Singing can overcome teenage isolation, says Grammy-winner

Grammy Award-winning artist, composer and producer Jacob Collier told the BBC that singing together can combat social isolation in young people and “break through the artificial digital boundaries created around us”.

He was speaking before the launch Let the BBC SingA new music education initiative aims to get more young people singing along across the UK.

Collier says he “won’t be that person” [he is] If singing wasn’t encouraged at school today”.

Recent research suggests that singing together as a group is something children are less exposed to as they approach their teenage years.

One-third of state middle school teachers said their school did not have a choir, and more than half (57%) of state middle school teachers said their students had never sung together in assembly. According to a recent survey Survey of nearly 10,000 teachers in England using the Teacher Tapp survey tool.

The BBC has launched BBC Get Singing, its biggest music education initiative in a decade, aiming to get thousands more children aged 11-14 in the UK singing together.

The three-year project can be accessed free of charge. BBC Bit Sizewhere song arrangements are available with additional videos to help teachers and students explore and learn each song, including tips on vocal warm-ups.

The two musical arrangements to be released from Tuesday are Celebrity Traitors star Cat Burns’ ‘Live More & Love More’ and Bob Chilcott’s ‘Piping Down the Valleys Wild’.

More newly remixed songs will be released later this year, including Jacob Collier’s ‘Something Heavy’.

Collier, a seven-time Grammy Award-winning artist, is the ambassador for the plan — a role he said was “completely no-brainer,” adding that he was “thrilled to be a part of the entire mission.”

“I think one of the challenges as a young person during this time is the isolation that comes when you sit in your little bubble,” she said.

“Those of us who had the experience of singing in the choir as children will never forget that feeling because you are part of something much bigger than yourself.

“It bypasses many of the artificial digital boundaries created around us and reminds us of something much older than that.

“Music, I think, adds a sense of confidence to the individual in a way that nothing else does. And that can be applied to everything you go on and do in your life.”

Bekki Kosher, head of music at Parrs Wood High School in Manchester, says the mental health benefits of singing are evident among his students, but admits it’s “sometimes difficult for students to see that music isn’t just something that happens on the phone.”

“It just gives them this buoyancy,” he says.

“You can park everything out the door and just be yourself, just have fun, just smile.”

Student Alesha, 14, says singing in the school choir brings everyone together.

“This is how I express myself,” he says.

“So whenever I’m sad, angry, happy, I always play music and sing.”

Over the next three years BBC Get Singing will expand with interactive singing workshops and performances for young people, as well as training opportunities for teachers and vocal leaders.

It is also planned to launch a research project to investigate the benefits of collective singing on young people.