November 16, 2021 - It's About the Relationships: Epiphanies in Songleading

Abstract: Research has shown a relationship between social isolation, loneliness, health outcomes, and quality of life. Both the BBC and the Harvard Business Review have referred to the “loneliness epidemic” and the CBC has called loneliness “a major public health risk.” Research has also demonstrated benefits between music, the arts, and quality-of-life for older adults. In 2019, the Music and Culture program at U of T Scarborough initiated very successful sing-along programming with “loneliness and social isolation intent” at three Scarborough area retirement homes. This programming was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, there were painstaking anecdotal reports by activity directors of depression and malaise among residents due COVID-related social isolation. Thanks to a New Horizons for Seniors grant, video-based programming was reintroduced in the summer of 2021. In this presentation, we share the experience of implementing health-oriented music programming for older adults. Specifically, we problematize the meaning and value of recreational singing for older adults, focussing on the paradigmatic shift in approach that occurred over the course of the program. Originally conceived as a therapeutic intervention to address feelings of loneliness and social isolation, several epiphanies led to the realization that successful music facilitation depends less on “expertise” and more on relationship-building.

Roger Mantie: Associate Professor, Department of Arts, Culture & Media at the University of Toronto Scarborough, with a graduate appointment at thre Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He held previous appointments at Arizona State University and Boston University. Mantie’s research and scholarship focus on connections between education and wellness, with an emphasis on lifelong engagement in and with music and the arts. In 2019, he helped launch wellness-focused music programming in three Scarborough retirement residences. Mantie is the author of Music, Leisure, Education: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives (2021), co-author of Education, Music, and the Social Lives of Undergraduates: Collegiate A Cappella and the Pursuit of Happiness (2020), and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education (2017) and the Oxford Handbook of Music Making and Leisure (2016).

Professor Mantle will be joined by guest panelists' Glenn Marais, Musician, Educator, Changemaker and Luck Rosoaniliana, Community Musician.

Great Explorations, is a series of academic discussions we hope will inspire our communities. Our special thanks to our engaged, critical thinkers who attend our speaker series. The dialogues that came out of these talks, both in-person and online via Zoom, are integral to our campus community and Scarborough communities at large. We welcome your input for future topics, as well as a review of previous recorded sessions available on YouTube.