Singing and cultural understanding: A music education perspective

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between singing and cultural understanding. Singing emerges in infancy and develops through processes of enculturation and socialization. When we sing songs from diverse cultures, we are granted with opportunities to learn about the cultures of others, and gain a better understanding of our own. Thus, singing songs from different cultures may play important roles in the construction of our identities and in how we perceive and understand others, and ultimately ourselves. Cultural understanding, however, is complex in nature and multi-layered. Even if research findings concerning the relationship between singing and cultural understanding are mixed, we argue that there is value in enhancing students' cultural understanding through singing multicultural songs. Singing multicultural songs can also promote the well being of students. It is beyond the education of music. It is about a comprehensive education of humans as social beings and music as a human endeavor.

Investigating Experience of Mothers Singing to Their Infants: In Search of Meanings

“…As pesquisas expressam interesse pelas características acústicas do cantar, o impacto que esta atividade tem nas mães, nos bebês e no relacionamento entre eles, seu uso por famílias, musicoterapeutas e educadores musicais. Esses estudos compreendem o cantar como veículo de comunicação (Creighton, 2011) e como uma atividade sociocultural (Ilari, Chen-Hafteck, & Crawford, 2013).…”

“…Estudos também salientam que cantar conecta a mãe com seu passado, sua família, com tradições musicais que podem ser mudadas e moldadas de acordo com as necessidades atuais expressando seu estilo de vida e valores (Ilari, Chen-Hafteck, & Crawford, 2013).…”

Interkulturalni sadržaji kao polazište nastave glazbe u europskim općeobrazovnim školama

“…Nastava glazbe u općeobrazovnim školama pruža velike mogućnosti za interkulturalni odgoj jer je glazba sama po sebi interkulturalna. Tri nastavna područja (izvođenje glazbe, skladanje, slušanje) nude brojne mogućnosti za uvažavanje interkulturalizma i različitosti (Ilari, ChenHafteck i Crawford, 2013).…”

Exploring the Aesthetic Connotations of Sight-singing and Ear-training

“…From Tab. 1, we can perceive the junior and monotony of the aesthetic feeling of music reflected in sight-singing and ear-training, as well as the significance of such feeling for the training of students' music aesthetics [2]. …”