Milena Petroviæ
Academy of Music, Belgrade
GROUP SINGING AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY1
Abstract
Group singing creates a shared emotional, social, and cognitive experience. It was a crucial factor
of early hominid physical survival because the survival needs of the group exceed the
instincts of individual survival. Humans used group singing to make strong social bonds,
express their identity, and attract a mate. Group singing of our ancestors was probably in
unison and in-tune because they had the capability to store absolute pitch information for
signals and sound patterns that were necessary for communication and survival. Group
singing of modern humans at sports events and music concerts express national, social,
and cultural identity, creating a sense of collective consciousness and the state of
collective musical identity. This synchronous public singing could be very accurate,
because everyone possesses absolute memory for pitch in melodies, while these
emotionally engaged “neo-tribe” sing-along choruses point to group singing as a
manifestation of the collective unconscious. Group singing provides physical,
psychological, social, musical, and educational benefits for an individual’s well-being. It
increases empathy and pro-social behaviors in children, which is of the utmost importance
for music education.
Key words: group singing, collective identity, in-tune, neo-tribe, sing-along, well-being
SKUPINSKO PETJE IN KOLEKTIVNA IDENTITETA
Izvleèek
Skupinsko petje omogoèa deljenje èustvenih, socialnih in kognitivnih doivetij. Predstavljalo je
kljuèni dejavnik evolucijskega obstoja èloveka, saj so preivetvene potrebe skupine prevladale nad
instinkti individualnega preivetja. Naši predniki so skupinsko petje uporabljali z namenom
ustvarjanja moènih socialnih povezav, za izraanje lastne identitete in da bi privlaèili posameznike
nasprotnega spola. Skupinsko petje naših prednikov je bilo verjetno v unisonu in uglašeno, saj naj bi
posedovali sposobnost absolutnega posluha za zvoène draljaje, ki so jim omogoèali
sporazumevanje in preivetje. Skupinsko petje sodobnega èloveka na športnih dogodkih in
glasbenih koncertih izraa narodnostno, drubeno in kulturno identiteto s tem, da ustvarja obèutek
kolektivne zavesti in stanja kolektivne glasbene identitete. To sinhrono javno petjo je precej
uglašeno, saj naj bi bila univerzalna sposobnost èloveka, da ima vrojene sposobnosti absolutnega
posluha za tonske višine v melodijah, kadar pride do èustveno zavzetega “neo-plemenskega”
skupinskega petja kot manifestacije kolektivnega nezavednega. Skupinsko petje prinaša fiziološke,
psihološke, socialne, glasbeni in izobraevalne pozitivne uèinke na posameznikovo blagostanje.
Poveèuje empatijo in prosocialno vedenje pri otrocih, kar predstavlja pomemben vidik glasbenega
izobraevanja.
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Milena Petroviæ, GROUP SINGING AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
1 This is an extended and revised version of a preliminary conference report that was presented at the 20th
International Pedagogical Forum of Performing Arts, Belgrade, Serbia, September 29 - October 1, 2017.
Kljuène besede: skupinsko petje, kolektivno nezavedno, uglašenost, neo-pleme, pripevanje,
blagostanje
Introduction
The article gives an insight into the group singing experience, which is of great interest to
evolutionary theorists, psychologists, sociologists, and musicologists. It is organized into
five chapters. In the first, named “The origins of group singing”, we present group singing
as a means of humans’ physical survival. We shall discuss group singing that was first
found in human evolution. Humans sang together for different ritual and religious
purposes, to attract a mate or in a hunt.
The idea of the second chapter, “The wisdom of crowds”, is that large groups of people are
collectively smarter than individuals, so that could be a reason why crowds might sing in
tune. Whereas the average individual is not necessarily a gifted performer, a large group of
these imperfect singers performs in unison, surprisingly tuned. Another reason could be a
collective unconsciousness of group singing that unites revelers in temporary “neo-tribe”
choruses singing familiar songs in tune. Singing in tune is linked to the memory for
absolute pitch in a melody, which is actually widespread.
The third chapter, “Football chants”, discusses group sing-along behavior at football
matches. These chants remind us of “war-cry” tradition, when music was used to motivate
a group of people to sing in unison. The same way of thinking extends to the next, fourth
chapter, “Singing along in concerts”, which discusses the cultural phenomenon of group
singing along at popular music concerts. Group singing interacts with the socio-cultural
context where individual expresses self-identity within the social activity of group
singing. Social bonding and identity expression could motivate audiences to sing along to
music in a leisure context.
The final, fifth chapter, “The benefits of group singing”, polemicizes about the positive
effects that group singing, whether formal or informal, can provide to an individual,
improving his social, physical, and psychological well-being.
The origins of group singing
Many scientific theories have significantly contributed to our knowledge about the origins
of group singing in the context of human evolution. It is claimed that group-singing
behavior existed at the very beginnings of music (Brown, 2007), in the form of choral
singing (Richman, 1993). Humans’ ability to sing together in harmony was a part of the
first universal rituals (Jordania, 2011). Polyphonic singing existed in early human
evolution, and the historical development of human musical culture went from polyphony
to monophony (Jordania, 2011), from group to individual musical activity (Miron, 1972).
Through singing, humans were connected, because music establishes cohesion in human
society (Blacking, 1973) and serves as an aid of social bonding (Dunbar, 1996). In ancient
times, group singing and body movement put our ancestors into a battle trance and created
a powerful mental network between individuals (Jordania, 2011). Group movement
synchronization and cooperation was necessary for hunting (Kogan, 1997). Just like some
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animal species (crickets or frogs) synchronize with each other in producing periodic
rhythmic chorusing in courtship displays (Patel, 2008), humans’ multi-male synchronous
chorusing presented the competing groups of males inviting females for mating (Merker,
2000). Music served as a powerful aid of sexual attraction (Huron, 2003). Even
Neanderthals sang to attract females, and their musical abilities were subject to sexual
selection (Mithen, 2005). Interesting enough is the evidence showing that Neanderthals
possessed the absolute pitch (AP) ability (Mithen, 2005). It was probably their capability
to store AP information for signals or sound patterns that were necessary for
communication.
Group singing is a communication of a basic emotional state (Welch, 2012) and a form of
group identification, identity expression, and social bonding (Pawley & Mullensiefen,
2012). It allows people to feel like a part of a community, and therefore, it is central in
forming a collective identity (Melucci, 1989; Eyerman & Jamison, 1998). Group singing
evokes emotions, raises morale, strengthens solidarity, fosters hope, and unifies members
against a common opponent (Bensimon, 2012). Therefore, group singing can be
considered a social phenomenon, social ritual, and shared experience that Durkheim
called collective effervescence (Durkheim, 1912).
The wisdom of crowds
With this theory, Durkheim wanted to explain the role emotions play within mass
gathering (Durkheim, 1912). During these social rituals, through bodily processes of
rhythmic entrainment, participants become synchronized with each other’s motion and
emotions, due to a special relationship between auditory temporal intervals (auditory
input) and patterned movement (motor output) (Patel, 2008).There is neurological
evidence showing that rhythmic entrainment is a basis for collective effervescence
(Heinskou&Liebst, 2016) and that interpersonal synchrony increases social bonding and
positive affect (Mogan, Fischer & Bulbulia, 2017). Collins’s Interaction Ritual Theory
(Collins, 1981) and the Theory of collective effervescence lead to the formation of
collective consciousness or collective mind (Durkheim, 1912).
This fundamental sociological concept refers to the set of shared values, beliefs, attitudes,
or knowledge that are common to a social group or society (Durkheim, 1893). The
collective consciousness awakens our sense of belonging and identity, because
individuals feel a sense of solidarity with each other, as collective identity presents the
shared sense of belonging to a group (Melucci, 1989). The ritual outcomes are the building
up of emotional energy in the individual, combined with the growth of group solidarity,
morality, and membership symbols. In mass collective singing (at sports events or music
concerts), pitch and rhythmic accuracy is recognized due to the emotional engagement,
when synchronized movement creates a sense of connectedness and a state of collective
musical identity (Jordania, 2011).
Contrary to Durkheim’s collective consciousness, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
Carl Jung, introduced the term collective unconscious that first appeared in his essay “The
structure of the unconscious”. Jung proposed that we are all born with a collective
unconscious, which presents a set of memories and ideas that are shared amongst all of
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humanity (Jung, 1981). Jung described this shared concept as archetypes, such as themes
and characters emerging in our dreams or our culture (mother figure, for example). Music
archetypes are a way of understanding deeper interactions in the collective consciousness
of a performing group, due to a group experience that takes place on a lower level of
consciousness than the experience of an individual (Jung, 1981).
Being a part of a group certainly influences the individual’s feelings and behavior. Group
memberships can have a positive impact on a person’s mental health (Tajfel & Turner,
1986) and belonging to a number of different social groups can help us cope with life
changes and can be an important predictor of health outcomes (Haslam et al., 2009).
Before the members of a crowd of people can constitute a group, these individuals must
have a common interest in an object, a similar emotional bias, and some degree of
reciprocal influence (McDougall, 1920).
The idea of the wisdom of crowds can be traced back to Aristotle’s theory of collective
judgment (Aristotle, 1988). In his book “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind“, Le
Bon wrote that when people become a part of a crowd, they lose almost all of their
individuality, autonomy, personal judgment, and morality, by becoming caught up in the
crowd’s collective and often irrational influence (Le Bon, 1895). To unlock the
unconscious mind, one should become a member of a crowd (Freud, 1922). In the book
“The Wisdom of Crowds“, Surowiecki explains that collective wisdom best solves: 1)
cognitive problems, 2) coordination problems, and 3) cooperation problems. The example
of the US navy that lost one of its submarines in 1968 shows how a group can be smarter
than any individual. A naval officer asked a wide group of individuals to guess the
submarine’s location. The group’s average guess was just 220 yards from the location
where the submarine was found. The other example is the “Ask the Audience” as part of
the quiz Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, where the studio audience gives the correct
answer 91% of the time. It proves that groups should not be made up of exceptionally
intelligent, well-informed, or rational people, in order to be smart and reach a wise
decision collectively.
Therefore, groups do not need to be dominated by exceptionally musical people to be in
tune. Everyone possesses absolute memory for pitch in melodies (Levitin, 1994), even
adults with little formal musical training (Schellenberg & Trehub, 2003). If most of the
people within a group are not particularly musical or talented for singing, they can still
reach a collectively good intonation, because, in a large group, close enough is good
enough. There do not have to be too many good singers in a crowd, but they should be
evenly distributed. Off-key singers will then tend to tune up with their surroundings if
there are some other persons with better intonation in their close neighborhood.
Regardless of the intonation of each singer, the collective tone will be perceived to be in
tune. When several harmonics are played together, the perceived pitch corresponds to a
frequency that is not physically present due to its psychoacoustic properties (Lacasa,
2016). It means that a group reinforces the natural harmonics of a tone, creating the fuller
and richer sound, and the average pitch, which is somewhere in the middle.
Off-key singers tend to find one of those strong harmonics and match it, which doesn’t
happen when they are singing solo, because of the fear of solo singing in public and
confidence when singing in a group (Whidden, 2008). When a large group of people sings
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in unison, the pitches that match both what the performers are doing and what we expect
are achieved. Huron proposes the psychological theory of expectation, showing how
emotions evoked by expectation involve predicted responses (Huron, 2006). It means that
while listening to music, our brain tells us what will happen next. When listening to a pop
song, we pretty much know what is going to happen next. The more “traditional” the
harmony, the more accurate the singing will be (Sterling, 1984). If something different
from what the brain expected happens, depending on the person, it will make us like or
dislike the song more. Music preferences are one of the important predictors of sing-along
behavior or sing-along-ability.
By singing along, people create a familiar atmosphere in different venues (Bennett, 1997),
facilitate social bonding, (Packer & Ballantyne, 2011) create positive social interaction
(Finnegan, 2007), and vice versa: musical identities are developed in the social activity of
group singing (Davidson & Faulkner, 2016). Nowadays, group sing-along behavior
occurs regularly at football matches and popular music concerts.
Football chants
Football chants express social and cultural identity. Moreover, they establish the
individual and collective identity and express the individual’s self-concept as a member of
one social group (Tajfel, 1981). It is interesting that, as fans increasingly gain a strong
sense of belonging to the community, shared faith, and commitment to be together, their
singing becomes more in tune. Furthermore, the more developed football as a sport has
become, the more precise tuning of singers at the stadiums has been. Group singing seems
to develop as human consciousness and culture develop because music played a crucial
role in the development of the human mind and cultural cognition (van der Schyff, 2014).
There is some evidence showing that musicality is the ability of great antiquity and
fundamental part of being human (Mithen, 2006). Anyhow, we can understand singing
in-tune as an ancient category, but still cannot surely tell if it is biologically inherited or it
is a product of the environment.
In some countries, such as England, there is a long and well-known tradition of singing at
football matches. Therefore, football fans in England are able to sing historical or
adaptations of popular songs, a mock of the originals, songs from musicals, nursery
rhymes, or even the classical themes. The first-ever football anthem is Sir Edward Elgar’s
“He Banged the Leather for Goal” (1898). In the second half of the 20th century, football
supporters began singing and creating chants to accompany games (Kopiez & Brink,
1999). The first chant ever sung at the football match was “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by
Rodgers and Hammerstein. Since the 1960s, Liverpool F.C. fans have sung this song with
intense emotions, where the song peak coincides with the long holding tone in-tune
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-jJlGd1so).
Singing along behavior could be viewed from the “neo-tribes” perspective (Maffesoli &
Foulkes, 1988; Malbon, 1999). In his pioneering book “The Soccer Tribe”, British
zoologist Morris relates soccer to tribal living and compares football fans with a tribe
(Morris, 1981). The first similarity can be observed when the selected individuals, such as
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ratified fan leaders, initiate the chant, while a large group of fans joins in quickly (Kopiez
& Brink, 1999). The lead singer, or anthemic leader, unites fans in a temporary “neo-tribe”
and motivates them to tune together in relative unison (WordNet, 2010). This could be
compared to Brown’s theory of “contagious heterophony”, recognized in wolves howling,
when one animal starts calling and other members of the group join in (Brown, 2007). This
type of singing is also seen in the ancient Serbian folk songs named “ojkanje”, where one
singer starts and then the rest of the singers join in (Petroviæ & Ljubinkoviæ, 2011). The
second similarity is that football chants remind us of a “call to a party”, an invitation to
participate in the party through singing, and might be compared to a “war-cry”. “War-cry”
in fighting battles is traditionally male-dominated, so male singers are more
“sing-along-able” than females. Male vocalists might think that joining in with female
singers is a threat to their masculinity. Therefore, they tend to sing more anthemic songs
than females (sports anthems, for example, see Dockwray, 2005).
The third similarity is that fans of both football clubs have their own terraces (territories),
from where they encourage their own team and jeer at the opposite one (Kopiez & Brink,
1999). The role of football chants today and ancient war songs is similar, and that is to
inform the opponent fans/enemy about the strength, group strategy, and territory
ownership (Hagen & Bryant, 2003). The last, fourth similarity shows that both football
chants and ancient group songs were emotionally engaged choruses of highly
synchronized sounds (Hagen & Hammerstein, 2009). Besides singing, fans clap and
rhythmically applaud, so through bodily processes of rhythmic entrainment, participants
become synchronized with each other’s motion and emotions (Durkheim, 1912).
Interaction ritual theory (interaction ritual chains) proves that the intense emotional and
ritual experiences of sports fans effect singing in tune (Collins, 1981). The role of emotion
in group solidarity is important for understanding fan behavior and singing along in tune.
Singing along in concerts
Sing-along behavior is the musical quality that might motivate an individual to sing along
to a particular song (Pawley, 2009). Several musical factors influence sing-along
behavior, but there is no indication of a single or simple “sing-along formula” (Pawley &
Müllensiefen, 2012). According to the evidence, the only song that made 100% of the
audience sing along was “Imagine” by John Lennon (Pawley & Müllensiefen, 2012). High
energy, high chest voice, and songs with clarity of consonants and lesser use of melismas
usually motivate the audience to sing along (Pawley & Müllensiefen, 2012). What makes
rock songs sing-along-able are short phrases in the chorus, little rhythmic variability,
descending melodic contours, and simple intervallic movements (Dockwray, 2005). It
seems the audience feels motivated to sing along if songs are catchy and easy to learn,
having short phrases within the octave range and being more syllabic (Stefani, 1987).
However, some very complex songs in both lyrical and musical aspects make fans sing
along in-tune. The question then arises: what makes a song difficult for singing? In his
work, Geissmann (2000) argues that complex songs (signals) evolved first and that
meanings were added to these signals later (Fitch, 2006).
A very complex, but “sing-along-able” song is “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the Queen’s
biggest worldwide hit. The lead singer Freddie Mercury reached out to everybody in the
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Wembley stadium in 1985 and fans accompanied by singing in tune, primarily as being
deeply touched by the beauty of the song and emotions that the singer shared
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oozJH6jSr2U).2 It seems pretty reasonable to
assume that memory for AP and group singing in tune co-exists with the emotion
associated with the piece (Eschrich, Münte & Altenmüller, 2008). The song mixes genres
of ballad, opera, and rock anthem. It lasts almost six minutes and includes six completely
different sections with character, tempo, and meter changes. Lyric variables that could
motivate fans to sing along are: the entire song is in English3, with some words from
non-English languages (Galileo, Fandango, Figaro, Magnifico, Bismillah, Belzebub); the
presence of the third person singular (mama, he); combination of person/group in chorus.
Vocal style variables that could provoke singing along are: more frequent/intensive use of
reverb effects in chorus; the song is mostly sung with some speech parts; very relaxed and
calm style in verse is in contrast to the highly energized choruses; the song is mostly
syllabic with some melisma; precise consonants; backing and main vocals play equal role;
vibrato (Pawley & Müllensiefen, 2012). It is known that when a baby is exceptionally
distressed, the cry contains vibrato (Vonwiller, 1986) and has an emotional effect on the
parents (Seashore, 1967). It seems that vibrato and some other musical features have a
strong emotional influence on listeners resembling primitive emotional responses (Davis,
1998). It is like Mercury’s “call to party”- he starts singing and then fans continue together
in unison or take over - and unites fans in the “neo-tribe”. Concerts fans experienced a
temporary social bonding (Mogan, Fischer & Bulbulia, 2017), felt connected to the
performer by engaging with live music (Packer & Ballantyne, 2011), and became
synchronized with each other’s motion and emotions.
There is evidence that proves infants display a range of “proto-musical” behaviors,
producing regular synchronization of vocal and kinesthetic patterns gaining multimodal
sensory information (Papousek, 1996). It means that infants not only listen to sounds, but
also produce them and actively move while doing so because music of different cultures,
throughout history and in various societies, has always involved not just sound, but action,
too (Blacking, 1973). The relation between singing and evolution can only emerge from
an understanding of music’s identity in cultural context and its manifestation in early
childhood and development (Cross, 2001). Therefore, group singing has been a major
component of music education (Spruce, 2002) because of the huge benefits it brings.
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Milena Petroviæ, GROUP SINGING AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
2 However, many years after Mercury’s death, the crowd of 60,000 people precisely sings “Bohemian
Rhapsody” without the singer even been there ((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL9E1Sm5Pik).
3 It is interesting enough to mention that at the concert of the same band in Rio de Janeiro, the crowd of
400,000 people sang the song “Love of my life” in tune, even though their maternal language is not
English, but Portuguese (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGCBXdY4HKQ).
The benefits of group singing
The benefits of group singing are: physical, psychological, social, musical, and
educational (Welch, 2012).
Physical benefits of group singing relate to respiratory and cardiac function. Group
singing could improve lung and heart function and immune system. Lung cancer patients
who sang in a choir had a greater expiratory capacity than those who did not (Gale et al.,
2012). Also, it can help the development of fine and gross motor control in the vocal
system and neurological functioning (Welch, 2012).
Psychological benefits relate to: intra-personal communication, the development of an
individual’s identity, singing as a cathartic activity, and interpersonal communication
(Welch, 2012). Group singing can reduce anxiety and depression and positively affects
people with chronic mental illness (Grocke et al., 2009). It reduces the stress hormone
cortisol during choir rehearsals in professional and amateur singers (Beck et al., 2000). It
also improves mood by releasing positive neurochemicals such as -endorphin,
dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin into the forebrain (Freeman, 2000). When singing in a
group, the immunoglobulin A, an endocrine defense against bacterial infection in the
upper respiratory tract, is being increased (Clift et al., 2010). The satisfaction of
performing together is associated with the activation of the brain’s reward system.
Social benefits relate to an enhanced sense of social inclusion and better social well-being.
From the time a child is born, singing is the most basic form of interpersonal, social, and
cultural communication (Welch, 2012). Group singing has the potential to enhance the
quality of life because it can help improve singers’ attention, focus, and regular
commitment (Clift et al., 2010). It decreases loneliness (Cohen, 2006) and strengthens
social musical identities (Davidson & Faulkner, 2015) by forming social bonding (Pawley
& Mullensiefen, 2012; Welch, 2012). There is evidence to suggest that singing can be
beneficial for building a sense of community, i.e. children with more developed singing
ability tend to have a more positive sense of being socially integrated (Welch et al., 2014).
Furthermore, singing in schools improves self-esteem, confidence, enjoyment, and
engagement in the class. Some studies reported singing increases empathy (Rabinowitch
et al., 2012). Group singing has a huge effect on the homeless, marginalized people, and
middle-class people (Bailey & Davidson, 2005). The act of singing conveys information
about group membership (age, gender, culture, social group) and emotionally unites
people. By inducing emotions, music changes behavior, so emotion is required for rational
decision-making (Mithen, 2005).
Musical benefits from group singing relate to the realization of musical potential and the
creation of an individual’s musical repertoire. Vocal learning is a basic and widespread
skill (Racette & Peretz, 2007), while the ability to sing in tune is an indicator of the general
musical ability (Welch, Sergeant & White, 1997). For children, singing in tune presents a
continuum of skill, ranging from almost total “untunefulness”, through degrees of
increasing vocal pitch control, to vocal pitch accuracy regardless of the tonal center of the
melody (Welch, 1985). The relative proportion of “in-tune” singers has been found to
increase as a function of age. Some results show that approximately 35% of
seven-years-olds in western countries sing “out-of-tune” in contrast to only 7% of the
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eleven-year-old population. There is also a clearer gender difference, with girls being
more competent “in-tune” singers than boys (Welch, Sergeant & White, 1997).
Finally, the educational benefits of group singing relate to increasing skills, knowledge,
and understanding about the world around us, both in music and through music (Welch,
2012). Good singing experiences at school are also believed to be a major component of
developing a lifelong interest and involvement in music (Pitts, 2009). However, when
people lose ties with their traditional culture, the role of singing decreases in society.
Evidence suggests that singing is a relatively low-status element of Music education in
schools (Finney, 2000), and children’s singing skills progress relatively slowly at the start
of school (Leighton & Lamont, 2006). Many primary school teachers lack con?dence in
their own singing skills (Neokleous, 2009) and may not be singing much with their
classes, preferring to rely on recordings. In many schools, singing has become a selective
element of Music education in schools (for example, extracurricular choirs) (Bray, 2009).
Referring to the previous arguments of group singing benefits, getting singing back to
primary schools as the central musical activity, and offering group singing to every
primary-school child, is of utmost importance.
Conclusion
Group singing is the oldest form of humans’ collective identity expression. It served to
humans’ physical survival through male-dominated “war-cry” in battles or “call to party”
in mating. In traditional or “primitive” societies, group singing, as a part of religion and
rituals, played an important role in producing collective consciousness and the state of
collective musical identity.
Nowadays, football chants and singing along in concerts allow researchers a unique
insight into human music behavior. Fans’ tribal behavior provokes singing in-tune
because of their emotional engagement, the stability of auditory imagery, and latent
absolute pitch ability, i.e., absolute memory for the pitch in favorite melodies. While some
authors believe fans are motivated to sing along if songs are easy to learn, contain short
phrases, small range, little rhythmic variability, and simple intervallic movements, the
others argue that there were complex signals/songs that developed first.
Group singing is an integral component of music education because the positive
connection between singing and well-being has been proven. It is confirmed that regular
singing contributes to good mental and physical health, and that singing improves social
development among children. Regular high-quality singing at school has a positive impact
on learning outcomes. Therefore, group singing has to be placed at the heart of music
education, and a singing strategy to develop singing activities and choirs accessible to all
pupils.
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Povzetek
Skupinsko petje predstavlja najstarejšo obliko izraanja ljudi. V tradicionalnih drubah je
bilo skupinsko petje del verskih obredov in ritualov ter je tako igralo pomembno vlogo pri
oblikovanju kolektivnega zavesti in stanja kolektivne glasbene identitete. Skupinsko petje
je bil kljuèni dejavnik v zgodnjem razvoju èloveka, saj mu je omogoèal fizièno preivetje
s pomoèjo bojnih krikov vodilnega moškega v krdelu in mu predstavljal tudi klic priprave
na paritev. Skupinsko petje naših prednikov je bilo verjetno unisono in uglašeno, saj naj bi
èloveška vrsta takrat posedovala absolutni posluh za zvoène draljaje, ki so bili kljuèni za
medsebojno sporazumevanje in preivetje. Skupinsko petje sodobnega èloveka na
športnih dogodkih in glasbenih koncertih izraa narodnostno, drubeno in kulturno
identiteto. Ob skupnem petju feni delijo èustvena, socialna in kognitivna doivetja.
Sinhrono pripevanje je obièajno intonanèno pravilno zaradi moènih socialnih vezi in
èustvene zavzetosti. Nekateri avtorji so predpostavljajo, da so feni motivirani za
skupinsko petje, èe so pesmi enostavne za nauèit, èe vsebujejo kratke fraze v manjšem
obsegu in z malo ritmiène variabilnosti in enostavne intervalne postope. Drugi avtorji pa
trdijo, da so se evolucijsko najprej razvili kompleksni glasovni signali/pesmi. V skladu s
slednjo predpostavko lahko razumemo pripevanje ob zelo kompleksni skladbi “Bohemian
rhapsody” Britanske rock skupine Queen. Feni pripevajo in ohranjajo ritmièno in
melodièno toènost, ker skladba izvablja moène èustvene odzive pri poslušalcih. To
èustveno zavzeto “neo-plemensko” pripevanje kae, da vsak èlovek inherentno poseduje
stabilnost zvoène imaginacije in latentno sposobnost absolutnega posluha. Ta absolutni
spomin za tonsko višino v priljubljenih melodijah nakazuje, da so glasbene preference
eden izmed pomembnih napovednikov ubranega in uglašenega petja. Skupinsko petje
predstavlja integralno komponento glasbenega izobraevanja, ker zagotavlja fiziološke,
psihološke, socialne, glasbene in izobraevalne pozitivne uèinke za posameznikovo
blagostanje. Potrjeno je bilo, da redno petje prispeva k mentalnem in telesnem zdravje in
da spodbuja empatijo in prosocialno vedenj pri otrocih. Redno kakovostno petje v vrtcih
in šolah ima pozitivne uèinke na uène doseke. Zato je potrebno zborovsko petje umestiti
v samo jedro glasbenega izobraevanja in ga narediti dostopnega vsem uèencem.
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