University Professor leads flagship ‘Boys Keep Singing’ project

Professor Martin Ashley, Head of Research in Edge Hill's Faculty of Education, has for some time now been leading on the Boys Keep Singing project in collaboration with the University of York and the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.

Based on the knowledge that Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) is the most difficult and exciting time for boys' voices, the main aim of the project is to keep boys interested in singing when they move to secondary school.  The project is now beginning to have real impact nationally and coincides with recent media coverage which claims that puberty in boys is happening earlier, meaning that their voices are changing sooner.

"It is well known that boys' voices change - not break - during puberty and my research looks into the fact that it is societal pressures, rather than biological or medical factors, that are causing this earlier change. It is this same pressure which makes boys less willing to sing in a higher voice once they reach a certain age", says Professor Ashley.

"We all know that puberty is an immensely important time for boys, with them being hugely influenced by their peers and what goes on around them. If they perceive singing soprano as ‘too girly' or ‘not cool' then they are naturally going to be less keen to do so," he added.

The Boys Keep Singing project is currently sampling over 1,000 boys voices to research if voice pitch in this age group is now lower than it was twenty years ago. Once the data is analysed this should provide the evidence needed to show whether there are biological changes or not and will be used to influence how singing is taught, both in the UK and nationally.

As this research is so cutting-edge, Professor Ashley has found himself in much demand to talk about his work, with the most recent session taking place at Blackburn Cathedral.

"We had a very interested audience in attendance at Blackburn Cathedral, including music teachers and choir conductors," Martin explained. "I gathered together a choir of about twenty volunteers and used the event to demonstrate that the boys could sing in both a high and a low voice. To me, this proves that boys of this age are capable of both, so the fact that they choose not to is down to factors other than biological ones."

The Department for Education has also shown a real interest in Professor Ashley's work, resulting in an invitation to London to address them; he has been invited to lead another live session in Liverpool at a vocal health symposium run by Sons of Sound; and he is also soon to fly to Australia to work with Scott Harrison of Queensland's Griffith University, who is undertaking similar research on the other side of the world, meaning the two leading researchers in this field are working together.

"It's a very exiting time to be doing this work," Professor Ashley concluded. "It's a great example of knowledge mobilisation and how to use well-conducted research effectively. Research is no use if nothing is done with it. It is up to us to put it out there, engage people with it and use it to make a difference. The Blackburn event was a great example of this because, as a live event, you never quite know what is going to happen, but when I asked the boys to sing it revealed exactly what my research had predicted, which was very pleasing."

For further information, visit www.edgehill.ac.uk/soundingedge/boyskeepsinging