Finding their voice: How singing empowers children

Songs, both taught and self-made, undoubtedly shape our auditory landscape during childhood. At this time, we often sing our hearts out, carefree and uninhibited by the responses of others.

A recent study by Analía Capponi-Savolainen, a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, has investigated how singing experiences shape the lives of today’s children in a culturally diverse school in Southern Finland. The research focused on six- and seven-year-old students.

Rather than viewing such experiences solely as performances, Capponi-Savolainen reveals the depth of children’s connection with singing and how they utilize it to shape their everyday lives.

Bringing children’s voices to life

The study involved 44 children, half of which shared their experiences through in-depth interviews. The students explained what singing means to them in their everyday lives. Capponi-Savolainen selected seven of these narratives in her doctoral dissertation to illustrate the children’s responses.

“Children use singing to create their own spaces of trust and freedom for their personal purposes: to cope with everyday struggles, to create new ways of acting and participating, and to exercise their political voice,” Capponi-Savolainen explained.

“For example, in these spaces, they can choose to sing or not sing, or to sing and dance simultaneously. They can choose their own music.”

She noted that these self-created soundspaces can be as public or private as the child desires – from singing and dancing with friends in the neighborhood to quietly humming in secluded spaces at school.

Capponi-Savolainen found that children formed important relationships through singing. Some of the children reported that they sang loudly, with full vocal potential, when singing with friends, but that they sang softly when alone. Private singing was also very important to the children.

Interestingly, the study found the children’s singing experiences at school, especially those that were adult-led, were quite different from their personal singing experiences.

Some children enthusiastically shared songs from their home cultures while others chose to keep their personal song realms tucked away.

A new perspective on childhood songs

Childhood singing experiences have traditionally been examined through lenses of vocal development, pedagogical methods, and song repertoires.

However, this study urges a shift in perspective. It emphasizes the importance of considering how children perceive their singing experience, especially in diverse educational environments.

Capponi-Savolainen’s study does not treat singing as just a performance or a skill to be measured in educational settings.

Instead, it paints a picture of singing as an ecological occurrence, a means of existing, communicating, and connecting with the world. It can be likened to a bridge that links the personal and academic realms of a child’s daily life.

This research, guided by global and national policies such as the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child and Finland’s Child Strategy, calls for greater consideration to be given to the children’s perspectives in decision-making that affects their lives.

Tuning into children’s unique experiences

Teaching methods must take into consideration the unique experiences, voices, and cultural backgrounds of every child.

Capponi-Savolainen urges educators to navigate away from the traditional methods of teaching songs and instead tune into the unique experiences and perspectives of children.

“We are constantly asked to find new ways to listen to our children, but the question is how to listen and how to respect what is heard,” she noted.

“To see the ‘real child’ in front of us, awareness is needed, but in order to make a difference, we need action. Learning from children about what singing means to them and creating a curriculum of care through singing is a way to do this.”

The idea is not to focus on measuring a child’s singing skill but to enable singing as a vibrant activity that bridges home and school experiences. Central to this approach is creating an environment that cares for each child as a unique individual and as part of society.

The study has opened an unexplored path in the field of children’s singing experiences. The research has also established the significance of singing in a child’s communication, self-expression, identity, and social connection.

Details of this research are available in a University of Helsinki press release.

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