How to Teach Children to Sing

8/2/2019 How to Teach Children to Sing

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How to Teach Children to Sing

Many voice teachers avoid teaching children out of fear of hurtingtheir voice or disappointment thatthey won't sound like adults. If donein the right way, however, singinglessons can be crucial in training achild's ear and vocal technique.Children not exposed to singing cangrow up tone deaf, and children whosing but were never taught propertechnique often develop hard-to-break bad habits that can actually

lead to vocal damage. It is importantthat the following steps be taken sothat the child will learn actual vocaltechnique (as opposed to justlearning songs) while doing nothingto damage their vocal instrument. Parents interested in enrolling theirchildren in voice lessons should find a voice teacher who hasexperience teaching children and who uses these methods.

Steps

1. Begin each lesson with some simple stretches and postureexercises. Not only is this important to teach the child to singwith good posture, but it actually teaches them how to properlyparticipate in a voice lesson by giving them simple, achievabletasks to succeed at. Children are very kinesthetic and love todo physical activities.

2. Work on simple breathing technique: when breathing in the

stomach should bulge out, when breathing out the stomachshould tighten back in. The shoulders and chest should neverraise or drop. You can work on this standing, or lying with abook on their stomach. Then practice hissing, buzzing,humming and eventually singing "Ah" by preparing with a gooddeep breath and steadily supporting with the stomach. Focus


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on getting good even sounds throughout the whole exhalation,that do not sputter or die off

3. Introduce the registers. Practice long glissando "sirens," liftingup into the upper register (sometimes called falsetto or headvoice) for high notes, rather than "belting" or straining in thespeaking voice. Their high voice will probably be weak at firstbut insist on it's use and it will grow stronger over time. Childrenshould learn to recognize the sensation of vibration in theirmouth and chest for low notes and in their head for high notes.

4. Begin ear-training. Teach them to match pitch and then tosing steps going higher and lower. Begin by having them sing"ah" and match their pitch with the piano. Then explore acouple steps up and down. Since many children do notimmediately understand the concept of rising and lowering

pitch, it can be demonstrated by the raising and lowering ofyour hand. Be patient if they don't get it right away, they usuallydo soon.

5. Teach scales. Begin to practice 3 and 5 note major scales,using the solfege syllables Do Re Mi Fa Sol. Transpose thestarting note up and down by half-steps as far as they can holdthe pitch. Once they make good progress, try the whole scale(Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do)

6. Teach intervals. Begin to work on major/perfect intervalsbeginning with seconds and progressing to octaves. Alwaysuse solfege syllables.

7. Begin working on vowels. Make sure the child to sings eachvowel with the proper mouth shape. Makes sure they open theymouth enough for Ah and Oh and round enough for Oh and Oo.

8. Work on focused tone and open throat. Instruct them to "singthrough a yawn" but with their tongue flat behind their bottomteeth. Work on tone by asking them to focus the vibration onthe roof of their mouth. This is especially effective by havingthem hum and asking them to maximize the vibration on the

roof of their mouth. Tones in the upper register will feel like theyvibrate above the roof of the mouth, in the head and evenabove the head when high enough.

9. Begin learning songs. Practice sight-reading by first singingthrough them in solfege while watching the contour of thenotes. Begin teaching them to read music this way. Then moveon to holding the vowel sounds out to the length of the notes


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(rather than closing them off quickly as in normal speech) andsinging with pure vowels.

10. Give performance opportunities. Learning to successfullyperform is one of the indispensable experiences in voicelessons. Frequently conduct informal performances where thechild will sing through an entire song, facing you. Alsoencourage them to sing for their parents and even friends, ifthey are comfortable with it. Finally, hold a recital every 6months or so in which they can prepare 1-3 songs to performfor parents and other students.

Tips

Voice lessons must be enjoyable for the student to succeed.Except perhaps the first couple lessons, always spend at leasta third of the lesson singing fun songs the child enjoys.Constantly review old songs, this gives them opportunities toshow off their skills.

Children do not have long attention spans. Keep activities funand short, with good transitions to the next one to keep theminterested. Children are fun, happy creatures and they areattracted to people and activities that are also fun and happy.

An over-abundance of enthusiasm is very effective. Children will learn songs much more quickly and have more fun

if gestures and motions are added that go along with the wordsof the song. Remember, children are very kinesthetic and loveto move!

Remember that children, especially younger children, alwayslearn much better from doingthan being told how to dosomething. A good model to follow when teaching themsomething new is to first demonstrate it, then show them how todo it (in smaller steps, if it is more complicated), then allowthem to try until they get it right, then let them do it over andover as many times as they like. Then, when they tire of it,move to something else and return to new activity a little later.Remember, children learn best by lots of repetition so givethem lots of opportunity to practice their new skills!

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How to Teach Children to Sing