What does it mean to sing with the Earth?

ABSTRACT

A small group (n = 11) of singers from the same community of musical practice in the UK participated in focus group workshops to reflect on their experiences of group singing in nature. The study found that group singing in nature was considered to be a (non-religious) spiritual practice that enhances participants’ experience of both communitas and their connection to the natural world. Participants made an important distinction between singing with the earth – communing with the natural world in a more spiritual way – and singing for the earth, more political activity in response to local and global environmental issues. From a Posthuman perspective, diffraction – as both the physical and metaphorical process of exploring ‘differences that matter’ – is identified as an important concept for understanding how different routes to wellbeing can be mutually constitutive and intra-active. De-centring human experience by amplifying the co-constitutive role of other agencies like the natural world highlights the ontological and epistemological complexity of such experience.

KEYWORDS:

• Group singing
• eco-choir
• singing in nature
• diffraction
• posthuman

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David A. Camlin

Dr. David A. Camlin's musical practice spans performance, composition, teaching, community music (CM) and research. He lectures in music education at the Royal College of Music and Trinity-Laban Conservatoire and was Head of HE/Research at Sage Gateshead from 2010 to 2019. His research interests include CM, especially group singing; music, health and wellbeing; and musician education. He has pioneered the use of Sensemaker® ‘distributed ethnography' as a research method for understanding artistic and cultural experiences. His recent book Music Making and Civic Imagination: A Holistic Philosophy explores the potential of musicing as both a complex adaptive system (CAS) and a global resource for sustainability.