SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS AS LEARNING RESOURCE IN THE CHOIR

By Albert Oikelome
Department of Creative Arts
University of Lagos.

Abstract

The social media is fast becoming a viable tool for several things. The advancement of modern
technology has opened a doorway for the acquisition of knowledge in all spheres. Interestingly,
choir directors are utilizing this tool for purposeful engagement in their field. This paper
discusses a research study that was conducted among choirmasters of singing groups in Lagos in
2017. The study examined the choirmaster’s use of different social media tools, their perceptions
and attitudes towards these tools, and their preference of social working groups. The results
shows that the top three social media tools used are Facebook, Wattsapp, and YouTube. The
main reasons for using social media tools are for direction communication, speed of feedback,
and relationship building. Based on their input, the author suggested some educational
implications of some of these tools as a valuable resource for teaching and learning.

Keywords: Online networking, social media, Data analysis, platforms, choir networking.

Introduction 

The social media has become a viable means of promoting great ideas to a wider audience on the

Internet. It has given a free rein to the liberal values and opportunities to express our minds.

Furthermore, ceaseless opportunities have been created not only to express our views, but also to

seek out knowledge in all sides of the divide. The uniquely new focus of precious social media

gadgets has brought us attention and knowledge either for good or evil. Furthermore, it has

opened the doorways for many to make their brands known and appreciated. The reason is not

farfetched. According to O’Reilly Quoted in Johnson (2012), ‘The world has gone mobile. We

live in an information society and are connected to information anywhere we go, and whatever

we do, 24/7. And that has changed how we as people behave’. Subsequently, the use of social

1
media gains a greater foothold in our lives as we embrace the conversational nature of interactive

online media.

The choir setup remains a viable means of self expression in the arts. The aspect of choir

administration and supervision becomes more challenging in a cosmopolitan city like Lagos. The

world is full of activities. There are so many hands in many places that we hardly have enough

time to engage in rehearsals like before. The complexity of the city life makes teaching and

instructions difficult. Even when the choir members are on ground, they tune off to the

rehearsals. Hence, there is the need to device other forms of training that will be an added

advantage to the main rehearsal sessions.

One method of enhancing teaching and learning of songs in the choir setting is through the use of

the social media. Interestingly, almost everyone has a phone that has internet facilities.

Gradually, people are becoming more interested in the use of the handset for use in the social

media. Access to information becomes more accessible via this medium. There is now a

seamless possibility of getting trained in all aspects of music via the social network either as

individuals or a group. Voice training, music theory, and other aspects of vocal performance can

take place through interactions on the social media. This can come through the downloading of

lyrics, short clips, songs in different parts and music sheets to the members through the medium

of watts app, blog postings, Facebook YouTube channels, and online settings. The use of these

handles can assist in no small way to speed up the training and make the rehearsal easy for the

choir director. The fast emerging social media tools could shift the local technology investment

to a universal investment (Liu, 2010). It is therefore imperative for choir directors to take a full

advantage of this public resource, knowing that it is absolutely necessary for us to integrate those

2
tools in teaching and learning activities. The paper therefore discusses the social media and its

benefits with specific reference to the choral settings.

Theoretical Framework

The Theoretical framework for this study is based on the Uses and Gratifications theory. Uses

and gratification theory builds off of a history of communication theories and research. Jay

Blumler and Denis McQuail laid the primary groundwork in 1969 with their categorization of

audience motivations for watching political programs during the time of the 1964 election in the

United Kingdom (Blumler and McQuail, 1969). This eventually led them to develop UGT later

on with their colleagues. In this study, the Use and Gratification theory assume an audience-

centered approach that focuses on what people do with media, as opposed to what media does to

people. Hence, the users utilizes the specific media and its content to achieve certain results or

gratifications that satisfy their personal needs (Nayyar, 2007). Nayyar (2007) states that the

uses and gratification theory is hinged on five basic assumptions: (i) the audience is conceived

as active. (ii) media choice and gratifications depend on the audience member, that is, people

use the media to their advantage more often than the media use them. (iii) the media compete

with other sources of need satisfaction especially face-to face communication. (iv) many of the

goals media use can be derived from data supplied by the individual audience members

themselves. (v) it is the individual audience member that makes the decision to view the media

based on the value placed on such media. Ultimately, attention is shifted from media production

and transmission to media consumption. According to Folarin (2002:72) quoted by Ayodele and

Adaja (2013: 34), the central issue becomes, “who uses which content from which media under

which conditions and for what reasons”. The theory seeks to explain the uses of media and the

3
satisfactions derived from them in terms of the motives and self-perceived needs of audience

members (McQuail, 2005:569). It emphases the fact that the audience are not passive receivers

of media contents, but that, “they actively influence the message” in that they “selectively

choose, attend to, perceive and retain the media message on the basis of their needs, beliefs, etc”

(Anaeto et al, 2008:71). This theory therefore makes its relevance bare in this study as the

members of the choir community utilize the social media for positive and purposeful choral

development.

The Nature of the 21st Century Nigerian choir

The choir remains one of the sure means of artistic expression in Nigeria. There are so many

choirs in both religious and secular medium. However, there is a growing trend of youth

membership in the choir settings. Interestingly, they form the larger percentage of young people

around the world that embraces the web technologies with great enthusiasm (Lou, 2010, 101).

These youths are fanatical about the social media, with Marc Presky describing them as ‘digital

Natives’ (Presky, 2001). He defined today’s students as “they spent their entire lives surrounded

by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the

other toys and tools of the digital age”. Hence, we find people coming to choir rehearsals with

phones and pads instead of the files and music sheets. They find them more convenient than the

hymn books and anthem sheets. This trend poses a strong challenge to old folks that are not used

to these gadgets. They equally pose a greater challenge to any choir trainers that do not know

how to use them. However, that seems to be the trend in the 21 st century setting. There is no

denying the fact that social media tools are wonderful communication tools. The functions of

some social media tools such as YouTube, iTunes, Facebook, blogging and twittering, if used

4
wisely, can be integrated into the music teaching process and integrate them in teaching process

and leverage technology skills for learning purposes (Lou, 2013). In this dispensation, the

question is not whether we can use the social media. It is how we can use the social media for

our benefit as a choir. According to Lai (2016) the advantages of the social media far outweigh

its shortcomings. Because social media facilitate conversations and amplify important issues,

nonprofits can connect and build their audience, reach out to influencers and cultivate future

donors online. The paper therefore discusses how the choir director can utilize the social media

for the benefits of message dissemination, teaching and instruction.

The Social media handles

There are five social media handles that are frequently being used by groups and individuals in

Nigeria as a means of enhancing the social status of individuals and groups. In order to establish

the knowledge and trend of using social media tools and what kind of resource existing among

our choir groups, these social media handles are selected for this study.

Facebook

Facebook is perhaps the largest network social media being used in Nigeria by the young and the

old alike. New data shows Facebook remains Facebook remains a popular choice for Nigerians

as 16 million people in Africa’s most populous country visit the social media platform every

month. Nigeria is still Facebook’s biggest market on the continent.

Twitter

This is another viable means of promoting the groups or individuals. It is also great for

announcements and for sharing media. Here people are meant to follow you as you tweet. You

5
are sure that all your followers would see whatever you tweet on your handle. One advantage of

the Twitter handle is that you can reach as many people as possible through several tweets.

However, a major problem with Twitter is the fact that people can easily miss your tweets if they

follow so many people and organizations. 

Instagram. 

This is another medium of promoting your group. You upload pictures and short videos and get

to enhance your popularity with many followers. The beautiful things about this media are that

you can share these pictures or videos of your group to individuals or groups connected to you.

YouTube

This is another medium of showcasing your videos to the higher audience.  You can create a you

tube channel with the name of your choir/group. This medium creates a platform for displaying

your performances your fans and friends thus increasing your fan base. The more people view

them, the more your ratings. It also serves as a reference point to any group or organization that

wishes to employ the services of your group thus enhancing your ratings in the entertainment

industry.  You also get to download beautiful choral pieces from diverse cultures of the world.

The you tube serves as a great medium for both learning and performance. 

Wattsapp

Wattsapp is the most popular messenger in the world today. This handle provides the features

where you can chat with a friend or groups, share  pictures , video , the voice messages , and

6
messages to any part of the world without any charges. It gives an opportunity for bulk messages

and phone meetings to members of the choir.

The study

In order to find out the knowledge and trend of using social media tools among the choirs in

Lagos State, random sampling was used to collect data through a survey. A total number of 50

choirmasters participated in the study.

Participants

Choirmasters were drawn from both the orthodox and mainstream churches. From the results, it

is observed that 20 respondents constituting 40% within 26-35 range had the highest score, while

66-75 and 75 & more ranges had 0% respectively. This shows that churches from the Lagos

vicinity are more disposed to having choirmasters from age 18-45 years.

8% 17 or
2% Less

4% 18-25
26-35
10% 36%
36-45
46-55
56-65
66-75
40%
76 and
more

Figure 1: AGE RANGE OF RESPONDENTS REPRESENTED WITH PIE CHART

7
Instrument

The survey questionnaire consists of 41 items, which are divided into three sections. Section 1

consists of 3 demographic questions about participant’s gender, age, name of choir. Section 2 has

2 questions, which collect data on student level of knowledge about social media tools, which

will provide information on the potential resource that can be used for learning purposes in the

choir setting. Lastly, section 3 is composed of 4 questions related to student perceptions of the

choir and the use of the social media. The collected data were analyzed by using the descriptive

method.

Data Analysis and report

The paper uses the descriptive method of analysis using the SPSS. Here we examined the

distribution of social media concept and knowledge, social media tools adoption, participant

perceptions and attitudes towards social networking as tools in the choir and their advantages.

In this paper, only selected data are reported and covers five aspects. The demographic

information provides a big picture of the participants. The concept of social media presents the

data on student knowledge of social media concept and media tools. Social media adoption ranks

the popularity level of the social media tools utilized by students. Social media and trust reflect

student trust tendency and attitudes towards social media.

Demographic Information

The survey collected the choirmaster’s demographic information in regard to their gender and

age with the intention to find out if these variables would affect their perceptions and attitudes

towards social media and their use of social media tools. Out of 50 respondents used for the

study, 29 respondents constituting 58% male while 21 respondents constituting 42% are female.

8
This reveals the increasing number of female choirmasters being employed in churches in Lagos

state. This is also diagrammatically represented on the Pie Chart below:

MALE
FEMAL
E

58%
42%

Figure 2: GENDER OF RESPONDENTS REPRESENTED WITH PIE CHART

CHOIRMASTERS ACTIVENESS ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA

The survey investigated the activeness on the social media. The responses indicate that on the

frequency of member’s activeness on social media on the scales of very active, active, and often

active. The analysis reveals that the members are active on the social media with frequency of

35(70%). This goes to show that the social media is fast becoming a tool for communication,

social bonding and gathering of information as shown in the table below:

Very Active Active Often Active

Freq % Freq % Freq %
15 30% 35 70% 0 0%

9
 Very
Active
Active
30% Often
Active

70%

Figure 3

USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK FOR THE CHOIR

The study investigated choirmaster’s knowledge about the concept of social media and its use on

the choir. There were five social media tools presented to choirmasters in the survey. They are

Facebook, Twitter, Wattsapp, Instagram and YouTube. The response was predicated on the

frequency of the use of social media network for the choir on the scales of very active, active,

somewhat active and not active at all. The analysis reveals that Wattsapp with 54% responses is

very actively used social media application platform for surfing the internet. Facebook is actively

used with 34% while Twitter (50%), Instagram (32%) and YouTube (30%) are not actively used

at all. This figure reveals that there is a high level of knowledge and activeness on the Wattsapp

and Facebook account and a very low degree of activeness on Twitter account.

Very Active Active Somewhat Not active

Active At all Total

Applications Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %

Face Book 15 30 17 34 13 26 5 10 50 100

10
 Twitter 7 14 7 14 11 22 25 50 50 100

Watsapp 27 54 13 26 5 10 5 10 50 100

Instagram 15 30 10 20 9 18 16 32 50 100

Youtube 14 28 11 22 10 20 15 30 50 100

FACEBOOK

TWITTER
VERY ACTIVE
WATSAPP ACTIVE
SOMEWHAT AVTIVE
NOT ACTIVE AT ALL
INSTAGRAM

YOUTUBE

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Figure 4: Bar Chart of the Use of Social Media Network for the Choir

FACTORS THAT BEST DESCRIBE BEING ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

People get into the social media for a number of reasons. The understanding can help instructors

understand and further design activities meaningfully and use the tools effectively for the use by

choirmasters. The table below indicates response on the frequency of the factors that best

describe being active on social media on the scales of friendship, social engagement, gathering

information, communication and others. The analysis reveals that the foremost factors

considered for being active on social media is gathering of information (74%) and

communication (70%). The analysis also shows that Social media is also surfed for friendship

(46%) while few respondents considers it for social engagement. There is an interesting

phenomenon in this result. The use of the social media for gathering information, education and

11
communication towers above others in the chart. This implies the choirmaster’s judicious use of

the media for purpose of music education.

Friendship Social Gathering Communication

Engagement Information
Others
Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %
23 46% 11 22% 37 74% 35 70% 5 10%

Friendship

social Engagement FACTORS THAT BEST DESCRIBE

BEING ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

gathering Information

communication

Others

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

FIGURE 5: FACTORS THAT BEST DESCRIBE BEING ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA TABLE

THE CHOIR AND A PERSONAL WEBSITE

The use of official websites is fast becoming the norm in developed worlds. The choirs in other

climes have devoted websites for their groups. The study examined how fast this is showing in

Nigeria. From the study conducted, the responses indicates that on the frequency availability of

website ownership. The analysis reveals that larger percentage of the choir group have functional

website with 34(68%).

12
 YES
NO
32%

68%

THE SOCIAL MEDIA YOUR CHOIR IS ACTIVE ON

From table 7 above which tagged the social media your choir is active on, the responses indicates

that most of the choir groups are active on Watsapp with (86%). Inspite of this, few other choir

members are also active on facebook with frequency and percentage of 35(70%).

Face Book Twitter Watsapp Instagram Youtube

Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %
23 43% 1 2% 43 86 2 4% 9 18

13
 Facebook

Twitter THE SOCIAL MEDIA YOUR

CHOIR IS ACTIVE ON

Watsapp

Instagram

Youtube

0% 1 0 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 5 0 % 6 0 % 7 0 % 80 % 90 % 0 0 %
1

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SEND MUSIC SHEETS, AUDIO OR CLIPS VIA THE STATED MEDIA BELOW?

Table 8 above labelled how often do you send music sheets, audio or clips via the stated media

below? on the scales of very often, often and not often. The analysis reveals that the foremost

application used in sending files is watsapp with frequency and percentage of 20(40%).The

application is used very often.

Very Often Often Not Often

Freq % Freq % Freq %
Face Book 5 10 3 6 7 14
Twitter 0 0 0 0 3 6
Whatsapp 20 40 15 30 12 24
Instagram 2 4 2 4 6 12
Youtube 0 0 4 8 2 4

HOW OFTEN DO YOU ORDER MUSIC SHEETS, VIDEO OR CLIPS VIA INTERNET?

Table 9 above labelled how often do you order music sheets, video or clips via the internet? on

the scales of very often, often and not often. The analysis reveals that the choir do order for

14
music sheets, video or clips via the internet very often with frequency and percentage of

18(36%).

Very Often Often Not Often Not At all

Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %
11 22 18 36 14 28 4 8

Discussion and Implication

The Social media is gaining its momentum at an unimaginable speed (Lou, 2010: 109). Apart

from its social benefits as a means of connection with each other and with the outside world, the

media can be utilized to making the task in the music business a less stressful one. Furthermore,

it provides choirmasters the opportunity to learn new things and enhance musicianship. All the

tools mentioned provide such means to the choir trainers. From the study however, it is observed

that Wattsapp and Facebook and YouTube are the top used tools by the choirmasters. The

uniqueness of these tools can be seen in its advantages and disadvantages. However, they can be

highly efficient when used appropriately. Choirmasters can use Facebook pages as a means of

bonding with the choir members. The site can also be used to post chorale articles and videos

that could promote choristers’ deep-level learning and to nurture their critical thinking skills. The

site can also be used to advertise choir activities and programs thus creating awareness about the

choral group to a larger community. One major advantage of Facebook is that anything loaded

can be restricted to its members using the privacy settings. Hence, things meant strictly for your

members’ consumption are only seen by your choir.

YouTube is a viable video channel that provides instructional materials in choral music. It

provides the choirs the opportunity to upload and share their video clips of their performances to

a wider community. Furthermore, choirmasters can explore the numerous free choral lectures

and demonstrations that can be of advantage to the choral group. The spreading of knowledge is

15
phenomenal, and it is a better way to collect and highlight all the great educational content being

uploaded to YouTube by colleges and universities (Arrington, 2009). The use of YouTube as

visual aid will help choristers understand the songs to be learnt and further processes them easily

during rehearsal.

The Wattsapp is undoubtedly the most widely used tool by respondents in the survey. The reason

is borne from the fact that the tool is easily assessable to all choristers on their mobile device. It

is also cheaper to maintain. The survey conducted reveals that the Wattsapp tool comes easy to

the choirmasters as a means of sending bulk messages, creating a group chat, holding conference

meetings, attaching videos and audio songs, and sending choral sheets to members.

Conclusion

With the increase in technological knowledge, it is expedient choirmasters utilize the trend

towards musical development and integration within the choir community. Even though these

tools are not meant to replace the real choral experience like auditioning, rehearsals and music

trainings, it will nonetheless assist the choir trainers in improving choral efficiency and learning

The social tools discussed in this paper are viable tools that choirmasters should take advantage

of as they make music learning more accessible and convenient. Using social media tools in

teaching sometimes can be very challenging to choirmasters that are new to the tools. It is

expedient however to note that the choristers we teach are not new to these tools. It is therefore

imperative that choirmasters brace up to the new technological trends and utilize them

effectively towards maximum efficiency in their groups.

References

16
Arrington, M. (2009). YouTube EDU launch, So Go to Learning Something. Retrieved on July
26, 2017 http://techcrunch.com/2009/03/26/you tube-edu-launches/ #ixzz0m5GoZUtZ

Adaja Tokunbo and Ayodele Felix (2013) Nigerian Youths and Social Media: Harnessing The
Potentials For Academic Excellence in Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business
and Management Review Vol. 2, No.5; Jan. 2013 pgs 65-75

Anaeto, S. G., Onabanjo, O. S. and Osifeso, J. B. (2008). Models and Theories of

Communication. Maryland, USA. Africa Renaissance Books Incorporated.

Folarin. B. (2002). Theories of Mass Communication: An Introductory Text. Abeokuta. Nigeria.

Link Publications.

Hopkins, Victoria (2013) . 'Raise your choir’s profile with social media' in 'Total choir
resources'
http://www.totalchoirresources.com/raise-your-choirs-profile-with-social-media/

Johnson, C.A. (2012): The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption,
O’Reilly Media

Lai, Alyssa (2016) Five ways to make social media work for your arts organization in Ontario
presentshttps://ontariopresents.ca/blog/5-ways-make-social-media-work-your-arts-
organization)

Liu, Y. (2010). Social media tools as a learning resource. Journal of Educational Technology
Development and Exchange, 3(1), 101-114.

McQuail, D. (2005) McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. Fifth Edition London. SAGE
Publications Ltd. Nayyar, D. (2007) Modern Mass Communication: Concepts and
Processes. Jaipur. Oxford Book Company.

Nayyar, D. (2007) Modern Mass Communication: Concepts and Processes.

Jaipur. Oxford Book Company.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon,

Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001. (p. 1-p.5).

17