Singing as a driving force for change

Shelly Coyne

What is the perceived effect of participating in a Community Choir in an area of high deprivation in Glasgow?

This presentation considers the impact that singing in The Gorbals Community Choir has on both wellbeing and community.  

The Gorbals in Glasgow has earned a reputation as an area associated with poverty, poor health, social isolation and Sectarianism.  The extensive waves of redevelopment, the mix of social and private housing and the influx of refugees to the area, have led to a community unclear about its self-identity. With high levels of drug and alcohol misuse, violent crime three times above the Scottish average and high unemployment, the self-esteem of the community appears to be low and lacking any sense of cohesion.

The Gorbals Community Choir is one strand of a wider community singing project called Givin' it Laldie, which has been created to address the issues associated with the area.  This reflective interpretation considers the implications of being in the choir and the perceived impact on well-being and the community.   It seeks to hold up a mirror to this micro-community and reflect on observations made by the choir leader/ researcher. It also gathers information gained from leading a focus group with the singers and analysing completed questionnaires, to get a picture of the potential social, health and emotional benefits of community singing.

Givin’ it Laldie

Givin’ it Laldie is the Community Music project based in Glasgow in the Gorbals, which uses singing as a way to address local issues of poverty, deprivation, poor health, social isolation and Sectarianism. The project, led by Shelly Coyne, is now in its second year and has established a programme of choirs and singing groups that are getting a reputation for their transformational impact on the wellbeing of singers and social cohesion.

We have 6 regular groups:  The Gorbals Children’s Choir which directly tackles Sectarianism and currently has over 50 singers on the books, the Sing for Health group, based at the local leisure centre, the Babies and toddlers singing group which directly tackles issues of family integration, for refugee and asylum seekers with children, The Lodging House Mission Choir, which is a group made up of singers affected by the issues of homelessness, the Gorbals Teenage Singing Group that is designed and lead by the young singers themselves and The Gorbals Community Choir which is proving to have made a significant impact on community cohesion in the Gorbals.

The project continues to grow, with more musicians working on the project, more partners involved in the work and research being conducted, looking at the impact of the project.

Gorbals Community Choir

The Gorbals Community Choir is all about community - as eclectic a mix of singers as you could hope to find! Set up in September 2010 and led by Shelly Coyne, the choir draws singers from across the Gorbals, both residents and those that work locally, as well as people from across Glasgow. 

We have octogenarians to teenagers, classically trained singers to the self-confessed terrified, but we are all about inclusion. The choir seeks to give singers a positive and creative opportunity to get involved in their community whilst creating sumptuous harmonies and memorable performances. The choir set out to improve the lives of residents in the Gorbals and research carried out with choir appears to show that we have had a positive effect on both wellbeing and community cohesion.