Short Courses & Events / Archive

Group Singing As A Complex Adaptive System (CAS)

Thursday 7th July 2022, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

In this short course, Dr Dave Camlin will outline some of the implications of understanding group singing as a complex adaptive system (CAS).

While perhaps hundreds of psychological, biological, social, and behavioural mechanisms might be implicated in the experience of singing together, how we understand such complex intra-actions presents an epistemological conundrum.

Participant reports of ‘magic moments’ point toward group singing as the experience of an ‘entangled state’, whereby our understanding of causality is radically altered.

As well as troubling our understanding of what we ‘know’ about it, thinking of group singing as a CAS also invites us to consider what we ‘do’ with it, and how we research it.

Drawing on perspectives as diverse as vitality dynamics (Stern, 2010) and quantum theory (Barad, 2007), the course will explore the complexity of issues surrounding group singing as it relates to health and (mutual) recovery; interpersonal attunement and entrainment; performance (of relationships and values as much as musical works), addressing such questions as:

  • What does it mean to think of music (specifically group singing) as a complex adaptive system (CAS)?
  • What human (or posthuman) values are ‘performed’ during group singing, and how might they be fostered?
  • What is a ‘healthy public’, and how does group singing support such development?
  • How might we connect the act of singing together to issues of sustainable global development?

Dr Dave Camlin

Dr Dave Camlin’s musical practice spans performance, composition, teaching, socially-engaged music practice and research. A singer / song-writer by trade...

Sorry, this is an archived short course...

We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.

Empowering Teachers to Manage Music Performance Anxiety within Teaching Studios: From Understanding to Strategy Development
Tuesday 11th February 2025
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
(London Time)

Empowering Teachers to Manage Music Performance Anxiety within Teaching Studios: From Understanding to Strategy Development

Isabella Mazzarolo

Music performance anxiety is a significant challenge faced by musicians of all ages and skill levels. This interactive course provides music practitioners with an understanding of performance anxiety, while also offering practical strategies to help musicians manage it.

The Acoustics of Choir Singing
Thursday 13th February 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

The Acoustics of Choir Singing

Sten Ternström

When many people are singing together in a room, a number of phenomena present themselves that beg for a scientific inquiry. What can knowledge of acoustics do to help the singer and the conductor?

Pop Pedagogy
Monday 17th February 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Pop Pedagogy

Kim Chandler

RESCHEDULED event from 27th January. As the ‘newest’ of the singing styles to be taught in music institutions and private studios, the pedagogy for teaching popular singing is still in its early stages relative to other styles of singing, particularly classical singing. However, pop pedagogy has been developing steadily since the year 2000 when the author was part of the team that developed and delivered one of the very first degrees in Popular Music in the UK.