The effects of group singing on mood
Abstract
This study explored the effects of singing on the mood of singers. Participants, a community sample of volunteers, were randomly assigned to either a singing (experimental) or a listening to singing (control) group. The singers participated in a half-hour session of singing while the listeners sat and listened to the singing group. The Profile of Mood States Questionnaire (P.O.M.S.) was administered immediately before and after the singing session and again one week later. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) (3 x 2 factorial with three levels of time and two levels of group) were conducted on each of the P.O.M.S. subscales. Multivariate F tests indicated that significant changes occurred on the P.O.M.S. sub-scales (tension, anger, fatigue, vigour and confusion) for both the singing and listening groups over time. There was no significant group-time interactions indicating that both groups responded in a similar fashion to the singing session, although the effects for singing were more robust. The results of this study indicate that both singing and listening to singing can alter mood immediately after participation in a short singing session, and that some of these effects were evident in the P.O.M.S. scores one week later. These results suggest that a longer and more vigorous singing session is needed to obtain additional benefits of singing over listening.
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The results regarding positive affect and perceived social connectedness were not as distinct as expected compared to previous findings.
“However, the results regarding PA, as well as perceived SOC, were not as distinct as expected, compared to previous findings (Valentine and Evans, 2001; Unwin et al., 2002; Grape et al., 2003).”
From Psychobiological Effects of Choral Singing on Affective State, Social Connectedness, and Stress: Influences of Singing Activity and Time Course (2018) · cites this paper as Unwin et al., 2002
Singing has been shown to increase positive affect and choir members often report a 'lift' in mood after singing.
“Moreover, singing has been shown to increase positive affect and choir members often report a ‘lift’ in mood after singing [27,28,51–53].”
From The ice-breaker effect: Singing mediates fast social bonding (2015) · cites this paper as [53]
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- Authors
- Unwin, M. M., Kenny, D. T., & Davis, P. J.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- ORCID
- Kenny, Dianna T.
- Venue
- Psychology of Music
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-10
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 175-185
- ISSN
- 0305-7356 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-3087
- OpenAlex
- W2160499645
- Cited by
- 117
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 3.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology of Music (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Diverse Music Education Insights
- Keywords
- group singing, mood, Profile of Mood States, tension, anger, fatigue, vigor, confusion, community volunteers
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