About AIRS

AIRS is a Major Collaborative Research Initiative that focuses on singing:  both theory and applications. The proposal to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Major Collaborative Research Initiative  program received approval in December 2008. The project officially began on April 1, 2009.  The  inaugural  AIRS Annual Meeting  took place at the University of Prince Edward Island, the the home base of the project, in June 2009.  The second Annual meeting took took place in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) in August 2010.   St. John's Newfoundland,  was the home of the AIRS 3rd Annual Meeting  (June 9 - 11, 2011) in conjunction with Festival 500/Phenomenon of Singing and the International Council of Traditional Music.  Participants in the project are shown under the Research Team page. The support of the SSHRC MCRI program is gratefully appreciated.

This  web-site  was developed primarily for the benefit of the AIRS research team. Eventually the Web site will be directed also to the general public.

AIRS Researchers welcome connections at this early stage with others committed to the importance of singing in human development, education, health and well-being. AIRS welcomes contact with individuals or groups having similar interests: Please contact us via our contact page.

Overview of The AIRS Project

This seven-year major collaborative research initiative aims to Advance Interdisciplinary Research in Singing through cooperation of over 70 researchers representing every province in Canada and 15 other countries on 6 continents. Aiming to understand individual, cultural, and universal influences on singing and the influences of singing on individuals and societies, the AIRS researchers will focus on three themes:

  1. Development of singing ability;  (Theme 1 leader - Frank Russo, Ryerson University, Toronto)
  2. Singing and learning (how to teach singing and how to use singing to teach)  (Theme 2 leader - Patricia Campbell, University of Washington, Seattle)
  3. Enhancement of health and well-being through singing. (Theme 3 leader - Mary Gick,  Carleton University,  Ottawa).

These themes may be regarded respectively as defining what singing behaviours are theoretically possible given mental, physiological, and environmental constraints; what singing behaviours occur in practice, and what are societal implications of singing. Within and across these themes, researchers will share their knowledge and expertise from numerous disciplinary perspectives, including psychology, musicology, music therapy, education, sociology, anthropology, folklore, medicine, and audio and computer engineering. They will share their work audio-visually using a digital library and  web-site,  the foundations of which are already established at UPEI.

Several common motifs integrate the collaboration: an emphasis on student training opportunities; researcher meetings supported by electronic technology fostering transfer of findings across themes; and an AIRS test battery of singing skills woven through the research themes. The research results will be disseminated through traditional academic means (peer-reviewed journals, books, conferences) and through real world activities and settings (school curricula, homes for seniors, medical interventions, performances). Such dissemination will provide a foundation for decision making in education, health, culture, immigration, and foreign policy.

The Project Director is Dr. Annabel J. Cohen, University of Prince Edward Island

 

WHY IS THIS RESEARCH IMPORTANT?


Singing, like speaking, is a natural human expressive ability. Yet, in comparison to speaking, less scholarly inquiry has been directed to it. Linked to social, cultural, and biological development, singing draws on many disciplines and submits to many forms of analysis and specific explorations.

 

WHO IS INVOLVED?

An international collaboration of more than 70 scholars is integrating new multidisciplinary knowledge about singing from the perspectives of psychology, music, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and education, assisted by computer science and audio engineering.

 

WHAT ARE THE AREAS OF FOCUS?

AIRS will address the following three main themes from the perspective of individual, cultural, and universal influences:

 

Singing and Well-being

Cultural Understanding through Singing: Examining the role of teaching songs of foreign cultures to children to promote lifelong cultural understanding of others and themselves. This entails acquiring information about the songs of various cultures.

Intergenerational Singing: Determining how singing increases individual physical and psychological well-being and community well-being, with a special focus on intergenerational singing where elder members of a society teach children songs of their culture.

Singing and Health: Specific health benefits of singing as in breathing exercise compliance in lung disease through singing

 

Education

Teaching Singing and Educating through Singing: Assessing and improving instructional methods for teaching and learning, and using singing to teach and learn the curricula of other disciplines.

 

Development of Singing

Acquisition of Singing: Determining through cross-cultural and longitudinal research, the universal, culture specific and idiosyncratic aspects of the development of singing.

Singing and Speaking Comparisons: Defining the features that distinguish singing and speech acquisition so as to advance linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, music and education.

 

HOW WILL KNOWLEDGE BE SHARED?

An interactive web-based virtual research environment, already in development (vre.upei.ca/AIRS) is supporting the research team, enabling discussion forums and information sharing across Canada and throughout the world. The site is hosting a one-of-a-kind comprehensive digital library database of singing that will accelerate progress on each research theme. Internet access to the AIRS database will enable multidisciplinary teams of experts and students to address the five related research themes.

 

WHAT IS THE EXPECTED IMPACT?

The research program will heighten the value of singing as an effective source of well-being for individuals, communities, and societies.

The digital multimedia resources will furnish cultural contexts for education and enhancing learning in general through singing.

Through broad and varied means of dissemination of the AIRS findings, the research will benefit universal education, language training, peaceful co-existence, intergenerational understanding, personal well-being, societal cohesion, and the preservation of cultural diversity.

More than 40 university students will receive training opportunities through involvement in all intellectual aspects of the work and through participation in videoconferences, workshops, and annual meetings.

AIRS will revolutionize research in singing resulting in growth of basic knowledge and advances on practical issues that will benefit the human condition.

Access to the vast new AIRS data repository of singing will advance basic knowledge by:

* Identifying universals and particulars of singing development and defining the distinctions between singing and speaking and between song and speech
* Producing pedagogy protocols for teaching singing in general, teaching songs of foreign cultures, and using singing to teach other knowledge while providing benefit of the arts,
* Improving intercultural understanding within communities and across nations
* Developing guidelines for intergenerational singing, aimed at enhancing quality of life for older adults, inspiring children, and benefiting general health for all who sing.

 

For further information contact:

Dr. Annabel Cohen, Department of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island

902 628-4325 or acohen@upei.ca

AIRS Director and Principal Investigator

Professor of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island, and Project Leader of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Culture, Multimedia, Technology and Cognition

 

RESEARCH THEME LEADERS/CO-LEADERS

Acquisition of Singing

Laurel Trainor, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour; Director McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind

 

 

Comparison of Singing and Speaking

Sandra Trehub, Professor Emerita, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

Frank Russo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University

 

Singing and Education

Andrea Rose, Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Darryl Edwards, Director of Voice Program, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto

 

Singing and Intercultural Understanding

Godfrey Baldacchino, Canada Research Chair in Island Studies, UPEI

 

Singing and Intergenerational Understanding

Rachel Heydon, Associate Professor Education, U. Western Ontario

 

Music & Health

Jennifer Nicol, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, U. Saskatchewan,

 

AIRS Digital Library of Singing

Jonathan Lane, UPEI

Research Team

Note: The map below was last updated January, 2008, and there have been several changes since then. A new map is in development.


View AIIRS-MCRI in a larger map.

Researchers involved in the project include:

Advisory Board

All MCRI’s must have an arm's length board of 3 or more capable and eminent individuals who believe in the project. The AIRS Advisory Board advises the AIRS network, attends the annual meeting, and receives and reviews the AIRS annual report.

The following Professors have kindly accepted to serve on AIRS Advisory Board:

  • Hilary Apfelstadt, former President American Choral Directors Association

Director of Choral Programs
Professor, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto

 

  • Anne-Marie Di Sciullo,  Ph.D. Linguistique  

          Director and Principal Investigator  SSHRC MCRI Interface Asymmetry UQAM

Dr. Di Sciullo serves in an adjunct capacity due to her many other commitments

 

  • Philip Smith, former Dean of Arts, UPEI,

          former member of the SSHRC Advisory Council

          Chair Psychology Department, University of Prince Edward Island
          Fellow, Canadian Psychological Association

 

  • Prof Catherine (Kate) Stevens

Associate Director: Music, Sound & Action, MARCS Auditory Laboratories,  University of Western Sydney

Project Director and Theme Leaders

 

AIRS PROJECT DIRECTOR

Annabel J. Cohen, Professor of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island,  airscohen@upei.ca

 

AIRS RESEARCH THEME LEADERS/CO-LEADERS

1. Development

  • 1. 1 Acquisition of Singing

Christine Tsang, Department of Psychology, Huron University College.

Laurel Trainor, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour; Director McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind;

  • 1. 2 Comparison of Singing and Speaking

Sandra Trehub, Professor Emerita, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

Frank Russo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University

  • 1.3 AIRS Global Test Battery

Annabel Cohen, Professor of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island, acohen@upei.ca

 

2. Singing and Education

  • 2.1 Learning to Singing Informally

Patricia Shehan Campbell, Professor, Department of Music Education, University of Washington

  • 2.2 Formal Training of Singing

Darryl Edwards, Director of Voice Program, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto

  • 2.3 Teaching Through Singing

Andrea Rose, Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Jennifer Sullivan, Professor, Department of Psychology, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia

3. Singing and Wellbeing

  • 3.1 Singing and Intercultural Understanding

Godfrey Baldacchino, Canada Research Chair in Island Studies, UPEI

Lily Chen-Hafteck, Music Education Coordinator, Department of Music, Kean University

  • 3.2 Singing and Intergenerational Understanding

Rachel Heydon, Associate Professor Education, U. Western Ontario

  • 3.3 Music & Health

Jennifer Nicol University of Saskachewan

AIRS DIGITAL LIBRARY of Singing.

Ichiro Fujinaga, McGill University

Jonathan Lane, AIRS, UPEI

 

AIRS GEOGRAPHIC LIAISONS

ATLANTIC CANADA

CENTRAL CANADA and CENTRAL USA, Frank Russo, Ryerson, Toronto

WESTERN CANADA, WESTERN USA, and SOUTH AMERICA, Rena Sharon, UBC

EUROPEAN UNION, Simone Dalla Bella, Poland

AUSTRALASIA, Mayumi Adachi, Hokkaido University, Japan

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee, a smaller body, is a representative sub-group of the P&P Committee. It efficiently addresses daily issues and reports directly to and receives direction from the Advisory Board. It is represented by one person for each of the 3 Research themes, the Project Director, the Administrative Project Managers (non-voting), and the PDF/RA (non-voting).

Research Groups by Theme

Below is an attachment listing members associated with each Theme.  This is a preliminary list, so please feel free to forward any changes to Annabel or Vickie

AttachmentSize
AIRS-MCRI-3 themes-rechers-2008-1.doc340.5 KB

Co-Investigators

Harold F. Abeles, Music Education, Columbia University Teachers College, USA

Mayumi Adachi, Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, JAPAN

Betty A. Bailey, Health Sector Council, Prince Edward Island 

Godfrey Baldacchino, Canada Research Chair in Island Studies, UPEI

Steven Brown, Psychology, Simon Fraser University, CANADA 

Patricia Shehan Campbell, Music, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Wladyslaw Cichocki, Linguistics, University of New Brunswick, Canada 

Stephen Clift, Professor of Health Education, Sydney De Haan Research Center for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK 

June Countryman, Music, University of Prince Edward Island, CANADA 

Lily Chen-Hafteck, Music, Kean University, NJ, USA

Simone Dalla Bella, Cognitive Psychology, University of Finance & Management, Warsaw, POLAND

Steven Demorest, School of Music, University of Washington, WA, USA

Darryl Edwards, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, CANADA

Mike Forrester, Psychology, University of Kent, UK

Brad Frankland, Psychology, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, CANADA  

Maija Fredrikson, Music Education, FINLAND

Ichiro Fujinaga, McGill University, CANADA

Martha Gabriel, Education, University of Prince Edward Island, CANADA

Mary Gick, Psychology, Carleton University, Ontario, CANADA 

Jane Ginsborg, Royal Northern College of Music, UK

Petra Hauf, Psychology, Canada Research Chair in Culture and Development, St. Francis Xavier, CANADA 

Rachel Heydon, Education, University of Western Ontario, CANADA 

Beatriz Ilari, Federal University of Paraná – DeArtes, BRAZIL 

Mark Leggott, Librarian, UPEI, Canada 

Henrietta Lempert, Psychology, University of Toronto, CANADA 

Felix Neto, Psychology & Education, University of Porto, PORTUGAL 

Jennifer Nicol,College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, CANADA

Larry O'Farrell, UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning, Queen's University, CANADA 

Susan O'Neill, Music Education, University of Western Ontario, CANADA 

Caroline Palmer, Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuropsychology of Performance,  McGill University, CANADA

Isabelle Peretz, Psychology, Universite de Montreal, CANADA 

Mira Sundara Rajan, Law, University of British Columbia, CANADA

Frank Russo, Psychology, Ryerson University, CANADA 

Andrea Rose, Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Jaan Ross, Music, University of Tartu, ESTONIA  

Gottfried Schlaug, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 

Sid-Ahmed Selouani, Computer Engineering, Universite de Moncton, CANADA 

Rena Sharon, Professor of Music, U. British Columbia

Stefanie Stadler Elmer, University of Zurich, SWITZERLAND

Kate Stevens, Psychology, MARCS, AUSTRALIA

Lauren Stewart, Goldsmith's College, University of London, UK 

Jennifer Sullivan, Psychology, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, CANADA 

Kati Szego, Folklore and Music, Memorial University, Nfld, CANADA 

Laurel Trainor, Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour; Director McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada

Sandra Trehub, Psychology,  University of Toronto, CANADA 

Christine Tsang, Psychology, Huron University College, Ontario, CANADA 

George Tzanetakis, Computer Science, University of Victoria, CANADA  

Graham Welch, University of London, UK 

Collaborators

Carol Beynon, Education, University of Western Ontario

Chris Blanchard, Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, CANADA

Jean-Paul Boudreau, Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, CANADA

Ian Cross, Music, Cambridge University, UK

Lori Custodero, Music Education, Columbia University, NY, USA 

Theresa Doyle, Celtic recording artist, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Helga Rut Gudmundsdottir, Music Education, University of Iceland, ICELAND

Nathalie Henrich, Humanities and Social Sciences, CNRS, FRANCE

David Huron, Music, Ohio State University, USA

Udo Krautwurst, Sociology & Anthropology, University of Prince Edward Island, CANADA

Michael Lantz, Psychology, UPEI, CANADA

Theresa Leonard, Audio for Music and Sound, The Banff Centre, Alberta, CANADA 

Psyche Loui, Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA

Brian MacWhinney, Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Esther Mang, Music, Hong Kong Baptist University, HONG KONG

Jean Mitchell, Sociology and Anthropology, UPEI, CANADA

Richard Parncutt, Music, University of Graz, AUSTRIA

Leslie Phillmore, Psychology, Dalhousie University, CANADA

Janice Richman-Eisenstat, Medicine & Pharmacology, University of Manitoba, CANADA

Joan Russell, Education, McGill University, CANADA  

Sung-Ha Shin-Bouey, Music, University of Prince Edward Island, CANADA

Johan Sundberg, Musical Acoustics, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), SWEDEN

Siu-Lan Tan, Psychology, Kalamazoo College, Michigan, USA

Sten Terstrom, Musical Acoustics, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), SWEDEN

Coralie Vincent, Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, CNRS/Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Paris, FRANCE 

Bradley Vines, Institute of Mental Health, The University of British Columbia, CANADA

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows

Laura Lynne Armstrong, Clinical Psychology, University of Ottawa, CANADA

Utpola Borah, Ohio State University, USA

Gina Cardillo, Speech & hearing Sciences, University of Washington, WA, USA 

Simone Falk, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München GERMANY

Boris Kleber, Institute of Medical Psychology & Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen, GERMANY

Bing-Yi Pan, University of Prince Edward Island, CANADA

Janet Ann Lee, Graduate center of the City of New York, NY, USA

Pasquale Lidji , McGill University and BRAMS, CANADA

Manuela Marin, McGill, Quebec, CANADA

Helene Mitchell, Australian Centre for Applied Research in Music Performance, University of Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Judy Plantinga, Psychology (Infant Studies), University of Toronto at Mississauga, CANADA

Ruth Reveal, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA, USA

Sean Roach, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, CANADA

Makiko Sadakata, NICI, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, NETHERLANDS

Diane Scanlon, Music Education, Columbia University Teacher's College, USA

Bradley Vines, Institute of Mental Health, The University of British Columbia, CANADA

Jean Mary Zarate, Montreal Neurological Institute, CANADA

Rayna Friendly, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, CANADA

Sally Busch, Carleton University, CANADA

Andrew Gordon Weatherhill

Jean Emmerson, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, CANADA

Leah Stevenson, University of Prince Edward Island, CANADA

Partners

2011 AIRS PARTNERS

About Partners

The involvement of non-academic partners is critical to the success of the AIRS research plans. AIRS is grateful to its many partners for contributing both from a leadership and financial (either in-kind or in cash) stand point to the project. Companies (e.g., sound recording) or non-academic institutions  (from the audio industry to public health) whose mandates are consistent with the value of singing in society are  welcomed to approach the AIRS project for future involvement. 

Potential Partners

Potential AIRS Partners:

 

Thank you for your considering to be involved in the leadership and support of AIRS.  To confirm your support and involvement, a letter of intent must be sent to:

Annabel Cohen
Project Director and Principal Investigator
Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing SSHRC MCRI
Depart of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island
550 University Avenue, Charlottetown
Prince Edward Island, Canada
C1A 4P3

 

In order for the letter to be written, you will need to be in touch with:

 

Colette Cheverie
AIRS Operations Officer - Partner Liaison 
cecheverie@gmail.com 

 

Each partner will be provided with the AIRS milestone document and original proposal. The AIRS team will work with you in the development of the details of the letter and we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship.

Sample one-page letter from Partner to AIRS

Dr. Annabel J. Cohen
Project Director, AIRS
Faculty of Arts, University of Prince Edward Island
550 University Ave., Charlottetown, PE
C1A 4P3

Dear Dr. Cohen:

We [or name of your organization or facility]  are pleased to be involved with the AIRS Major Collaborative Research Initiative to Advance Interdisciplinary Research in Singing. We have read the proposal and would welcome participation particularly in the area of Singing and  (choose one:  Development, Education, or Well-being)  [optional, although our interest also extends to …either of the remaining two research themes].

Consistent with our mandate to ________________________ (fill in), our organization would look forward to  the opportunity of _____________ with AIRS researchers.  We understand that our role would be  _________________________________. We are able to provide the time of  xxxxx (name of person working in your organization who will liaise with AIRS) [Please simply insert the professional that applies to you]  for x? ___ hours a  [week, month, year] over 6 years  of the grant.  ________________ [Enter name of facility or organization] can also offer the space in which to conduct the activity, as well as access to [a desk, photocopier, piano??, computer programs].  In addition we can provide  ______  (e.g., advertising) of the  ____________ planned in conjunction with AIRS.  This amounts to an in-kind contribution of $3,500 salary and $5000 ($100/wk) [Please note that you as AIRS Partner are offering the personnel and the space, you do not actually give us money. The granting agency simply wants an understanding of approximately what kind of dollar amount these contributions would make]  for space rental for the 6 years during which the program would be carried out. (continuing with an example…) The space would also be provided for a graduate student researcher who would be the one to conduct the program and carry out the research. The research as we understand would consist of  [e.g., interviews with the children and seniors, focus groups, and video recordings of various stages of the development of the program.  The videos would be made available only the designated researchers, unless other permission were granted, and the entire project would be subject to the Canadian Tri-Council Ethical guidelines --- the deals will be provided by AIRS for each specific partner case]

We believe that the development of a protocol for   -------- (specific to the organization) could  enhance  the lives of  _______ through singing.  We are therefore very pleased to participate as a partner in the  AIRS program. Our contact person would be _______________________.

We wish you every success with the application.

Sincerely,

Name of Executive of Organization
Organization

c.c. to contact person in the organization

Stakeholders

Acoustical Society for America

Association communautaire francophone de Saint-Jean

Association of Canadian Choral Communities

Association of Technology in Music Education

Canadian Association of Music Therapy

Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' Associations

Canadian Journal of Music Therapy

Canadian Music Centre - Atlantic Region

Canadian Psychological Association: Section on Developmental Psychology

Canadian Psychological Association: Section on Health Psychology

Canadian Psychological Association: Section on International Psychology

Commonthread

International Society for Music Information Retrieval

Korean Society of Music Perception and Cognition

Nagasaki Bell Hearing Center

Prince Edward Island Registered Music Teachers Association

Society for Music Perception and Cognition

Sheffield Bach Society

Sing for Your Life Ltd.

Society for Arts in Healthcare

World Children's Choir

About Stakeholders

"For the purposes of the MCRI program, stakeholders are defined as groups of individuals, policy makers and organizations interested in the critical issues and research results of your proposal. Do not include partners in this list."

AIRS needs to continue to identify stakeholders – those groups who will benefit from AIRS, directly or indirectly, but which do not contribute financially.  We are allowed to list two pages of stakeholders.  Examples would be schools,  homes for seniors, organizations that do not provide financial support, choirs, choral societies that do not provide financial support, etc.  For example,  the Association of Canadian Choral Communities (ACCC).

Professional Associates: Vocalists/Educators

Professional Associates are individual professional vocal artists and or educators who are supportive of the AIRS objectives and may provide advice, serve as a resource, or participate in activities.

Pamela Campbell, Singer, Voice Teacher, Choral Director, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Teresa Doyle, Celtic recording artist, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Helen Pridmore, Singer, Voice Teacher, Mount Allison, University, New Brunswick, Canada

Affiliates

Chadia Moghrabi, Informatique, Universite de Moncton, CANADA

Joy Ollen, Aural Skills Division, Douglas College, New Westminster BC, CANADA 

John Tivendell, Psychology, U de Moncton, New Brunswick, CANADA 

Alda de Jesus Oliveira, Federal University of Bahia, BRAZIL

Research Themes

AIRS Research Themes (re-structured in summer 2008):

Development

Development Sub Themes

Development-1: Discovering Universals of Song Acquisition

Determining through cross-cultural research, the universal stages of development of singing: what pitch and timing relations, themes or emotions predominate at particular ages? What human interactions, such as caregiver-infant interchanges, are critical for or typical of song development?

Read more...

Development-2 - Development of Singing vs Speaking

Defining the distinguishing features between singing and speech acquisition so as to advance and developmental music psychology and psycholinguistics.

Read more...

Researching the Acquisition of Singing using Conversation Analysis

Having done some prior work on one child's spontaneous singing skills (in the early years), using conversation analysis, I would like to extend and develop this methodology with other interested parties/collaborators.  My research background is in the area of child development and conversation analysis and in my view there is considerable research potential in using this methodology in adjacent areas of singing/development of singing research.  There are also a number of interesting parallels between the acquisition of conversational and singing skills and warrant further investigation using this methodology. 

Singing and Education

Surveying and improving instructional methods for teaching songs to children and others based on knowledge gained from research on Development and aided by a new digital multimedia data base. Both formal and informal methods are of interest, as are models from all cultures, and pedagogical issues faced by various cultures.

Read more... 

Well-Being

Well-Being Sub Themes

Singing and Well-being-1: Promoting Cultural Understanding through Singing

Examining the role of teaching songs of foreign cultures to children to promote cultural understanding.

Read More...

Singing and Well-being-2: Promoting Intergenerational Singing

Establishing and examining inter-generational singing where elder members of a society teach children songs of their culture, and exploring how singing may increase individual and community well-being in general.

Read more...

Singing and Well-being-3: Promoting Health through Singing

Singing is both a highly personal aesthetic behavior as well as a potentially rewarding communal activity. Exploring how the encouragement of singing can benefit mental and physical health (e.g., lowered stress, improved cardiovascular fitness) has implications for quality of life, and reduced spending of individuals and governments on health care.

Here is a link to a video with Eleanor Roosevelt promoting singing as a way to uplift spirits during the Great Depression around 1930.

Here is a link to an article which examines the physiological and psychological effects of music interventions for persons with coronary heart disease.

Read more...

Introduction to the Theme of Singing and Well-being

In the last 25 years, a field of psychology that focuses on the subjective experience of happiness has developed. It is referred to positive psychology, and Diener is often credited with its origination.  This field of psychology recognizes that one of the universal human goals is to attain happiness or subjective well-being.  Subjective well-being is to be distinctive from other kinds of well-being as may be assigned by an external observer or bank teller.  Objective well-being  is based on what others assume will bring happiness to a second party. Subjective well-being seems to be more elusive , and yet what is known about it, through surveys and subjective reports, indicates that it has a considerable inpact on behavior.  From the point of view of AIRS therefore it is important that singing in theory could influence subjective well-being for the better, and since singing is a relatively inexpensive intervention, it could be more readily employed to improve subjective well-being. (To be continued)

About the Digital Library

The AIRS Database or Digital Library is under active development.

Its use is primarily for researchers, however certain collections will be of particular use to teachers, parents, community leaders, and practitioners. For ethical reasons, access to many of the audio-visual files is limited to researchers and other professionals who have created and been approved for an account on the AIRS site. The restriction arises in regard to consent forms signed for release of the data and in accordance with the ethics review boards in conjunction with Canadian Tri-Council Ethic policy.

There are currently three (3) themes in the digital library:

  1. Development;
  2. Education, and
  3. Well-Being.

Each Theme has it own collection, each of which has its own sub-collections (studies, demos, and misc). The Development collection has some example clips in miscellaneous.

The AIRS database will ultimately contain a wide variety of data related to singing. In some cases, where permission has been obtained from the collector of the data and the persons involved in any aspect of it, the data may be considered public domain. In many other cases, access to the data is restricted to those researchers investigating a particular problem.

E.g.: researchers on vocal pedagogy who would benefit from access to audio-video recordings of a singing lessons taking place with a voice instructor and pupil and possibly pianist.

The participants would likely not wish this to be public but may be willing to give permission to researchers to study what goes on here, so as to develop a better understanding of vocal pedagogy.

The collection of information on children's acquisition of singing is referred to as CHIMES.

How to access the library

In order to access the digital library, members must register a user account on the AIRS Web site and must request that project membership permissions be granted to your account. Applications for non-project members may be considered on an individual basis and interested parties are asked to contact us if they wish to apply for access to a particular database.

Troubleshooting checklist

Please review the following checklist to confirm you do have access to the digital library before contacting us for support.

  1. Verify that you are able to access your account by logging-in.
  2. Confirm that you have contacted the AIRS staff and requested digital library access be added to your account.
  3. Verify your username of the account you are using to log-in with the AIRS staff.
  4. Contact AIRS for support and be sure to include a detailed description of the error you are experiencing, as well as the URL associated with it.

Known issues

Only a short portion of audio files will be heard when played in the browser. To hear the whole clip, download the file to your computer and play the downloaded file.

If you have problems viewing files please download the free VLC media player available for many operating systems.

Technical acknowledgment

The design of the database is a collaboration between the AIRS International Digital Library team and the Islandora VRE and Digital Library team of Robertson Library, UPEI, in conjunction with Ichiro Fujinaga of McGill University.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

In this section, will try to answer some Frequently Asked Questions about AIRS.

Here are the currently available topics in our FAQs:

How to create an account?

In order to fully participate in the online AIRS community hosted on our Virtual Research Environment (VRE) Web site, you must create an account on the user registration page. You will have to activate your account after registration to be able to publish content to the site.

Creating a New AIRS Account

In order to create a new AIRS account, follow these steps:

  1. Visit the create new account user registration page.
  2. Complete the user registration form to the best of your ability.
    • All fields marked with a red asterisk must be completed or the form submission will fail. That being said, the more information you can provide AIRS, the better we can assist you should wish to be involved with AIRS.
    • The CAPTCHA image field at the bottom of the form is used to prevent spam bots from automatically registering accounts on the AIRS VRE. If you are having a difficult time passing the CAPTCHA test, please contact us.
  3. Confirm your account manually by visiting the activation URL that will be sent to the email address provided on the registration form.
    • You must have your account activated to fully access content publishing functionality on the site. See immediately below.

Activating Your New Account

It is important to note that when you create an account, you will be sent a confirmation email shortly after submission to the email address provided during registration. You must visit the activation URL provided in this email to fully activate your account on the AIRS VRE! If you receive no confirmation email, your account may require manual activate by the AIRS staff, which takes approximately 24 to 48 hours to process.

Need Help?

If you have any difficulty creating an account or activating your account, please contact the AIRS Information Technology Coordinator, Jonathan M. Lane (jmlane@upei.ca), immediately.

How to Contribute Content

Note: This section is subject to change in the near future. With the development of the AIRS Intranet site, most collaboration and content creation by research members will be taking place on that site. The web development team will do their best to migrate any content currently residing on this site to the Intranet, once the internal site is ready for general use.

Membership is reserved for people who are project collaborators. Anonymous users are not able to post any content on our site currently. To request an account be approved for membership, please register on the user registration form.

Once membership is approved, will be able to post comments, and is some areas, child pages. There will be links at the bottom of content that will say 'add comment' or 'add child page'. Just click on the link and fill in the blanks. Child pages are whole new page that are contained within the book to which you add the page.

Please take advantage of this great opportunity to share ideas and material!