Singing in Balance: A WRoCAH PhD Network on Group Singing, Wellbeing, and Health

 Hi everyone! Our friends who are hosting ESCOM12 at the University of York on July 3rd-6th, 2024 are looking for welcome volunteers. Anyone who volunteers will be able to attend the conference for free so this is a great opportunity for those interested in attending (plus it looks great on a CV!). More information about the conference and volunteering are below: ESCOM 12 Conference | ESCOM Society Signup Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9OrMwbaq0k_F4j1VjMHL27PUDvNS4P1feAa7VhJsfMOcDPA/viewform Contact  Rebecca Jackson ( rj936@york.ac.uk)  or Caroline Owen ( cao521@york.ac.uk)  for more information!

Hi everyone! It's Bruna here :) I'm glad to present this brand-new page in our blog:  Myth Busters!   Here we are going to discuss some ideas that might be popular but not so true. As the famous Brazilian alien, "ET Bilu " (which was also a myth, by the way) said: seek knowledge!    Now, to today's topic:     Is a PhD a very lonely journey?   Before starting my PhD journey, I heard that it was going to be a very lonely experience. This was the only thing that really worried me before arriving in the UK. I come from a very sociable country, and I was teaching music to hundreds of kids before starting this journey, so the idea of being isolated for more than 3 years made me question if that was the right decision.   The PhD is indeed very different from any other educational or professional experiences that you might have had during your life. You do spend a lot of time reading, reflecting, writing, rewriting, rewriting, rewriting... You are n...

Hello to all of you lovely people reading! I hope you have been enjoying/have enjoyed Easter break. It’s Dana here to highlight an interesting article that I have read recently. This month I will be discussing my thoughts and opinions on a study conducted by Draper & Dingle (2021) titled: “It’s Not the Same”: A Comparison of the Psychological Needs Satisfied by Musical Group Activities in Face to Face and Virtual Modes (which you can read here ) In summary, the study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and used questionnaires to ask participants about the experience of bringing face to face (F2F) activity groups online and its impact on their psychosocial health. The aim of this research was to see if musical activities (specifically singing, instrumental, and dance) could adequately adapt and provide the same benefits in a virtual space. To measure and analyse the psychosocial benefits of these activities they used the Group Identification Scale by Doosje et al. (...

Hi everyone! This week I am coming to you with a research update - the first of our blog posts! As a reminder if you haven’t seen our other posts - my PhD is on singing for people with respiratory conditions. Yesterday I finished the first stage of data collection for my PhD! Officially marking the end of the delivery of the Relax, Breathe and Sing sessions. Relax, Breathe and Sing was a course of 10 sessions for people with long term health conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, COPD, Asthma, Long Covid and more. Common symptoms of the participants were fatigue, breathlessness, anxiety, brain fog, and problems with the voice. We had, on average, 16 participants at each session which was really encouraging. The sessions provided a “safe place” (as one of our participants said) where you are allowed to be yourself. You are allowed to cough, you are allowed to lie down, you are allowed to sit out for a bit. It’s a safe and encouraging environment where people with chr...