults who visited the aged care facility: could a single session of Outreach Singing increase singing confidence and positi

FAQs

What is Outreach Singing in this study?

Outreach Singing follows the Music Outreach Principle by taking groups into aged care facilities to sing with residents for another’s benefit.

How was singing confidence measured?

Adults (n=140) completed two questionnaires before the workshop and after the Outreach, including questions about singing behaviour and whether they considered themselves 'tone-deaf'.

What did the results show about the effect of a single Outreach session?

A single Outreach session positively changed participants’ attitudes toward singing and increased singing confidence across all participants, with the largest improvement among those who identified as 'tone-deaf'.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy