Fourteen years into democracy, South Africans yet need to transform into a truly united society. Transformation entails meaningful change and requires new mindsets, behaviours and worldviews. In this country, such change hinges on interaction and communication between all South Africans to facilitate insight into the unfamiliar lifeworlds and beliefs of others. In 2005 Dr. Steve Booysen, Group Chief Executive of the Absa Group, initiated an internal choir festival as a platform for social interaction and team building of staff across all cultures, age groups and post levels in the bank. This happened in the process of the Barclays Bank investment of billions of rands that would translate to its controlling share in Absa. Recognising the merge as a potential threat to the morale of the Absa work force, Booysen envisaged the choir project as a means to support staff during this phase of transformation in the bank. This study links theories relating to organisational development and the inherent power in music and musicking for positive change. The questionnaire (administered in three interventions between 2006 and 2008) was the primary instrument for obtaining data for this study. Absa’s choir project (the first of its kind in South Africa and possibly elsewhere in the world) offers unique possibilities for investigating the positive effects of musicking, and in particular choral singing, within a corporate environment. For optimal functioning, societies rely on their citizens to trust each other and share a civic culture. With the exception of the Indian community, choral singing is a practised tradition across all cultures in South Africa and thus presents a possible vehicle to promote healing and nation building in post-Apartheid South Africa. Genuine communication between citizens from all cultural backgrounds could help liberate South Africans of superficial prejudgments of each other. Where the inability to speak the others’ language(s) inhibits authentic communication, choral singing proffers unique opportunities for shared communicative experiences. Should choral singing prove to be an appropriate key to unlock such experiences for South Africa of differing cultural and language backgrounds, then choral singing is of great value to this society. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Music / unrestricted

Numerous studies emphasise the importance of music-making as an integral human experience, but only a handful focus on the perceived benefits of participating in a university choir as experienced by the singers themselves. An extensive literature search revealed that no research has been conducted that specifically focuses on this topic within a multicultural South African university choir. There is an increasing interest in the attributed values associated with membership in a collective music activity, especially with regard to choirs. The aim of this ethnographic case study was to explore the perceived benefits of choir participation for choristers who are members of a multicultural university choir in South Africa and to examine to what extent if at all social capital is generated as a by-product of their choir participation. A qualitative research approach was most suitable in order to gain an in-depth perspective of choristers' personal perceptions. Data collection included interviews, focus groups and observations of rehearsals and performances, involving 76 members of the University of Pretoria Camerata. The findings of this research highlight the personal, social and musical values attributed to membership within the choir as perceived by its members. The main findings revealed that the experience of singing in a choir is polygonal, and that such experiences are rewarding, plentiful, and even challenging at times. Choristers perceive their participation to be beneficial to their health and see the choir environment as safe and conducive to forming important relationships. Cultural integration takes place as an extension of being associated within a diverse group of people and a wealth of trust is generated amongst the singers, regardless of their cultural, religious or language differences. Findings indicated some negative perceptions as experienced by the singers, as cultural barriers still exist between members which were exacerbated by political tensions on campus at the time of data collection. Another stressful element of choir participation is the extensive time and commitment required due to the demanding and eventful choir calendar, as well as full academic programmes for which they are registered. The study provides empirical evidence of how two types of social capital, namely bridging- and bonding social capital, are generated within the choir. Bridging social capital exists amongst students from different ethnic backgrounds; while bonding social capital is evident between specific language-, racial- and cultural groups within the choir. As a result of choir participation, social norms and values are shared amongst the singers and networks and connections are established across all types of boundaries, creating an environment of reciprocity between singers. Results from this study highlight that the Camerata establishes a wealth of trust between its members, on a personal, professional and musical level. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Music / DMus / Unrestricted