Factors affecting the formation of adolescents' singing style: A study on Japanese and Portuguese adolescents

The goal of the present study was to explore the factors influencing the development of different types of singing styles. Thirteen junior high school students volunteered for the study; 9 participants were from Portugal. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted by the authors, in the participant's native language. The Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA) was adopted to analyze the interview transcripts. The interview data yielded 19 concepts. After examining the relationships between these concepts, seven categories were developed; two categories pertained to the singing style and five categories were related to the factors that form a particular style of singing. The first two categories, active singing and inactive singing, represent the degree of active commitment to singing. The remaining five categories, Relieving stress, Evaluation, Positive influence of the interaction with others, Negative influence of others, and Belittling one's singing skill, were considered to influence either the active or inactive singing style. The characteristic singing style for active singing was observed among Japanese participants and the factors for developing such styles seemed to be based on the Japanese singing culture, such as karaoke and choral competition. On the other hand, strong commonalities regarding the factors influencing inactive singing were seen between the Japanese and Portuguese participants. For participants from both countries, it was revealed that singing sometimes becomes a stressful activity.