Vocal Performance and Young Masculinities

Context. Singing is often perceived as an 'uncool' activity for boys and it is harder for choirs to recruit adult male than female singers. Where boys are reluctant to participate in singing, important doors to the development of musicality can be closed. Since the 1950s, popular musical culture has exalted the star performer and it is now more common for young males to 'consume' vocal performance than create it through membership of singing groups. Many traditional sites, such as the class singing lesson or the church choir have become increasingly marginalized. In many performance contexts or genres, young male and female voices are arguably interchangeable. The main audience for such genres is seldom the performer's peer group and commonly an older generation. Such tensions discourage young males from singing and can create social difficulties for those who do. There is uncertainty about who the role models might be for young boys who might become interested in singing and about the status of young male vocal performance outside the accepted norms of popular youth culture. The views of the peer group audience on a broad range of young male vocal performance styles need urgently to be sought.


Aims and Objectives. A key aim of this research is to study the cultural factors that discourage young males from singing. Gender is said to be a 'performance' as young people create their social selves through public behaviour which has gendered meanings. The research will investigate the problems faced by young males who make significant public statements about themselves through voice, movement and dress. Recognising that social class is also significant, the research will additionally examine the cultural rift attributable to the tastes of different generations. It will explore the degree to which certain styles and repertoire create audiences that are far removed from the performer's peer group, and the degree to which this is a problem. An important reason for doing this is to discover young people's views on what kinds of performance might encourage them to participate as singers themselves, discounting prejudgments about what young people's tastes are assumed to be. The clarification of the repertoire through which musicality can be developed is thus important, as is the investigation of what really counts as boys' performance when the repertoire for young males is shared with female voices.

Potential Applications and Benefits. The documentation and analysis of peer group reaction to a broad range of young male vocal performance genres will refresh the debate on what is 'uncool'. The research will address very positively any misconceptions held about singing and masculinity, challenging self-perpetuating stereotypes. It is unlikely that the work will have an immediate major impact on the gender imbalance in singing. However, it will contribute to building the basis for greater understanding of cultural diversity and greater social tolerance of difference amongst young people. Our knowledge of how to present the young male voice in all its cultural diversity to young people will be significantly enhanced. The work has the potential to bridge some of the gap between peer group audience and performer, with the subsequent benefit of increased participation in singing. Choir directors who find it harder to recruit tenors and basses than altos and sopranos may be beneficiaries, as may be the diverse range of organizations which subscribe to forms of cultural outreach to young males. Claims that singing enhances wellbeing in a variety of ways are frequently made, but the hard evidence does not yet build a case that is compelling enough to inject large scale funding and resources into school music and singing opportunities for all. This research will contribute usefully to that evidence base.