#57 Voice, Warmups, Techniques - Updated 12/16
- A Capella Singing
- Books & Resources -----Boy Singers & Changing Voices
- Break in the Voice -----Breath Control -----Choir Ideas
- Chorus, Community Chorus, Conducting, etc., [Also see file #24 Junior High/Rehearsals]
- Finding Their Singing Voices -----Fun Projects-----Getting Kids to Sing Out -----Head Voice
- Hearing Difficulty (Teacher) -----How Long Should Students Rehearse? -----Lessons
- Throat Problems, Lost Voice (Teacher) -----Male Teacher Voice
- Vocal Nodes, Voice Problems -----Out Of Tune Singers, Pitch
- Part Singing -----Reflux Problem -----Routines, Rehearsals
- Reading Scores -----Singing Solos
- Singing, Problems, Rehearsal Techniques -----Tessitura
- Too Loud!! -----Vocal Exploration
- Voice Lessons -----Warmups [Lower, Upper Elementary, Middle School]
- Websites
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A CAPELLA SINGING
Model what you want from them again and again and again, each time telling them to try to match you exactly, iin tone quality and in pitch. Explain what the word "flat" means, show them what it sounds like, and tell them to sing just a little bit higher than they think they need to. Be sure to show them what you want as well as what flat sounds like. ---- Jane Rivera
My best advice for teaching any kind of piece, whether it is to be sung with accompaniment or without, is to teach it a cappella from the beginning. I never use the piano to teach voice parts and I don't let students hear the accompaniment until a few weeks before a concert normally. They are usually just as comfortable singing an a cappella piece as they are something that has accompaniment because they get so used to singing without any kind of outside support. ----- Marti RankinBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************BOOKS & RESOURCES
06/07 My new favorite book for warm-ups and movement for choir is "Circle of Sound" by Doreen Rao. She worked with a tai chi specialist to come up with some great breathing and movement exercises that really get you thinking about breathing, relaxing, and shaping phrases. -- Ruth Garcia
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05/03 I just got a new book all about practicing (The Practice Revolution, www.practicespot.com )which deals with just about everything you'll ever need to know about how to get students to practice with purpose, and there are several interesting games suggested for making a piece reliable as you prepare for performance. -- Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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08/02 I did buy a set of pictures of how to make good vocal sounds. It is called Ten Tips for Young singers by DeAnna Venable, $16.95 From Silver Lake College, Department of Music, 2406 S. Alverno Road, Manitowoc, WI 54220. They have a wonderful catalogue of Kodaly-related books and materials.
Their email: [email protected]
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04/02 "THE BOOK OF VOCAL EXPLORATION" put together by John Feierabend, and I love it! It has stories that the kiddies can make "sound effects" to and activities you can use to help them find their head voice. I use the slide whistle regularly in class.
BIG PIG is one of the mini poems in the book which uses two voives. There is the voice of BIG PIG and the other voice which my kids call the LADY voice. The poem switches back and forth between the two voices. I use a very deep gruff voice for BIG PIG and a very high one for the LADY.
LADY: "Where are you going big pig big pig?"
BIGPIG: "Out in the garden to dig, dig, dig."
LADY: "Out in the garden to dig, dig, dig? Shame on you big pig bigpig!"
BIGPIG:"I am sorry ma'am but I am just a pig, and all I can do is dig, dig, dig!"
I find they like this, and then later on if they have difficulty finding/using their head voice I will remind them to use the "lady voice" instead of their "big pig voice".
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7/01 HearFones found at http://www.hearfones.com/news.htm , help focus the attention on each singer's own particular vocal production, often for the first time. Ultimately, this amounts to having vocal coaches for each singer in the ensemble --- the singers themselves.
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7/01 A brief history from singing can be found on the web at:
http://www.lawrence.edu/fac/koopmajo/antiquity.html
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7/01 SINGING TUTOR SOFTWARE - Singing Tutor: http://www.vimas.com/ve_str.htm
is the interactive software for improving your singing skills and tuning musical instruments. If you want to learn singing or check your singing skills, you can't find better assistant than Singing Tutor. Impartial Singing Tutor will help you to estimate your abilities and develop your singing skills. Singing Tutor idea is simple. Each note has a defined pitch frequency. The higher note has the higher frequency and vise versa. Singing Tutor allows to measure the pitch frequency of the voice or music, with high precision, and to compare it with pitch frequency of the reference note. In the new version 4.1 it was implemented the new advanced digital signal processing algorithms for pitch measurement.
With Singing Tutor you can: Select pitch range and note you want to sing, listen to it and check how close is your singing to the note. The test is carried out with the help of indicator, where you can see a defined note value and measured value during your singing in the real time. You can see time dynamics of your voice pitch and practice singing as close as possible primary.
Select several notes from the pitch range and test your singing in the selected diapason.
Sing and Singing Tutor will show you the nearest note in the current pitch range.
Control the recording level with the indicator.
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TEACHING KIDS TO SING by Ken Phillips catalog # MUPH7953 cost was $39.00: This is a great book! I have highlighted it to death! Teaching correct singing to all students is difficult I think. A Nebraska colleague who presented at our MENC convention last year bases his teaching on Ken Phillips ideas. He truly believes that unless there is a physical problem, EVERY student can be taught to sing on pitch. His choir is outstanding and consists of ALL of his 5th and 6th graders. It is NOT a select group. There is also a supplementary book that is filled with exercises and activities. I don't know what it is called, but I plan to order it for next year. I know you can also find it in the West Music catalog.
Making Music for the Joy of It by Stephanie Judy that outlines a plan for teaching a person to match pitch. It's in the back of the book and is an appendix to the bood entitled "Teaching a Not-Yet- Singer to Match Pitches"
Two resource books- "Teaching Kids to Sing" by Ken Phillips and "One, Two, Three Echo Me" by Loretta Mitchell.
("123, Echo Me" is a wonderful book that has good echo songs in it.)
There are two choral warm-ups that I use. One is by Teresa Jennings from an old MK8 magazine (check the index). The other is by Gene Grier and is sold as a single octavo with accompaniment tape. I think it's called "Time-saving Warm ups for the Developing Choir."
The complete Choral Warm-up Book by Russell Robinson and Jay Althouse published by Alfred is REALLY good, check it out!!!!
I haven't personally read "Directing the Children's Choir" by Shirley W. McRae, but I've heard good things about it also.
I use Nancy Telfer's "SUCCESSFUL WARMUPS, Book 1 & 2, with my Junior High Choir. The exercises are well defined and easy. There is a student book and a teacher/director edition. Publisher Kjos Music Company (V83S) I think the student book cost $6.95 each.
"Warm-Ups for Young Voices" I absolutely love the book! It is written by Anne Ellsworth and Teresa Jennings. Contains lots of good information, and just good sense type vocal warm-ups and activities. My students are loving it and so am I. I would highly recommend buying it to anyone. I had been looking for a good warm-up book for some time, and this certainly fits the bill.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************BOY SINGERS & CHANGING VOICE
06/09 SONG: If you have a choir that's split almost 50-50, perhaps you could sing, "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)." --- Celeste Weber
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06/09 FOLLOWING ARE ALL MK8 SONGS (www.musick8.com) Here are some songs on the simple side that we have sung that the boys like:
Yodelady - 12/3m The Crawdad Song 19/1, Down By The Riverside 15/3
The Erie Canal 15/3m Home on the Range 13/5, It Ain't Gonna Rain No More 9/4 --- Contributed by Kristin Lukow
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06/09 SONG: Down to the Bone - Check the online index for what year but it is and early year before year 8 probably year 5. I used this with a third/4th grade chorus one year  and they loved it. There were  close to half the number being boys that year. --- Listee, MK8 Newsletter
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SONG: Yellow Rose of Texas: I taught in a private school, with K-12. On several occasions I had ALL the boys sing together...once I did "The Yellow Rose of Texas" with all my 4-5th boys, joined by the 7-8th boys on the second verse, then finally by the high school boys in their choir tuxes...each carrying yellow roses to hand to the other boys...for the encore, the accompanist played while all those boys went out into the audience to present those roses to their mothers. That was a serious hit with the moms, and the boys thought they were SO cool.
SONG: Sarasponda I think the boys would like the boomda part. --- Beth Jahn
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06/06 BOOKS: (The following books are described at: http://www.cambiatapress.com/CVMIA/Books.htm
The Cambiata Concept by Don L. Collins, Teaching Choral Music , 2nd ed, by Dr. Collins (Prentis Hall Pub.), Teaching Junior High School Music by Irvin Cooper, The Cambiata Concept and Teaching Junior High School Music are published by Cambiata Press, P.O. Box 1151, Conway Arkansas 72032. Teaching Choral Music, 2nd ed is published by Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All three may be obtained from J.W. Pepper at 800-345-6296 (www.jwpepper.com/catalog/welcome.jsp) or your favorite music dealer.
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06/06 Google "Cambiata" and you will find some great information! There are pieces written for 'changing voice.' Cambiata Press publishes music like this. Place the boys in their appropriate range. Label the parts I, II, and III rather that 'soprano' and 'alto.'
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07/05 FOOTBALL! I have had some success getting 5th’s to sing using a motivational tool. Set up a bulletin board to resemble a football field Ø Have the students color small sketches of T-shirts or footballs and put their names or initials on them. Attach these shirts to the side of the “field” or on the 50-yard line.Ø For each grade, establish warm-ups or phrases of songs, progressively more difficult, for the students to perform. When they have met the objectives for each sample, they can move their “shirt” to the next yard line. When they reach a Touchdown, they’ve made it! (I use “Composer Bucks” as a reward)Ø You can use pins, thumbtacks, or use felt as the bulletin board backing, and attach Velcro dots to the backs of the shirts. -- Karen Stafford
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CONTEST: When my 5ths got too cool sing, I always had a singing contest between the boys and the girls---no yelling allowed. The group that sang best got excused first..worked every time!-- Judy in Wi.
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BREATHING: A Hoberman sphere is a toy that shrinks down to a small type ball and you can expand it out to a big round globe. Mine is a small one that fits in your hands. You can get them in various sizes and colors. I bought mine at Toys R Us long time ago. I've also seen them in Walmart and Target. As I expand the hoberman sphere out the kids breathe in and as I shrink it the exhale. Once the Hoberman sphere is totally closed they must be out of air and ready to inhale again. My kids love to do breathing with Hoberman sphere. ---Tami Mangusso
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08/02 POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: I've learned and experienced that the best thing to do is to "love" them through it. Make a big deal out of it for them-they can be really proud of it. I get really excited and ask them "is your voice getting lower? Does it squeak sometimes when you talk? Do you sometimes try to sing and nothing comes out?" I'm really happy about it and let the whole class know that this is a normal part of life that will happen at diffrent times for different kids. I tell the boy that he will have a limited range for awhile, but don't quit singing. I warn the class that it will sound different for them to hear this sound, but that we are SO lucky to have a bass sound, too! It's worked really well so far. I usually have just one or two 6th grade boys head south, but this year-I have more!
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EXPERIMENT: I find the most important thing with the boys' changing voice is to relax and let them experiment with the adjustment, emphasizing pitch matching, and helping them understand how their voice is moving; learning how to match at the lower octave . (ie, longer vocal chord folds mean lower tones) An atmosphere of expectations for the-correct-sounds-only can create so much tension for guys with testosterone surging and needing to feel "cool" and acceptable can choke and conclude they "cant" do it.
SIGHS can be helpful because they are associated with release of tension and can bridge the head to the chest voice and help them navigate. Try starting a sigh up high, relaxed, gently and slowly let the sign come down all the way to a low rattle. Hopefully the sigh is done in a relaxed manner, explain to them their voice is not just dropping, it is expanding. This exercise can demonstrate just how much range they have, though you probably should demonstrate graphically on the piano or the staff the range they covered. If the sigh doesn't work. Try something they might excitedly, and unconsciously yell at a world series etc. ("My Oh my!!!" at least for Seattle Mariner fans), whip them into a frenzy and before you know it they are back in that head voice, (you have to prove it to them, though, the pitches they reached)
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"GIRLY VOICE": Play "The Snake" song for them from the Billy Gilman CD. He's an 11 year old boy with a beautiful voice. Don't tell them ahead of time who is singing and they'll say it's a girl. "The Snake" is a cute song about a black king snake who falls in love with a green garden hose. They have to really listen to hear the story. I did this with grades 1-6. The older kids knew immediately who the singer was and informed me that he is now 12 years old and still has the same voice. I think it made an impression that it's okay to just sing and not worry about the girl-boy thing, just use their natural "kid" head voice
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HOW YOUNG FOR LESSONS? Much to young to start formal "vocal Technique". But not to young to introduce and strengthen breathing and support. Proper development of the instrument depends upon a healthy body for support. Her voice needs to be kept high(in placement not pitch) and pure so it can develop without strain. It starts to become consistent around 13-15, but doesn't really start rounding out until her 20's.Also, she should develop as a musician right along with her vocal development
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ROLE MODELS: I've always had more success with role models closer to home...like boys in upper grades who are "cool" talking to the younger boys about their voices changing, etc. I guess what makes it fly is whether or not your little boys have some older role models. I've always had luck with athletes coming to talk to my little guys about singing. Even better is a "big brother" who is considered popular, or maybe even a coach or p.e. teacher. I used all my men faculty members and associate headmaster on a concert with my boys once. I don't know who enjoyed it more! DIVIDE AND CONQUER: Find the coolest ones you can in their classes, and call their moms; ask to work with them privately for a few minutes after school, and tell mom that the kid has potential...they will like getting the attention from you at home, but won't be embarrassed in front of their friends. Once you get a few boys singing for you privately, you can ask THEM what other boys would make good leaders in music. Word will get around. If you've got the right boys, most of the others will come around. I have found that, surprisingly, it's much easier to get boys to do things that are "risky" for their self-esteem in private, then give them lots of positive stroke without putting them on the spot in front of the other boys. This is not about not wanting to sing at this age. No one wants to risk being a "sissy".
I BET YOU....Other shameless techniques that I've used successfully include betting a kid a dollar that he could not match my best singing voice. You have to pay up, of course, and be sure it's a kid that can do it if he wants to. Also, this sounds dumb, but they like to do this...I let them take turns giving the pitch from the tuning fork. They will do all sorts of things for that opportunity. The main thing is to create a safe environment for them to get comfortable with that singing voice. Find some songs that boys like, the yuckier, the better. My boys love "Let's Go a Huntin'" and "Cape Cod Girls", I'se the B'ye"...stuff like that. They aren't much into sunshine and rainbows by 9 & 10. The other thing is to not allow it to become "them" against "you". It's tricky.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************BREAK IN THE VOICE
http://www.voiceteacher.com/passaggio.html
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These children have beautiful voices but I fear they just ruin them with the belting! I don't ever allow belting in my choir! The way I have got rid of it is with DESCENDING SCALES.....! That means they always start with their beautiful 'head voice' and keep the same tone quality coming down the scale. When I conduct...I conduct in opposites...So Any high notes I conduct at diaphragm level and any lower passages I keep light at head level! Writing it down sound funny but it seems to work! ---- Lesley-Anne HillBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************BREATH CONTROL
02/03 USE A CANDLE: I have done this with my junior and senior high choirs. I will try it with my 5th and 6th grade students. After discussing the diaphragm, lungs and abdominal breath support, I gave the choir candles (little ones purchased through a church supply store - about 5 inches long - used index cards with a slit cut in as a wax catcher.) I modeled how to pass the light from candle to candle. NEVER TIP A LIT CANDLE.
I asked the students to correct their posture, take a low abdominal breath, and see how long they can blow at the flame to make it flicker and not go out. I then asked them to take a shoulder breath and repeat the exercise, noticing how much more difficult it was to control the air stream. If they do it correctly, they can really feel how they need to use their abdominal muscles to control/support the breath.
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05/21 BLOW OUT: Try having them sit in a chair, bend over and blow out all of their air. When they are completely empty of breath, they should straighten up and sit as tall as they can, but not breathe in. When they have truly hit the oxygen deprivation level, instruct them to stay sitting tall, and just open their mouths to let the air in. They should feel a sudden release of abdominal muscles and a big rush in of low diaphragmatic air. This is a great way to teach "Catch breath".
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01/02 'BOOK ON THE GUT' This is a chronic problem at my school too. I solve it by demonstration. I lay flat on my back with a book on my gut to show them how each breath involves the diap hragm. They see the rise and fall. At least they see the sound comes from more than their throat! Works pretty good. Then I make everyone lie down and put a book on their gut and we have choir practice. The difference in sound is amazing!
In my experience, what cures monotonism more than anything else is just lots and lots and lots of singing. I have had a number of notable cases upon which I had given up, but NEVER NEVER NEVER told to "stop singing" (an instruction so psychologically devastating that the most educated and successful people will still confide with pain at advanced age). Suddenly, in the fifth or sixth grade, they have just popped up on pitch and remained there. Miracles occur. I don't have to understand it. Something just HAPPENS. Sometimes doing "fire-engine" siren sounds woooooooooooooooooooooooo up and down, up and down, will help them find the register. Many times HUMMING will help.
Everyone hum the entire song. Sometimes I tell a child to "whisper-sing" - - which always gets me into trouble with this list, since the bona fide SINGERS on here will jump all over me and tell me that that kind of "whispering" will damage the vocal cords. Well, it probably WOULD if they actually DID it, which they DON'T. What telling them to "whisper-sing" has the effect of doing is getting them to be quiet enough to HEAR the proper placement and intonation, after which they often pop right up into place. Sometimes I take them aside and say, as kindly as possible, "You're not on the right note. I don't WANT you to stop singing, but I DO want you to sing softly, and high up in your head." And sometimes that works. I like Paula's "book on the gut," and Sandra's "find-your-pitch-at-the-piano" tricks, and plan to use them. When possible, I put them between strong singers, and sometimes that does the trick. And sometimes, NOTHING works.
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SESAME EXERCISE TAPE: My own kids had [this tape] from Sesame Street that I use when teaching breathing. yes i used it for my beginning band kids 5th and 6th grade. I usually turned out the lights and had the students lie on the floor on their backs with their instruments on the diaphram/stomachs. I had them relax then played the tape .There were a few giggles but just a few and then things would quiet down. The song explains that "when you breath in up goes the mountain , you breath out the valley goes in ect. It talks about the king and queen living in a castle one of them likes living high on the mountain the other like living down low in the valley. The tape instructs the students to breath in and out while Bert and Ernie sing the song. It explains it every well. The tape is at school, of course. I will have to get the name later. I do think that the tape explains breathing very well and the kids liked it believe or not.
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FILL UP YOUR BELT: When I was studying my vocal teacher had me imagine that I was filling up my "belt" with air. "This may make some people cringe, but I tell my students to think of an upright vacuum - fill up from bottom to top and don't let go. It may sound bizarre but all i have to do is ask 'where are your vacuums' when the breathing goes to he** and they seem to understand!
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COO COO: I love to use [this exercise] on 1-3-5-3-1 with the Coo-Coo sounding like an owl "whoing" - this makes the child implode the sound - then transfer to words trying for the same sensation.
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BOOK - GIRLS' VOICES: If your student is in junior high to freshman range, she could be going through a voice change. Girls' larynx widen slightly at this time, while boys' larynxes both widen and elongate. This keeps the chords from meeting completely, resulting in an airy sound. Sometimes all you can do is live through it, and she will mature with age as her growth slows. A fine resource on this is Ken Phillips "Teaching kids to sing". He suggested in a workshop I attended that you could ask the girl to try a goat-like bleat. This forces the cords to connect and lets them make a less airy sound. I personally am vary wary of this - don't want to encourage vocal tension.
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SING TO AN INDEX CARD: My vocal teacher had me hold an index card in front of my lips and sing ooo on different tones. The idea was to get the card vibrating and feel it on my lips.
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1. "Imagine you have a nose here (point to L and R sides of your waist) "Now put your hands on your noses - and take a breath" 2. "Take a breath, and exhale as you sing 1, 2, 3, 4 (etc.,)
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BREATH CONTROL GAME: I was taught the following African game for teaching breath control. Kids love it. Kids make two lines facing each other ..quite a bit of space between lines. The first person on one side sings "Aba-yea............" (m-s) as he WALKS around the person directly across from him in the opposite line. He must not stop holding the sound (ea) until he returns to his original spot in line. If he does, he is out of the game. Then the first person on the other side does the same and game proceeds down each row until everyone has had a turn. To continue, the lines move farther apart requiring more breath control. Students don't even realize they are singing solos as they enjoy the game and practice breath control. Dee
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BREATH CONTROL
1. First, I get them breathing from the diaphraghm. We practice by laying on the floor, and my students take this home for "homework," although I caution them not to avoid their other homework to practice their breathing!
2. Then we practice breathing with a hiss breath. First, we hiss (pulsed) for eight beats. When they reach the eighth beat, they should be out of breath. Once they have mastered this, we move on to twelve, then sixteen, etc.
My sixth grade choir once made it all the way to 30 beats).BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************CHOIR IDEAS
06/06 AUDITIONS: In selecting a song for a younger student to sing in an audition, choose something age appropriate. "On My Own" may be a little mature for most young singers. Try to stay away from songs from Annie, they are overdone and kids usually try to belt it way too high.
06/06 AUDITIONS: Good suggestions for a young singer: UP TEMPO
Whistle a Happy Tune (King and I)
Who Will Buy? (Oliver)
Matchmaker (Fiddler on the Roof)
Round Shouldered Man (Secret Garden)
BALLAD
Little Lamb (Gypsy)
Candle on the Water (Pete's Dragon)
Castle on a Cloud (Le Mis)
LOWER REGISTER
Feed the Birds (Mary Poppins)
Look to the Rainbow (Finian's Rainbow)
-- Gail in Pittsburgh
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06/06 AUDITIONS: I actually audition kids based on their singing ability. Last year they sang Follow the Drinking Gourd and the SSB and I gave them 5 points on each of the following criteria: Pitch accuracy, Rhythm accuracy, word accuracy and SSB. This year I'll use a different song that all 4th and 5th graders will know for the first song, and the second will be something that they will learn in one day in class. I'm thinking either Shenandoah or Music Alone Shall Live. Also, Grades are not a requirement for my chorus. I've discussed this with my principal and she understands that some kids just have trouble with academic subjects but that shouldn't keep them from pursuing their love of music. And these kids were just as hard working for me as the ones who get good grades, if not harder because they missed so many rehearsals for after-school remediation. This year, good behavior won't be a requirement to get in, except for a few really poorly behaved students who expressed interest in chorus. However, they'll be on a 3 strike system, then they’re out. Each category is worth up to 5 points for a total of 20 possible. I let 5th graders in with 13 points and 4th graders in with 14. My school's guidance counselor and I were the "judges" last year and I averaged the points she gave kids with the points I gave the kids. -- Dana Wessel
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06/06 AUDITIONS In regard to select and auditioned choirs, for my first year of teaching I did this. I termed it an "Honors Choir" and it was only open to 4/5th graders. Mind you, there are only about 70 4/5th graders in the entire district. I started out with about 35 kids. Singing ability was NOT a criteria. Perhaps because I have taught piano for fifteen years, and haven’t ever been unable to teach a child to play, I have the same philosophy about teaching a kiddo to sing. We ended up having a very successful first year. I really emphasized the "honors" in honors choir, and talked to the kids about how it's not a right to be in this ensemble, but a privilege. I then went on to make them feel that way as a reward for hard work. It was emphasized that they were our "school ambassadors" and bunches of kids wistfully commented that they wish they would have joined as we were departing for field trips to sing at various venues.
I am a zero tolerance kind of teacher though. The kids had to stay on green light with their teachers or they couldn't go on field trips. If they could not fulfill the obligations in their contract (signed by both parents, and teir teacher) then I would ask them to leave. If they talked during choir when they weren't supposed to, they had to leave for that day. THe choir took place before school - so this really weeded out the kids who were just trying to get out of class. Every kiddo in our district qualifies for free breakfast, so they'd just bring breakfast upstairs and eat in my room. I did get, by the end of choir, every kid singing into his/her head voice. We worked a lot on vocal technique, especially consonants and vowel uniformity. I wrote a grant and ordered choir polo shirts. I had them help me pick out the logo. Even though they were school property and assigned to them like choir robes, the kids were SO proud to wear these shirts! -- Julie Rhodes
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10/05 SMALL CHORUS when I first started out I had 7 kids in my 7/8 choir. We did rounds for awhile. They really enjoyed that, even sang some on our concert. We also used the Grab a Partner books. There are great partner songs with CD accompaniment and choreography all worked in. They LOVED that. We performed during lunch, we performed the national anthem at sporting events, we sang the school song at assemblies, we sang for the younger classes .... we sang whenever we could ... learned a ton of fairly easy music and just had a blast. -- Alyssa Brewer
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06/06 CUT-OFFS: Usually it's not all the kids. Isolate who is the "culprit" and have a little heart to heart with them. I'm not much for disciplining in front of other students, but when a student is obviously not watching and paying attention, if you make an "example" of them in front of others it usually straightens the rest of them out. In reading my post it sounds so harsh but it doesn't have to be a big deal. Work with the kid(s) who won't pay attention and if they still aren't getting it, have them sit it out and let your good kids sing it for them. -RaeAnna Goss
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10/05 BINDERS I use binders that I purchased from Walmart for my choir. I have them numbered and have 5 dividers inside each binder labeled: Warm Ups, Patriotic, Holiday, Spring Concert, and Partners. The binders stay on a library shelf that's on wheels by the front door. The students are also given copies of music to take home. I purchased the binders during back to school clearance sales for 5 cents each along with the dividers. I use red for my Sr. Choir and Blue for the Jr. Choir.
I have used file folders for the dividers just cut a little and hole punched. I require all students in grades 3-8 to have a 1" binder with 5 dividers labeled: Songs, Squilt, Composers, Units, Recorder or Misc. Choir kids put their personal copies of songs or word sheets under the song section in their music binders.
I have over 100 extra binders for the kids who don't provide one. I even sold them for 25 cents last year. They are bright orange and the kids liked the color. The binders become a music portfolio of several years of songs, recorder music and units. This year I had the classroom teachers put my supplies on their supply list that they mail out to students. I'm hoping more students will provide their own binders this way. I have a few made up and sell them for close to cost and give them to new students throughout the year who never seem to bring supplies with them. JoDee Dean Gilbert
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10/05 VIDEO You might consider getting Henry Leck's video on vocal technique's for children.
Vocal Techniques for the Young Singer
http://www.icchoir.org/vidtech.htm or two videos:
Vocal Techniques for the Young Singer and Boy's Changing Voice: Take the High Road
http://www.musicmotion.com/
Boy's Changing Voice: Take the High Road
http://www.rbcmusic.com/choraltexts.htm
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10/05 VIDEO Several videos on technique, intonation, etc., at http://www.rbcmusic.com/choraltexts.htm
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10/05 BOOK & CD I really love a book plus CD called Voice Builders for Better Choirs by Emily Crocker (published by Hal Leonard). It works on warmups, posture, breathing quality sound, expanding the voice pronunciation, exercises in intonation, choral blending and problem solving such as interval training, dipthongs, getting rid of nasal tones etc. -- Sue Michiels
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ATTENTION!! One teacher has found a terrific device called an Attention Getter, from some teacher store. It's a stop watch, timer, watch, has three attention getting sounds stored in it. I forget the third, but the first two are the bugle call played when the horses are in the starting gate, and the Tarzan yell like Carol Burnett used to do.
The other idea is absolutely free. I have a colleague who says in a soft voice, "If you can hear my voice, clap once." The kids closest to her clap. The other kids may have continued talking, but now they have heard the clap, and they look up. She says, still softly, "If you can hear me, clap twice." By this time the whole class is, or should be, at attention. If she needs to go to three, class gets a strike. I've tried it. It works like a magic charm.-- Contributed by Tess Hoffman
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PRIVILEDGES We have a 3rd-5th grade after-school choir at our small parochial school that meets for an hour once a week. This fall I started a system that originally came from the old Assertive Discipline school of thought. At the beginning of each rehearsal, each child is given a ticket (from a huge roll, says "Admit One," can be bought at office supply places, even Wal-Mart). They must hold onto their ticket throughout the rehearsal, but can lose it by inappropriate behavior, inattention, whatever. They are allowed to go to the bathroom during rehearsal, but it costs them their ticket! At the end of the rehearsal, they tear their ticket in half, and turn one half in. (Make sure it's the kind of ticket with numbers, usually 6 or 7 digits, on both ends of the ticket!) We then have a drawing for a small prize or two (like a candy bar). It really keeps them focused, because they don't want to lose that ticket! (It's amazing how excited they get over a little candy bar!) If anyone misplaces their ticket during the rehearsal, too bad. Now we're using this for our junior choir rehearsals at church too. If you have problems with late-comers, you could only give out tickets to those who are there by a certain time. It's worked great for us!
MARILYN WOODS is the queen of keeping kids attention in a choral setting. She was the clinician at one of GA's State Honor Chorus performances. She used the big bulgy eyes that fit on your finger like a ring to remind students to keep their eyes on her and a tennis ball cut at one of the seams to remind the kids to drop their jaw instead of having the spread mouth disease.
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OPEN MOUTH! Speaking of tennis balls- I drew a face on one, and cut a slit where the mouth should be. At my last chorus rehearsal, every time they did something correct, my aide squeezed the ball to look like he was singing. They earned a point for every "squeeze". They could earn them for diction, coming in on time, nice tone, anything I was looking for. At the end of the rehearsal, I told them how many points they earned. If they earn more points than my 4th graders at their rehearsal, they each get a Jolly Rancher. I'll tell you- it was their best rehearsal. They focused and really tried to concentrate. I was able to see what needed to still be done. I could hear a pin drop between numbers too. If my 4th graders do well, I'll call it a tie and give them all a piece of candy. Thanks to the person on the list who gave us the idea about the singing tennis ball!
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Self Evaluation: Singing Assessment Rubric Peer Rating (1st Blank) Self Rating Skill (2d Blank)
____ ____ Rate your effort to pay attention.
____ ____ Rate your effort to participate.
____ ____ Rate your ability to breathe properly and support your tone.
____ ____ How clearly did you pronounce the words?
____ ____ Is your tone quality appropriate
____ ____ Rate your consistency with good posture.
____ ____ How well do you follow the notes on the chart?
____ ____ Have you done your best today?
I use this rubric with grades 4 and 5. We've gone through it several times to be sure they understand it, and they may always ask a question if they're not sure what one of the skills means.
Rating is from 1 to 4. 4=excellent; 3=good; 2=needs improvement; 1=unsatisfactory.
I'm considering returning their rubric from the previous class, since their names areon them, and having them concentrate on any skill that was not a 4.
We do basic breathing and support, and they are aware and can pretty much use head voice and chest voice.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************CHORUSES, COMMUNITY CHORUS, CONDUCTING, ETC.,
EXPECTATIONS, LETTERS TO PARENTS, MUSIC DISTRIBUTION ETC., 12/09 AFTER SCHOOL CHORUS: I used MusicK8 music (Plank Road Publishing Music Magazine)for my after school choruses. Appeals to all ages of kids and adults loved the concerts, no matter the socioeconomic status. If you have the magazines, you only need to reproduce the things you plan to use. --- Ardie Roddy
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12/07 BEGINNING CHOIR As students come in, I have them sign in and make a name tag. They wear the name tag every time they come to choir until I know their names!
I start in a circle doing warm ups- Physical ones- roll shoulders, hunch shoulders, pull arms, do puppy pants, sing sirens, etc.
Then I do scale and fun warmups by Emily Crocker that help them match pitch.
Then do a song I know they can be successful at such as Peace Round or I Love the Mountains. We go over these until we can do them in a two part round (generally pretty easy). I do a version of the Pledge of Allegiance- this year I think I'll do the Allegiance Rap MK8 magazine 12:1 (Plank Rd. Pub: http://www.musick8.com/) because it is an opportunity to introduce 2 part right away. It would also showcase the difference between singing and speaking voice.
I would also give them an overview of what to expect in choir. Behavior expectations, the show we're going to put on or the songs we'll be doing.
If I have a song that is on a John Jacobson video I might show it to them so they can get an idea of how we'll sound or look when we perform. That would be about an hour’s worth of activities. I don't stay on any one thing too long becausee you've got to keep it moving!
[The] next time they come in, I would place them according to height so that they begin getting used to their riser spot. I also try to separate chatty friends and mix up the boys with the girls. Last year I started in chairs and graduated to the risers. These are some things that have been successful for me. -- Dianne Park President, San Diego American Orff Schulwerk Association, Visit our SDAOSA website at http://www.sbsd.k12.ca.us/~slloyd/index.htm
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12/07 INTRODUCTION: I would try taking a poll of they likes and dislike etc - With my Music in Our Lives class I started the year with a music time capsule. They each burned a CD of music that they thought represented them and the current styles - they each presented the Cd to the class and this gave me a great indication of their likes and dislikes. I also kept the CDs in the room for music to listen to while we were working. All kids know how to burn CDs and it is an easy first assignment that gives you great resources. I found the kids really appreciated that I wanted to know what they were interested in and they noticed when I tailored my lessons towards their likes and dislikes. From the music they bring you, you may find some snippets they could figure out by ear - either on piano or Orff instruments. Beatles tunes are also great for this. I did this at a more difficult level with my theory class - they worked with a partner and transcribed a song - at the end of the week we had a coffee house and they performed the transcriptions. The Beatles are also a great thing to do with this age - it was the most anticipated unit in middle school we learned all about the hidden messages and such. - Heather Lovelace
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12/07 CHOIR SURVEY: I've done surveys in the past and asked about whether or not they hadtaken private lessons, dance lessons, what their favorite music groups/performers were, their favorite kind of music, if they are in choirs (like at church) outside of school, etc. Sometimes I would ask if their parents played instruments or sang. It was interesting to learn more about the musical background of my students. -- Judy Rogers, Jim Stone Elementary in Conway, AR
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12/07 CHOIR SURVEY: I do two projects the first week. One is a sheet with a piano logo and says I like Music [because]…….
The students then write a few sentences. The second one has them answer questions like: Do you play any instruments, Sing in a choir, What kinds of music do you listen to? Tell me someting about yourself(hobbies, favorite things, family) -- Susan C. Harris
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01/07 SHOW CHOIR REPETOIRE: Two choral composers come to mind: John Jacobson and Sally Albrecht. Both produce great material that also usually includes choreography for a show type choir. You can get videos and great accompaniment tracks for some of their work too I think. Music K8 (Plank Road Publishing) also has some great music that would be great for show choir. You could get the kids to make up with dance steps. With only 10 students they need to be very strong vocally to pull off harmony so I would suggest you stick to some simple choral music in no more than 2 or 3 parts. If they're not strong vocally, just do unison with the guys singing an octave lower. Don't sacrifice their sound for the sake of the choreography. -Meredith Harley Inserra
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10/05 GETTING THE SONG STARTED:
1) Most of the time: I sing "Ready ___ sing ___" on the starting pitch, stretching each word out for 2 beats.
2) Occasionally for well-learned songs in 2 or when there is a pick-up beat in 3: "Ready sing" on starting pitch, giving each word 1 beat.
3) For songs in 3: "Ready and sing" on the starting pitch, giving each word 1 beat.
4) When a class *really* sings well together and is a confident group: I hum the starting pitch, hold my hand out in directing position, give the upbeat as if starting my adult choir, and the students come in on the down beat. It takes some practice, but my 3rds can usually do it quite well.
In other words, I set the pitch, beat, and tempo with my voice for all except the 4th way. I never "count of" for singers, but I do it for barred instruments, autoharps, or Boomwhckers when they are playing an introduction before the singers come in. Connie Herbon
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08/04 STARTING A NEW CHORUS May I suggest that since this is your first time doing this, that you open up your Chorus to anyone interested? The bottom line though is that you have to really go with what works best for you - but if it isn't an issue then invite all to join! Look at the archives
www.musick8.com/listarchive/ViewMail.tpl
to get some ideas about Chorus contracts and such and pick some good, suitable music for your kids. After awhile, you could also possibly have an auditioned group too. You might do better with an open enrollment.
Here is my situation. I have a fourth grade chorus and also a fifth grade chorus. Usually (for the past 20 years or so) there are anywhere from 90 - 100 kids in each group. Anyone can join. I do also have a select group, the Camerata Singers, made up of 4ths and 5ths who are already in the large Chorus for their grade level. In order to be picked for this group, they audition in 4th grade. It is a two year commitment. We rehearse either at recess or before school. I do not use school time for this group. (My Chorus IS during the school day so I don't want to push the issue!)
The kids sign up to audition and are given a number. I have an aide or another teacher out in the hall with them. I am, in the meantime, in my room, behind a barrier so that I can't see who is auditioning. The barrier could be a portable chalk board or TV/VCR cart - something that is tall. I have a pencil and pad on the piano. *** I also have a tape recorder going. The first child comes in. The teacher or aide says, "Mrs. Bragle, this is #1 and it's a boy." I write down #1 BOY. They sing "America" mostly a capella but not entirely and then we do some echo singing. That's it. I thank them and send them on their way. In the door comes #2 and so on. All I have in front of me is a number and whether it is a boy or girl. If someone really has got the goods and did a fantastic job, then I put a *. That's my abbreviation for "this kid should be picked". This usually takes about three lunch periods to get everyone in. Remember, the only kids who can audition are 4th GRADERS WHO ARE ALREADY IN CHORUS. BTW quitting isn't an issue for these kids. They love to sing and are totally committed.
After all is done, I make two columns - boys and girls. I go back and list all the numbers of girls who had * next to their number and I do the same with boys. In the meantime, the aide/teacher is the only one who knows who is what number. She keeps that list with her throughout the whole process. I don't have access to that at all. At this point now I have a list and usually by the time I have all the * listed, I have enough for a group. It is anywhere from 20 - 30. Remember, there are already fifth graders who are part of the group. They do not have to audition again. They are automatically in the group for the second year. After I LISTEN TO THE TAPE to be sure that my selection is accurate, I ask the teacher/aide "who is #6; who is #23 " etc. ? This is when I find out who I picked. Yes, this is a BIG deal and very time consuming (exhausting!) for me, but it is so worth it if you are going to have an auditioned group.
Believe me, I didn't start off this way, but have fine tuned this through the years. I have rules about this group because it is a delicate balancing act to have a select group.
When the large 4th or 5th Chorus performs, I never pick a Camerata kid for a special part. I only pick non-Camerata kids for special parts. Camerata kids get picked when they are performing within their own group. Sometimes a child who has a great voice, decides to be in chorus but not try out for Camerata. That doesn't happen very often, but there are always a few. I want to be sure and be fair and give everyone an opportunity. I also put together my method of picking and choosing and insert it in the holiday program so that parents can read just how things are done. -- Contributed by Kathleen Bragle,NBCT
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CHOIR CONTRACT: Instead of a choir contract, I made students who wanted to be part of the choir fill out a job "application". I’ve had many comments from parents on what a great idea they thought it was. The kids took it quite seriously and wanted to know if they'd been hired! I had a great choir that year.
Job Application for Grade 4/5 Choir Job: Member of GW Smith Elementary School grade 4/5 Choir
(Grade 2/3 Choir will be after Christmas)
Pay: None Benefits:
MANY! Performances: Nov. 23 2:30 PM - Festival of Trees
Nov. 30 (Friday) Red Deer Rebels O Canada - you need to buy a ticket if you want to go the game
Friday Dec. 7 - Coke House of Hope 1:30 PM Bower Mall - sing for half an hour on Big 105 (We will probably have a second performance on this day) GW Smith School Christmas Concert Dress: White shirts, black pants PLEASE order a school T-shirt - some choir performances will be in t-shirts when they arrive!
Practices: Tuesdays at 12:30 - practices begin Nov. 13th Extra Practices - 12:30 on the days of performances! (Nov. 23, Nov. 30, Dec 7)
Expectations of Choir members: attendance at all Tuesday 12:30 PM practices, very best behavior when in rehearsal and performance, quiet between songs, and try your best at all times.
Students may be laid off or lose their place in the choir if they cannot meet these expectations. Students who have received many warnings regarding behavior in the large 4/5 gymnasium music class will not be hired for this position. Before being hired to be in the choir, students must fill out an application for the job. Give this application to your teacher, to the office or to Mrs. Gagne. Late applications will NOT be accepted!
Name: ________________________________________
Grade: ______________
Parents Names: ________________________________________
Phone #: ________________________________________
Questions for applicants: 1. When are choir practices? ________________________________________
2. What are three of the expectations of choir members?
1.________________________________________
2.________________________________________
3.________________________________________ 3.
What performances is the choir going to do? List the dates as well.
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
Write a few sentences telling why you would be a good person to hire to be in the GW Smith school choir.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
References are needed when you apply for a job. A parent reference is required for this job. Parents: Why would your son or daughter be a good candidate for the GW Smith School Choir? Will you assist them with remembering when choir practices and performances are?____________________________________________________________________well.
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
Write a few sentences telling why you would be a good person to hire to be in the GW Smith school choir.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
References are needed when you apply for a job. A parent reference is required for this job. Parents: Why would your son or daughter be a good candidate for the GW Smith School Choir? Will you assist them with remembering when choir practices and performances are?____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
--- Contributed by Denise Gagne
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09/03 LETTER TO PARENTS: Dear Parents,
Congratulations!! Your child is invited to be a member of Chorus The Chorus Classes are offered in addition to your child’s weekly music time with me. I have had special training in teaching these classes. By giving permission to your child to be in Chorus, you are making a COMMITMENT to support your child’s decision to come to every rehearsal we have here at school during the school day. You are also making a commitment to have your child at the performances we will have in the evenings. There will be a December and a May performance that will begin at 7 pm. The actual program will last no longer than 45 minutes. This does not include warm up time, which is necessary for a quality performance. To participate, your child must be in good academic standing and remain so for the entire year. Any drop in academic standing will result in your child being put on an Academic Maintenance Plan. He or she will have a week to bring his or her grades up. If after that week, the homeroom teacher reports that Academic standing has not been restored, your child will be removed from Chorus.
Additionally, I will accept nothing, but the BEST in behavior in ALL school activities from each and every student that chooses to be a part of the Chorus. Chorus is a performing group that has to put a resulting product (performance) in front of you, our parents, at our concerts and we want to give you the best product (performance). THEREFORE, Chorus membership is a privilege. The purpose of Chorus is to sing for pleasure and to sing for performances. We will work using the proper singing techniques at all times. No tardiness will be allowed. We have precious little time already. I have a 3 strike system and anyone that cannot behave properly receives a strike. Upon the third strike, your child will be expelled from his choice of chorus. (Tardiness constitutes a strike).
Please mark in which group your child will participate.
Chorus 4 ___________________
Chorus 5 ___________________
PARENTS, PLEASE FILL OUT AND RETURN THE BOTTOM PORTION TO ME ASAP.
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT OUR PRODUCTIONS!!
MS. PATRICIA ALBRITTON
You may contact me at [email protected] or 893-2196 Ext. 124
__________________________________________________________
Yes, I COMMIT my full support for my son/daughter to be a member of his/her choice.
Parent Signature____________________________________________
Students Name______________________________________________
Homeroom Teacher__________________________________________
Parent Email Address_________________________________________
Student Signature____________________________________________
Date_______________________________________________________
-- Contributed by Patricia Albritton
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CHORUS EXPECTATIONS, SIGNING UP, ETC., "JOB APPLICATION"
Job: Member of GW Smith Elementary School grade 4/5 Choir
Pay: None
Benefits: MANY!
Performances: Red Deer Rebels O Canada; Festival of Trees; Remembrance
Day, maybe the Kiwanis Carol Festival
Expectations of Choir members: attendance at all Tuesday 12:30 PM practices, very best behavior when in rehearsal and performance, and try your best at all times. Students may be laid off or lose their place in the choir if they cannot meet these expectations. Students who receive several warnings regarding behavior in the large 4/5 gymnasium music class may not be hired for this position.
Before being hired to be in the choir, students must fill out an application for the job.
Name: ______________________________ Grade: _____________
Parents Names:_________________________ Phone #: ________________________
Questions for applicants:
1. When are choir practises? ________________________________________
2. What are the three expectations of choir members?
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
3. What performances is the choir going to do? List the dates as well.
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
4. List 3 things that a choir member must do to be 'very good' in a practice?
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
5. When the choir is listening to other choirs perform, what is expected?
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
Write a few sentences telling why you would be a good person to hire to be in the GW Smith school choir?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
References are needed when you apply for a job. A parent reference is required for this job.
Parents: Why would your son or daughter be a good candidate for the GW Smith School Choir? Will you assist them with remembering when choir practises and performances are?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
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10/01 LETTER TO PARENTS: Once again this year, the Wiscasset Primary School will have a chorus made up fifth graders who volunteer to sing and be a part of this special group. Chorus rehearsals will take place once a week after the noon-time recess for a 30 minute period. Your child has indicated that he/she wishes to join the chorus, and I am delighted to have him/her and hope this will be an enjoyable experience.
Each student is expected to meet the following responsibilities as a chorus member. Please discuss the expectations listed below with your child. If you give your child permission to participate in the chorus, both you and your child need to sign the attached agreement below and your child needs to complete the “Chorus Questionnaire.” Please return this form by Wednesday, September 19th. It will be your child’s “ticket” into the rehearsal. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me (...........)
CHORUS EXPECTATIONS:
1. Return the attached “Chorus Questionnaire.”
2. Attend all rehearsals and performances. (There will be 2-3 performances throughout the year. Dates will be sent home as soon as they are determined.)
3. Complete classroom assignments on time so students don’t miss rehearsals to make up classroom work.
4. Listen to and follow directions.
5. Treat others with respect.
6. Return all permission forms on time.
Thank you. I look forward to working with this exciting group of students!
Sincerely,
Carole M. Drury
Music Teacher
RETURN BY ___________
I have read the above letter and give my permission for my child, _______________________ to participate in chorus.
________________________
Parent Signature
*****************************************************************************
I have discussed with my family the expectations for participation in the Wiscasset Primary School Chorus and I promise to honor these expectations.
____________________ ________________________________
Date Student signature
CHORUS QUESTIONNAIRE
(To be completed by student)
1. How will you show responsibility in chorus?
2. Why do you think it is important to show respect to other members of the chorus and to the chorus director?
3. Why do you want to be in the chorus?
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TECHNIQUE IDEAS
One teacher has found a terrific device called an Attention Getter, from some teacher store. It's a stop watch, timer, watch, has three attention getting sounds stored in it. I forget the third, but the first two are the bugle call played when the horses are in the starting gate, and the Tarzan yell like Carol Burnett used to do.
The other idea is absolutely free. I have a colleague who says in a soft voice, "If you can hear my voice, clap once." The kids closest to her clap. The other kids may have continued talking, but now they have heard the clap, and they look up. She says, still softly, "If you can hear me, clap twice." By this time the whole class is, or should be, at attention. If she needs to go to three, class gets a strike. I've tried it. It works like a magic charm.-- Contributed by Tess Hoffman
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I picked up a couple of great ideas from workshops to which my primary kids really respond....
1. Get a jar of bubbles. Ask the class to "follow the bubble" with an "ooh", "ah", "oh", or (if you're a masochist) "ee". Blow the bubble so that it arcs upward first, so that the voices start in a middle range, go a little higher, and then descend with the bubble until it breaks on the floor. They get a huge kick out of saying "pop" at just the right moment.
2. I made cutouts of several different colors of stars, laminated them, and glued magnetic tape on the back. I keep them on my white board. I'll ask 3-5 students to arrange them in a patterns of highs and lows, and then we "follow the stars" with our voices on the same vowels as in #1.
3. For diction, we sing "This Old Man", using only a one-syllable word that begins and ends with a consonant. We start with "cat cat cat....." and then I take a few suggestions. They love it when we use a classmate's name--"Sam Sam Sam, Sam Sam Sam". - Contributed by Toni Skelton
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04/03 LEARNING A NEW PIECE: I did something totally crazy & off the cuff during my rehearsals yesterday that got absolutely everyone singing (esp. my middlers), and it was a real hoot too. We were beginning MK8's "Lights of Freedom" and I wanted to first teach the short section right before the states are listed ("the lights the lights Oh say can you see...") and my objective was to drill this so firmly into their minds that they'd never forget it, soooo...
I told them my intention and that I had an idea of how to make learning it fun, but it would depend on their participation and creativity. If it looked like they weren't interested in my fun way, then we'd just do it the boring way (sit in our chairs and sing it about 10 times over & over). They opted for the fun way. Ok, here's what I did:
1. Sang & played each phrase for them with them echoing back. Played the entire section followed by them singing it all back. This we repeated once more.
2. Asked them to sing it again, but to stand on the word "free".
3. Drew their attention to how we changed our whole body position on this word and were now ready to sing it standing up. Which we did.
4. Then asked someone to suggest another change of position (like turn and face opposite wall). So we sang it again, and on "free" everyone turned.
5. Then I asked for another position (someone said, stand on our chairs). Good, let's do it. They really started getting excited now!
6. Ok, so now we've repeated it 6 times?? So I just asked them to brainstorm some other positions (bend over, lay on floor, sit backwards on chair, etc.).
7. Then I simply told them that now the fun would begin. I wanted to drill this section 4 more times starting in a normal standing position. But everytime we got to "free", they were "free" to change their body position any way they wanted (as long as it was safe). Of course, no one would be doing the same position. But whatever position they took, they had to hold it while we would sing the section again, and then change to a dift. position, and on and on until we sang it 4 times without pause. And the main rule was that they had to sing each time or we'd stop and just do it the boring way. And sing they did!!It was a blast. At each "free" there were some kids on the chairs (and some in ballet-like stances too), some lying on the floor, bent over, squating, stretching, sitting, etc., etc. If my principle had walked in, she'd of thought we'd gone crazy. But they internalized that music to be sure (and that was the point).
I'm doing this song with all K-8ths and did this "game" with all classes except K's. They loved it. One 5th grade (macho athelete) even said "Man, I love music class!! He made my day.Of course this tool can be applied to any short section of music or song. Try it and get em all singing!! :)-- Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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02/03 RECORD 'EM': One technique I've found invaluable is to tape (audio, not video!) some rehearsals. It amazes me what I hear on a tape that I miss in rehearsal. In rehearsal you're trying to be aware of all the singers, either accompany or stay with the accompanist, read the score, and more. Later in private, the tape will unforgivingly reveal all! Make sure your singers know it is to help you. You can listen to it once for diction, once for tone quality, and
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02/03 CONCERT: Understudies (solos, musicals, etc.,) Understudies works best for me. A couple ways have worked well for me.
1. LOWER EL. For each part, choose an understudy (1's enough really); he/she also gets the script and attends the rehearsals AND GETS CREDIT IN THE PROGRAM. This helps him/her not feel too badly about not getting to fill in after all that work.
2. UPPER EL. Choose two-four understudies who learn ALL the parts well enough to perform with script in hand. I call this having a READER's knowledge of all the parts. They attend all the rehearsals, and what inevitably happens is they are able to perform without the script.
IMPORTANT NOTE: always credit the understudies in the printed program and I like to also credit them in the microphone during the performance with special thanks.
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SIT-STAND POSITIONS: I have seats for 33 students and have a 4th and 5th grade chorus of 72 students. I have a pretty large room so I put my 5 Chorus risers in the back of the room. My A Chorus (sopranos) come on Tuesday mornings at 7:30 A.M. and my B Chorus (altos) come on Thursdays. They stand on the risers throughout the rehearsal. We follow these points:
#1 - students are in a relaxed sitting position
#2 - students are seated but ready to sing. They are looking at me (the director) and have their rib cage up etc.
#3 - Students are standing the correct way and ready to sing. They are not wiggling and have their eyes on me at all times
The risers work fine. I have them in order - they are basically in height order but if I see 2 kids that will talk to each other I have moved them and tell them that it is best for their voice to have a different neighbor next to them. I just call out a number and they know what it is and will do it. They are still learning that rehearsal is also practice for the performance and they don't scratch or look at their neighbors or watch whomever might be coming into the room. Some of them need extra practice in this area. I give them breaks and call out #2 so that they aren't standing the whole time.
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02/03 GOOD TONE: I had good success last week by making a phonics phone with their hands...(my husband is going to make me some pvc ones)... one hand cups their ear, the other is about 2 inches in front of their mouth with the fingertips touching the palm of the hand cupping their ear...5th grade boys were using their head voice beautifully....matching pitch for the first time this year...they were thinking that they should sound like men by now and trying to sing low...Contributed by Holly Hedeen
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Starting a Choir 10/01 Check out my website at http://www.musiceducationmadness.com/ under the Archives section. There's an article there about starting an elementary choir. Hope that helps!
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10/01 From one Davis to another (and anyone else who's interested), here is a little background of what I've done with my second grade and third grade choruses (Munchkin Minor and Munchkin Major, respectively). My kids meet once a week for 40 minutes during lunch (with extra sessions for Orff players and dancers).
CHORUS CHECK IN: I have found that the best way to take attendance quickly is to have a sign in sheet (by class) in a separate place for each class, with their names already written in alphabetical order ( I have attendance sheets on Excel) and they can check off their names in a colored box after their first name (that's what they respond to the best). The first week or two will be hairy, but then they'll be great, as long as it's in the same place each time. I use a new sheet each week, so there's no doubt where to check. With the 2nds, I never teach more than 3 songs at once: one major/upbeat, one minor and/or triple meter, and one Orff. One piece might be a partner song. One piece (Orff or another) will have motions/game/dancers. I run short cycles of 6-8 weeks of rehearsals and then a concert, so kids don't have to make a long-range commitment (after my name, I'll put in a copy of the letter I send to parents). The concert themes are seasonal. 2nds do Halloween, Friendship (Valentine's Day) and Earth Day; 3rds do Holiday, Music in our schools month, and a joint concert with beginning strings in late May/Early June.
LETTER TO PARENTS: Dear Second Grade Parents:
Your child has joined the "Munchkin Minor Chorus." Chorus meets once a week during recess, on Mondays following the first lunch and on Thursdays following the second lunch. Any child may take part just by attending the first rehearsal, provided that he or she is willing to make the commitment to attend all rehearsals leading up to the concert. Children may join or leave only immediately following a concert.
Performances are usually three times per year. Children will not have a lot of memorization and will not have to make a long-term commitment. Any child may take a "vacation" from chorus if he or she wishes to skip a concert, but must rejoin at the beginning of the rehearsals for the next show in which he or she wishes to perform.
Any chorus member wishing to become more involved is welcome to join the group's instrumental ensemble or dancers, which will meet a second day each week. The players and dancers will accompany the chorus. Any chorus member wishing to take on this added role must attend all relevant rehearsals in addition to chorus practice.
Our first concert is scheduled for Wednesday, October 31 and will have a Halloween theme. The exact show times (different for children in first and second lunch hours) will be determined in a few weeks. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions or concerns. We are looking forward to sharing an exciting musical year with you.
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WATCHING CONDUCTOR
10/01 Sometimes I play a game where I hold up two or three fingers or give a thumbs up then I ask all the students to close their eyes and show me the signal I just gave. I'll do that two or three times until I have them looking. The challenge is keeping the students who see it from showing the signal before the eyes close.
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10/01 WATCH THE DIRECTOR!: Our choir was recommended to Provincials last year, so I wanted all 100 bodies watching really well. during a fairly lengthy piece, I had any child with eyes averted, sit down. At the end of the piece, I gave those still standing jelly beans. The second time through, the watching rate increased at least 300%. (and I gave them all jelly beans)Another trick is to play wink. If you see me wink at you wink back.I've put a sticker on my nose. If I catch you watching me through the entire song, you get the sticker
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10/01 I play a game with the kids not relating to conducting but it really gets them watching. When they know a song well, I will stand at the front of the room with my hands open facing them....they sing the song, when I close my fists they sing in their heads. I began this to teach them to sing in their heads but later realized how well they were learning to follow my hands. I start with closing my hands for a phrase at a time...I usually end up only opening my hands on the last word of each phrase....It can get really silly, but they have so much fun! I teach 6th, 7th and 8th grade so I'm sure it will work with 4th and 5th. It's simple and you can use it anytime to fill in spare time.
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COMMUNITY CHORUS
01/04 Cost: $100 ($50 rebate for perfect attendance.) Bursaries are available for children who wish to participate but cannot afford the fee. ATTENDANCE
07/05 Take a piece of foam board and post each child's name on the board by class. Make sure that their names are somewhat close to each side. (We type the names on the computer--print them out in big font--and then stick the paper on with tape.) As each child enters chorus (which is before school) they take a clothespin and clip it on the edge next to their name. Attendance is realtively simple and painless, there are still some that forget....but eventually it becomes routine. Diane Sabourin07/05 MUSIC DISTRIBUTION: Each chorus as students come in , if there is new music to be given out the new music is on a chari or table as they enter. It is each child's responsibility to pick up the new music. if there was music given ot at the last rehearsal that someone may have missed I have another chair or table which titled "previous music' so if they have missed a piece of music they can pick it up without any fuss. -- Sue Michiels
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07/05 MUSIC DISTRIBUTION: I take the first rehearsal of each semester to distribute music. I put all of it in stacks on top of my piano, and call the kids down a row at a time. They pick up one copy of each piece, go back to their seats and put their names on the music. If you use numbers, you could have the kids come and number their own music or line up in their numbered order and take the top copy of music. It can be time consuming, but it gives the kids ownership. I rehearse once a week for 40 minutes, and can usually get the music handed out and parts marked in one rehearsal. -- Ann Berman
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07/05 MUSIC DISTRIBUTION: I have officers of Chorus which I select after consulting with the classroom teachers. These children are not members of the select group that I have. In fact, the fourth grade chorus officers are students who tried out for my select group and didn't get in. It is a great opportunity to give a boost to some kids who really need it. The Presidents of both Choruses formally begin the rehearsals and we applaud. They also make any pertinent announcements that need to be made. My Secretaries check in with the Nurse with their folders (which contain many copies of their particular Chorus list which I give them at the beginning of the year) at lunch/recess time. The nurse checks off the names of anyone who is absent that day. When the Secretary comes in to the rehearsal, she simply hands me the list and I can see at a glance who is absent. It saves so much time. Finally I have four to five Librarians in each chorus. They hand out and collect all of the Music for me. We have four rows on the risers, so each Librarian has a row and sometimes shares a row with another Librarian. They also stamp the music and do any repair work which might be needed (very unusual though). This has worked well for me now for a few years and, as I said, it gives me a chance to give some children some much needed recognition. Kathleen Bragle
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07/05 MUSIC DISTRIBUTION: I have two choirs and have different colored binders that are numbered for each choir. This year I put 5 dividers in each binder and labeled them: warm ups, patriotic, holiday, partner songs, and misc. (I happened to find dividers on clearance for 5 cents a set. I have used old file folders and cut them up for dividers. I had some choirs students stay after choir one day and help me get them labeled.)This has helped keep the music organized and easy to find since I use a lot of MusicK-8 songs and the copies are Xeroxed. I start new music in units and pass it out all at once. I tell the students which divider to to file the music under and it works well for me. I keep the binder at school on a metal library book shelf on wheels next to the door. I also make extra copies of music for the students to put in their student music binders which also has 5 dividers and file their music under songs so they can have a copy of their own at home. JoDee DeanBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************FINDING THEIR SINGING VOICES
06/06 I ask the kids (even my high school ones) to tell me how Santa laughs. They invariably come out with a big deep chesty "Ho Ho Ho." I then ask them how Santa's elves laugh. I get almost always a very high "Ho Ho Ho" or "Hee Hee Hee" I ask them to put their hands on their chests for the Santa laugh and their hands over their masque area for the elves laugh. They ALL feel the vibrations Solfege is also REALLY helping. Every class, every grade, warms up every day with solfege, up and down, with hand signals. I play the starting pitch, ask them to hear it in their heads and keep it in their memory, and wait a few seconds, longer for each. I am amazed at the musical memories of some of my kids. Had a kindergartner today, after waiting about 10 seconds, sing me a perfect, beautiful, middle C "Do" after hearing the pitch. Often though, even after singing me lovely solfege, the younger grades will revert back to their monotone chest voices when singing a song. I notice that at about third grade, singing becomes much more accurate in more kids, so I figure as long as I keep reinforcing with solfege, they'll all get it sooner or later. -- Julie
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10/05 SUGGESTIONS
MMT - Magic Music Tube.1. Make a decorated tube out of an empty laminator roll. These tubes are very durable and won't break. When the child is comfortable with you, talk with him/her in a whisper through the MMT and have him/her whisper back to you. (The rest of the kids will usually be dying to know what you are saying and will usually be very quiet.) When the child is comfortable sing into the tube ever so softly and have him/her try to sing back through the tube. If it works, jump, dance, clap, go nuts with praise! That's the "magic" working!
2. Elvis! Elvis is a yarn ball that I bought at the AOSA Conference in Memphis years ago. Since it was made in Memphis, it was dubbed "Elvis" and consequently all yarn balls are called Elvis. Gently throw Elvis to a child while you sing usually within a third. Have the child gently throw it back while s/he is singing. The voice should follow the path of Elvis. If s/he is accurate with the sound, move on to the next student. If not, you may choose to sing higher and give her/him another try. Keep it moving! This should be done in a game format and no child should even think you are working on skills.
3. Keep the songs in keys that are higher - F & G are just fine unless you are working on SSB. Put our National Anthem in the key of A flat and break the rule of not having the child sing low notes.
4. Scarves - Watch your scarf and sing as high as it can move on your finger.
5. Keep your own singing example very light and childlike. No vibrato!
6. Avoid the use of the piano with young children. The tempered instrument may interfere with the ear's perception of pitch. A Capella singing is much desired. No CD, no piano - just the sound of children's voices. As John Feieraband says, "Sing for the children, not with the children." If you are singing, they are listening; if they are singing, you are listening.
Since singing is developmental, the child may not sing accurately on pitch for several years. One of my favorite posters proclaims, "Never, never EVER give up!" My own "son" who is an incredible pianist and musician could not sing as a child, and nothing his mother, teachers, nor I could do worked. (Talk about frustration!!) When he was in high school he was the choir accompanist and his high school teacher was able to find and develop his beautiful singing voice. He is now Minister of Music in a large church - teaching others to sing beautifully! - Cak
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10/05 LISTEN TO YOURSELF! I use a flexible tube that I call the "magic music tube". You'd probably have to think of something better for older students! What I have is the old, washed tubing that I use with my CPAP machine, but a piece of PVC should work, too. I have them hold one end to an ear and sing into the other end. It helps them hear themselves. Then we talk about sending the voice up to the "ping" point on the roof of their mouths. Sometimes the combination of hearing themselves and the imagery helps them. I sympathize because many of my students have the same problem. Monica in Tennessee
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11/03 GEORGIE THE GIRAFFE: Kindergarteners and 1st graders (no music for district K's last year)--Georgie the Giraffe got very excited and uncontrollable when students sang very well. He would come running across the room and snuggle a good singer during games that involved solos. He also gave a gentle kiss on the cheek to kids who tried hard but still needed to improve.
The results were amazing! The kids loved him and the timid or mentally unfocused singers took leaps forward in quality. One previously disengaged/challenging student insisted that I keep trying with him so that he could get a chance to be snuggled. Unfortunately, he didn't get a snuggle, but his singing voice made its first appearance and he got a kiss from Georgie. I told him that if he kept working like that, Georgie would give him a huge snuggle when he got good. His eyes lit up and he promised to work "very" hard. In contrast to struggles I've had with him during all previous classes, I "had him" for the rest of the class period.
The cute part was that after we went on to another activity, the students were still very concerned that Georgie continue to sit up and join the class (he kept falling over). In the rest of my K/1st classes, I quickly learned I had to put him back in his bag because, "he got too excited by all your good singing, so he needs to rest and take a nap." -- Contributed by Beth in AZ
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09/03 VOCAL ROLL CALL: We do vocal roll call at the beginning of each class. They get progressively more difficult as the year goes on. By fifth, they can do it right on the money with one vocal chord tied by their back. In third, we draw pictures of the "terrain" of the pitches and move our hands in the direction of the pitches as we sing the solfege. The improvement from 1st to 2nd semester is amazing. Even they can tell. - Contributed by Andrea Cope
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07/03 FEEL THE VIBES: I have the kids place their hands on their chests when they use their" chest voice" and they feel the vibrations. With their hand still on their chests, they then sing in their "head voice"..... No vibrations. This is a "real" way of "feeling" the difference. With my kids, this does make sense of the two terms. We do a lot of "pulling the notes out of the top of our head". We put one hand over our head and "pretend" to pull. Sirens, also, using the slide whistle. Kids also love "howling' like wolves and about this time the principal walks in. Contributed by Patricia Albritton
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08/02 SPEAKING TO SINGING VOICE; If your trying to help a child get out of speaking range and into singing voice, you might like these ideas better:
1. Have kids say "Yee hah" or "Yabba dabba doo" or anything that encourages excitement and energy.
2. Tell the child he/she is singing in "the basement" and have them bring their voice up "the elevator."
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10/01 FIRETRUCK GAME; [This] has worked very successfully for my kids. I enlarged a clip art fire truck, colored it with markers, laminated it, pasted it on corregated cut to shape, tied a long string through a hole punched in the top, and looped the string around a hook on the top of my blackboard. I pull the string to moderately-slowly move the fire truck up and down and the kids use their hands and voices to follow the up/down motion of the fire truck. It gets them into those beautiful singing voices. I do it regularly and if I forget they remind me! I do other little exercises in the activity like: stopping the fire truck's position and singing a short phrase on that 'note' ("you sound very nice", etc) which they answer in kind. When they get good at really following the fire truck I choose one or two a day to pull the fire truck.I've had more success with the fire truck than with the 'owl' or 'wind' exercises.
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10/01 MR. MICROPHONE: When I want to listen to each child sing alone, I get out Mr. Microphone, (a small gong mallet) and I go around the room singing "No More Pie," by Ella Jenkins. This is an echo song with very short phrases.
Oh, my! I want a piece of pie The pie's too sweet I want a piece of meat etc.
With every phrase, first I sing into Mr. Mike then I point it to a child. I walk right up to them, not from a distance. Usually, the child not only sings right away, but tries to hold the "mike" like a pro! Occasionally, a child refuses to sing, so I just go right on to the next one with no comment. They think it's a game and I get my evaluations done--fast.
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10/01 LADYBUG! I wanted to add a ladybug song to those we do in 2nd grade as they study insects in their classrooms. It is intended as a pitch-matching and a steady-beat activity and has a strong feeling of 2. The bean bag took about an hour to make. For instruments, I use several kinds of unpitched percussion that we don't usually use in 2nd grade, such as the agogo bells (sp?), a small African drum, the large cabasa, etc. The "rhythms" are anything appropriate to what the class is able to read/perform.
Materials needed(if doing the game):
-Ladybug bean bag. 2 or 3 hula hoops, boes,
or simply spaces marked on the floor.
-An instrument for each hoop + a pair of rhythm sticks
-Rhythm visuals, such as "ta ta ti-ti ta", to direct what is to be played on the instrument
Process: Sing both verses of song while passing "ladybug" around the class circle on the beat. (the beat is the dotted quarter note) Student with bug on last word, "back," gets to throw for the hoops. If the bug doesn't make it into any of the marked spaces, the rhythm sticks are the "consolation" instrument.
After playing, the student rejoins the singers in the circle, but passes on the turn if the "bug" lands on them.
Song: 6/8 meter, move it in 2. All pitches are on eighth notes except for a dotted quarter at the end of each phrase. (4 in song)
Tune: s m l s m l \ f m r s___ \ s m l s m l \ f m r d___\
(repeat)
Lyrics: (v.1) Ladybug, ladybug, where is your home? Where are your children, and why do you roam?
(v.2) Ladybug, ladybug, wings red and black; Spread them in flight now, and do not come back.
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10/01 DRAW IN THE AIR: I have kinders draw the first letter of their name in the air with their finger. While drawing, the kids make the sound of the shape of the letter. For instance, if it starts high in the air, the sound is high. A letter like M will go low, high, low, high, low. We make the sound as a class the first several times we do it. As they get more secure, the kids make the sound of their letter by themselves. The kids love it. You may have to draw the letters on the board to give them a model.
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VOICE MAPS: I drew "voice maps" with markers on construction paper last year, and the kids loved it! They followed the direction of the lines on the paper with their voices...sometimes the lines were connected, sometimes they were disjointed, sometimes it was just dots all over the place! I made sure to explore various pitches, staying the same, loud and soft, etc., etc. The kids loved playing with their voices like that and still ask for the "voice game."
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TOY MICROPHONES: Ever seen one of those toy microphones that are an echo chamber for your voice? They are not electric and they have some kind of metal in them that reverberates the voice back. I like to use them on my kindergarteners. They loved it today (the four-year-olds) I did Greg & Steve's "Say Hello" and used the mike on the echo parts. That worked very well! The mikes are not expensive, you can get them at any toy store. Great for checking for tonality in the voices and stuff like that.
(I second this. These are the greatest. I got one years back at the dollarstore. Even the reluctant singers will sing into one of those....about the best $ I've ever spent!)
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BOOK: I like to do this with the dePaola book Teeny Tiny at Halloween time. Lots of opportunities to "Oooooo" each time a ghost is seen on a page and to say "teeny tiny" in a teeny tiny voice. I tie a tissue around a balled up tissue and tie with a string and add big black eyes for ghosts. I keep a bucket full and each child has his own to move with the ghost sound. I also made a ghost mask fastened onto a foam plate with eyeholes and let an especially shy child lead the ghost sounds by pointing out the hiding ghosts. I used some of my PTO money last year to have several pages copied onto color transparencies. My school librarian assured me that that is OK for teaching purposed if you do not copy the entire book. This book is small so transparencies are a big help and we can do it in the DARK!
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KAZOOS: If you are into storage items I used to make kazoos from toilet tissuerolls and store them in paper bags. The kids like making them(One ofthe few things they thought I was so smart about-would you believe?)And it would help those that were somewhat shy about using their singing voices. I used mostly in 2nd and 3rd grades.You might wantto keep for only 3-4 weeks but by then the "glamour" has wore off.OH, I meant the kids made them, I just stored them and then made a big deal about sending them home.
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FIND YOUR SINGING VOICE: One thing that's worked for me has been using a variety of stories and poems where the students can vocalize/sing at various points. Examples (off the top of my head) are:
John Feierabend poems about "Cowboy Joe" & "The Giant Ice Cream Sundae";
"Georgie the Ghost" stories;
"Mr Wiggle and Mr. Waggle"
"The Gunniwolf" (Wilhemina Harper version)
Songs about the wind like "The Wind Blew East"
Have students sing a song like a puppy, kitten, etc.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************FUN PROJECTS
HIGHER, FASTER, STRONGER (Taking off on the Olympic motto) I had for our theme "Higher, Faster, Longer". Each student chose a category to compete in and were judged on how high or how long (in one breath) they could sing or how fast they could sing a selected tongue twister. I think I used something like Peter Piper for the speed contest. Student judges were used for some parts of the competition with the requisite score cards to hold up. Gold, silver and bronze medals (from yellow, grey and brown construction paper) were presented in each category. And all this in one lesson! With the Olympics just over a week away it may provide a short diversion.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************HEAD VOICE
12/11 Watch and re-watch Kathie Hill's YouTube videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/KathieHillMusic She has some great info in different videos. I'm not sure if she is on this list - if she is, Thank You! I have been watching these and passing the ideas on to my students.
- Warm up with a small ball (tennis ball etc). This is great especially for getting boys to use their head voice: Stand in a circle, throw the ball from one person to another. As the ball moves, follow it with your voice like a siren or a "wooo" sound. I find this particularly good for the older students who haven't had much instruction in singing, or think that all songs are "too high" for them. - Ask the students to send their notes over your head. You can liken it to throwing a basketball into the hoop. Aim up and over! - Talk about the difference between head/chest/talking voices. I even do this with the little ones so they realize that singing is different to talking. ---- Jayne in CA
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12/07 FEIERABEND VOCAL EXPLORATION BOOK: Look in the Feierabend Vocal Exploration Book or his new Vocal Kit that has ghost and whale puppets and plenty of toys.
Lillie Feierabend is always demonstrating the use of a pipe cleaner. Bend it into a shape and follow the shape with your voice.
Attach a streamer to a superball and have the kids first follow you moving the streamer using their voice on oooo or ahhh. Then Toss the ball (not too far) into the air for some real fun as it bounces.
Use a bean bag. Toss the bean bag to one child. They use their voice when they throw it back to you.
Flashlights can be fun. Have them follow the light with their voice.
Simple line drawings are a big hit with my second graders. Just make various continuous line drawings and then follow the lines.
Elevators work very well. Then have the kids demonstrate individually as you tell them which floor to go to. -- Tim Adams
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12/07 WHO HOOT?!: Have her hoot like an owl in higher range. Add pitch to those hoots after a couple of minutes. You can even have her sing a descending scale. I give voice lessons and it has worked on several students who like to sing in their chest voice all the time. - Jason
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12/07 FLOAT YOUR VOICE: I've used images like trying to tippy-toe to reach something versus having an elevator to get you up there. Also, this year I thought of a hot air balloon, which can do nothing without air to support it. I'm somewhat of a photographer, and have taken some pics of a balloon. So I printed a 9x12 of the balloon and let the kids' voices float up and down with the balloon. I even had a poster made, wit the caption "Let your voice float on air." Kindergarten colored a balloon picture. Then we had an obstacle course, of sorts. i put the trash can, a tissue box, my stool, and a few barred instruments around the room. The kids could let their balloon float over the obstacles, with their voices as passengers. They loved it, and still refer to their balloon voices.
I made six [line drawings] including some with dots, to make a BOOP BOOP sound, instead of a big long BOOOOOOOO. I use them as flashcards, then turn them upside down, talk about how they look different now, and do them again. Finally, using magnets on my white board, I have kids volunteer to hook them together, so that line follows line, connecting the patterns into one long one. They think really hard about how they want theirs to wound. It's fun to watch the concentration.
Regarding the Mickey Mouse voices being too silly for older kids, mine usually enjoy going back to their 2nd childhood. They'll do anything if I say, "I won't make you do this; it's silly little kid stuff." They beg for it. --- Kay in GA
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12/07 START ON THEIR PITCH [This] sometimes helps. Let them pick a song and start it. Then, you join in.Gives you an idea of where their natural range lies. Then, maybe try some vocalises starting from that range. Or, maybe ask, "Great! Can you sing that song starting here?" -- and move it up a 1/2 step. Then, again. I've had guys going through "the change of life"--you know--about 13 or 14 year old--:-) to be able to begin the process of matching pitch in this way. -- Pat Boozer
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12/07 MICKEY: One way I teach head voice with the younger crowd (elementary) is to describe it like the Mickey or Minnie Mouse voice, then I talk to them in that light, high voice and get them to talk back to me and to each other like that, just getting the feel for it. I think it would work with certain older crowds, especially if they're okay with being silly. Actually, I wouldn't judge - I'd just go for it and let them think it's "totally dumb,” but they'll be laughing by the end of it, anyway. Kids like to act silly. -- Beth in CA
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12/07 It may sound silly, but I have a little spotted dog (stuffed) who is named "Spotty" (such an imaginative name.) He has a high voice (me in falsetto) and he loves to have conversations with the kids. Of course, he can only understand them if they speak as high as he does. He also likes to demonstrate the correct placement of high notes. If the kids are having trouble getting up there, I'll ask, "How would Spotty sing it?" If we're singing and the kids are forgetting to use their head voices, all I have to do is hold Spotty up and that serves as a reminder to 95% of the kids. Even my 5th graders buy into this! They're very tolerant of my idiosyncrasies! -- Steve Daigle
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12/07 IDEAS: Sometimes, I mask my instructional goal if kids are resistant to something they perceive as "babyish" or "girly". Reading a poem which requires different voices can create a "diversion"- where the need to dramatically represent the text, rather than the head voice, becomes the point. I use some Laban terms I got from my first levels course w/ Linda Ahlstedt (please request details if you want them...). Trying to decide whether the poem's text indicates a "float" rather than a "wring" opens students up to some very dense comprehension discussions, while also teaching students to stretch their vocal range expressively- good for all subjects. Adding p, f, cresc., decresc. is a good extension and dynamics review. I also find the "non-example" idea very effective- singing in an obnoxious and nasal "Hannah Montana" tone (forgive me, Disney enthusiasts) , then in the ideal light tone. We use "elevators" in PK, K, 1st grade. Once established, the desired sound seems to stick, become habitual. -- Becky Dougan
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11/01 FINDING HEAD VOICE: Talk in a high hooty voice-like Mrs. Doubtfire. Talk out of your eyeballs. Lots of sirens and sighs. Feel for vibration when you talk low-feel it in your chest. Feel it in your neck for a regular speaking voice. Try to feel it somewhere in your head. Siren while throwing an invisible baseball. Shoot a basketball the right way-up and over. Same thing with your voice.
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11/01 THE LOVELY PRINCESS: Do you know the story of the Lovely Princess? I don't know where this came from but all my students love to perform this story and they have to use open vowels and head voice to do it. It is the tale of the Lovely Princess(all say ooooo) and the handsome prince (aahhh) . You really have to see the charts but if you are familiar with this one, its a winner!
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11/01 USE ENGLISH ROYAL ACCENT: Have the child pretend s/he is the queen of England - speak in that high, put-on, veddy veddy brrrrritish accent....----------
11/01 Sound effects work with some kids. for example: dd
ghost sounds (have kid mimic your example) that cause the kid to slide gently up into his/her upper reg. siren sounds too.
animals: "ba-by bird, ba-by bird" (ti-ti ta ti-ti ta) in high pitched voice
"BIG BIRD, BIG BIRD" (ta ta ta ta) in low voice.
"tin-y mouse, tin-y mouse"
ELEPHANT, ELEPHANT
showing it written like that in print and/or picture form might help him/her visualize the difference too. a homemade book with pictures and words would be a good visual.
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LIGHTER AND HIGHER: To get them to think and sing in a lighter, higher register I had a volunteer pretend we were meeting for the first time. I asked this child (usually a boy) what he had eaten for breakfast or lunch or what homework project he had been involved in last night (something that wasn't exceptionally exciting). The student usually answered in his/her low range voice. Then, I would either ask the student something to make an excited answer or tell them something like, "Well, XXXX, for being my demonstrator, I will make sure that you have the next three days off from school! What will you do during those three days?" Every single child answered with a bright, smiling face with their eyebrows raised and a higher, lighter voice. The class noticed IMMEDIATELY that there was a change. I continued by having each of them try it with a partner, etc., The 3rd graders this week remembered it from last week! Just an aside...I used it with my adult church choir last week so they could reach the higher notes (basses and altos were having a difficult time) and it worked!
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JULIA CHILD: I used to have the students mimic Julia Child. . . . .they would wonder to whom you are referring. Next best person to use ---- Mrs. Doubtfire. . . .show portions of the movie to hear her voice.
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WHO HOOTS?: I do some 'hooting' exercises (like hoot owls) to get the kids to feel the open head. We do sirens, fire engines, blowing leaves (you're walking in the fall leaves, the wind comes along and ...whooo!) to get the idea of the voice moving up and down. I talk about the high, light voice, and play examples of boys singing high as well.
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SONG: The song "Right Now" is a good example of switching off between head and chest voice. When I used that finally most of the kids "got it." It was in last year's Music K8(10-1). You can also teach the kids to yodel---switching back and forth between head and chest voice. Most of them just have to experience what the difference is.
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RELAX YOUR JAW! If your jaw is not relaxed and open so that your soft palate lifts - then you are going to have problems going up in your head voice - so I tell kids to pop their ears to release the pressure and then your jaw drops down - also for open throat, I use "what you do" if you swallow a piece of "hot potato"
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YOO HOO: I sing-say it nice and high and so silly... waving! They echo. I do this at the beginning of a song or I'll stop a song when they are singing very heavily and they know what I'm driving home...head voice! Here kitty, kitty kitty! We look for the hidden kitty in the room. When someone finds it, they sing, "I found the kitty!" (So Mi La So Mi) Soo-eeeeeeeeeeeeee...callin' a hog. This is a crack up, but it works! Sirens starting at the top and going down and up over and over..."Show me that you're ready!" I sing it on Do-Do Re-Re Mi Do...kind of a swing style. I sing this at any time during the class period where I want to get their attention. I will sing it, they echo and then sing it again 1/2 step higher, the echo and so on..
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WHOOP, WHOOP! I have children use their hands to circle above their heads while doing a very high-pitched "whoop-whoop" sound like a siren. Then, a circle about face-high doing a medium-pitched "whoo-whoo" and then about waist side with a low-pitched "whoa-whoa". I also have them bend at the waist and do the high-pitched "whoop-whoop" with their heads down low so they can feel the sound in their heads. I also have them put their pointer finger on their foreheads, as if pointing to themselves, and "sing into your finger". I have had good luck with these activities.
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CONEHEADS: I tell my students to try to make themselves into "Coneheads"(?), aiming the sound towards the top of their heads. I also emphasize the need to control with the stomach muscles and say" Sing from your soul to the next room". I've also heard of teachers who try to get their kids to imagine the voice being pulled up from a string. For open throat, I tell them to feel the "Cool Peppermint Patty sensation" when they breathe in (Got that one from Jan Gippo, the St. Louis Symphony piccolo player, at least the part of feeling like you've just eaten a mint when you breathe in).
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THROW A FRISBEE: We pretend we're throwing imaginary frisbees. When the frisbee is close to the ground, we sing low. When it's in the air, we sing high. You end up with almost a siren sound as you imagine the frisbee arcing. Then we place two fingers gently on the voice box. You can feel a strong vibration on the low sound, but it just about disappears on the high sound. By using their fingers, they can test themselves to be sure they're in head voice, because the "tickle" diminishes. They think it's a magic trick.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************VOICE LESSONS
SUGGESTIONS: I think that a talk with the parents would be a good start. I think that at first he needs to just sing, working on pitch, enunciation, phrasing (and breath control), and expressiveness. Combine that weekly with ear training, i.e., solfa, and some rhythm reading. Then, continue with some songs in Italian and/or Latin so he can start working with the vowels there. Somewhere along the line, you can also recommend some YouTube videos for him to watch and critique - good and bad examples would be appropriate, so he can start working with critiquing. Maybe do one together every other week. Finding out his preferred style of songs and his personal singing goals are also necessary. ---- Martha Stanley
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Lost Voice (Teacher), Vocal Problems www.voiceofyourlife.comBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************LOST VOICE (Teacher)
06/09 ROOM ACOUSTICS: consider the acoustics in your room and what you could do to improve them! I teach in a nice sized room with concrete walls and tiled flooring! Over Christmas break, my dad donated a huge fluffy rug to my classroom (he works for a flooring company.) The change in the acoustics was dramatic! I love it because the noise level is a lot softer now and I've found that I can talk quieter with my kids and they listen more attentively! The rug takes up about half of the room (it's about 14 feet by 20 feet) and the kids do movement/sit on that side and the other side is set up with Orff instruments on top of my old carpet (the colored square carpet from Lakeshore) --- RaeAnna Goss
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SPEAKING: Practice your speaking at a time other than when you are teaching. When I did vocal rehab, the therapist had me work on speaking out on a breath and speaking in shorter phrases so that I always had enough air. Also, try pitching your tone a step or two higher than your normal speaking voice. A recent study has shown that American women are speaking in a lower register than they used to. I know we don't wan't to sound like breathy little girls, but perhaps we can rise up a bit! --- Good luck.Monica in Tennessee
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12/07 KEEPING YOUR VOICE WARMED UP:
“THROAT COAT”:I like to sip a tea called Throat Coat when I have "down time" between solos and/or leading hymns. I keep it in a thermos. I get mine from Trader Joes or Wild Oats. Look in your local health food stores or health good section. It has a black licorice flavor to it which I like. Hope this helps! Todd Hansen
Amen to Throat Coat. It's saved many a performance for me. Kroger carries it in their health food section and I know I've seen it several other places. If you don't like licorice, it may not be for you,though. -- Cynthia Coulson
I find that having a bottle of room temperature water helps. I am the asst. music director at my church and when I have to sing at weddings, funerals, and in the church service I keep that bottle near and sneak a drink in while I am waiting. -- Jason Skanes
WARNING RE: “Throat Coat” -- However, one of the ingredients (not the slippery elm bark), the licorice I think, is really well-understood to raise blood pressure. So if you are needing to watch the ol' BP, Throat Coat is NOT for you. - Martha Stanley
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06/07 COMMUNICATE: My little ones love it when I don't talk at all. Sometimes I just do it to get their attention. I use big movements and gestures to get them to respond orally or visually to situations such as...Play up on the step bells and give a thumbs up ascending gesture. Use down and repeat as well. Then begin to gesture for them to respond in a similar fashion to your playing. You can teach movements to songs this way, and even play instruments with the echo game. When they don't do what you want, just give the big STOP gesture and the WATCH gesture and demonstrate again. They will think it’s a game and eventually figure out what you want. Point out the kid who already has it figured out to speed things along. As you may already know, gestures can go a looong way with the little ones! -- Sarah Walley
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06/06 ACTIVITY 1. I created 3 little signs which I keep on the board next to the door. They tell the students where to go when they come in the door. (Make rows, a circle, or find their movement spots) As they enter the door, I merely point to the sign & begin our greeting song (a known song). I try not to sing more than the first phrase, the students sing the rest until I cut them off.
2. I try not to sing "with the students", but "for the students" (in the words of John Feierabend). They have learned to listen better to themselves when all they have to rely on is themselves.
3. I use my alto recorder to play the melody if I am unable to sing it. If there is a student who has it figured out, I have them model. They respond better to another child's modeling anyway:)
4. I require absolute silence while giving directions. Instead of asking them to be quiet, I begin mirroring exercises-those that are busy still working, or talking to their neighbor figure out quite soon that the others are doing something else to keep busy. If that doesn't work, the 1 or 2 that are talking simply need to be tapped on the shoulder.
5. My PTO bought me a portable headphone microphone & speakers. It's small, portable, and has literally saved my teaching career. When given the choice between having a substitute for 3 months or spending a few hundred dollars they chose to spend a few hundred dollars:) Now our district is busy trying to purchase these for all of our music & PE teachers in the district-what a difference it has made for all of us!
6. I, too, sat down & had a discussion with every class about what was happening. I showed them pictures of vocal cords & how they work.
7. I do a lot more group work & give them time to work on improvisations or creating unpitched percussion parts for a story. I record the story ahead of time, then play the recording so I don't have to read the story in every class:) -- Joan Eckroth-Riley NDMEA President-Elect
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06/06 ACTIVITY: If you have xylophones, keyboards, or recorders, you could certainly teach them by rote and have them echo back or practice on their own. Go around and show your "play for me" sign.
How about a children's book that is read by a CD? The Jazz Fly by Michael Gollub and the Animal Boogie. -- Rhonda Schilling
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06/06 ACTIVITY(with lost voice) for K-2: Find a "prop" in your closet of tricks--I have a wand with a puffy star at the end with silver metallic streamers hanging down. This will be your way of selecting a student. (Other students may be selected by the student who just had a turn or by you.) Let the kids know of your problem--maybe let the classroom teacher tell them (communicate by note or whisper). Also let them know you're going to "play an echo game" or make up a name. Get 2 drums (or any percussion). Tap a student and motion with your finger for them to come up to the front. Hand him/her a drum. Point to your ear as a signal for him to "listen." Tap a 4 beat rhythm on your drum and wait. If he doesn't catch on, tap your rhythm again. Usually in an Orff type classroom, it will come naturally. Tap a 2nd rhythm. He echoes. Then, smile and reward him/her with a hand stamp and either let him "annoint" another student or you can do it. You can assess at the same time they have fun and with the silence, they will probably be better behaved than if you were telling them what to do and giving verbal positive feedback instead of a smile and a stamp.-- Pat Boozer
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12/05 NO TALK DAY: For the bands, the point is that we can get a lot communicated through music and motions WITHOUT words. I had "Welcome to No Talking Day" signs on the door and board and most of the kids didn't talk either. Sometimes it was part charades/part pictionary, but most of the time, everything was communicated with facial expressions, body language, some sign language. -- Greta Probst
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11/01 TEACHER WITH PARKINSONS: I use a wireless mike system all the time as I have Parkinson's Disease and my vocal chords are affected. It makes quite a difference. The school district will pay for it as part of the American Disabilities Act. You just need a note from your doctor. If you were in a wheelchair they would have to modify the building with ramps, etc. My system has 4 speakers in my classroom and a separate mike for the multipurpose room where I have my chorus rehearsals. My system is Phonic Ear PE 300T Easy Listener. I also take Prevacid for GERT which I have because of the weakness of my muscles in my throat. Believe it or not I teach 26 classes a week, against my doctor's orders and live each day to the fullest. The kids know something is wrong with me and though I have tremors I still manage to function. I received this life sentence at age 45. At that time I had laryngitis for 6 months and doctors couldn't figure it out. I was sent to an oncologist who mad the diagnosis after scoping my throat. I wish you all the best. Have you tried speech therapy? It worked for me
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11/10 TIPS AT WEBSITES: Lots of good singer tips AND medical info. http://www.wfubmc.edu/voice/
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10/05 IDEAS: Here are some things I've done in the past.
1)I made up 8x11 signs...big lettering...just with marker, that say: Please sit down Line Up Play for Me Repeat etc....
2)I use the lights a lot to signal things. They all know when the lights go out to look over to me.
3)You could try doing: Bingo games - Listening maps Coloring and listening -
4)I just love Classical cats for the K/1's Computers?
5)Do you have at least 1 with internet access and availability of a projector? Keyboards Xylophones - demo patterns and have them practice and put together.
6)Use chimes or something to cue when to start and stop
7)You could also make up signs that say....Make up a pattern, make sure it does x, y, and z...etc.. Rhonda in WI
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PRODUCT: LARYLGAN: Search as many pharmacies as you have to for a product called Larylgan. You spray it down your throat and, voila, you have a voice at least for a while. Accept no substitutes!!
A hot toddy with cayenne pepper
A friend of mine who is a jazz vocalist with a huge range, swears that ginger (about a tablespoon of fresh grated in herb tea or warm water) is great for the throat. It may not be as intense on the vocal chords as cayenne. Also lots and lots of water.
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GARGLE, DON'T STRAIN: Our specialist told us to gargle 3-5 times daily with a warm water and salt or baking soda solution during and approaching our busy seasons. The gargling simply disallows any bacteria to grow and additionally neutralizes strong irritable sinus drips so that these simply cannot be the cause of your laryngitus. Avoid straining your vocals and the rest is history. So far in the past three years we haven't been able to prove him wrong. He also informed us that people who suffer from severe heartburn fall into the same category due to the secretion of strong stomach acids into the back of the throat. The baking soda formula is more effective in this case as you can actually swallow an ounce or so of the solution when you're finished gargling.
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TEA: THROAT COAT: made by Traditional Medicinals and is usually available in most health food stores. I have severe allergies but have had incredible results since I started drinking this tea before a sing.
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Medrol Dose Pak
Eat an apple
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PROJECTING VOICE: When I "hint" about singing out, I choose not to use those words because students think "sing out" and "loud" are one and the same. I usually say "Everyone zip yourself up--using the motion of zipping a coat." This gets their bodies in good position. "Now, get the support you need from your "gut"--they like that word! I then tell them it's really their diaphram.
I suggest that they control their air so that it is a stream of air that can come all the way to the front of the room and "hit" me. They like the idea of getting to hit me and not get into trouble. (Ha!) We then practice not supporting our air by blowing a "loose" stream of air--warm air. We then support our air stream into a small stream--producing cool air. "This steam can go where you want it to go! You are now the boss of your airstream!" They love being the boss of anything! This seems to work with my students. Anytime they see me "zipping my coat" during a song, they know they have lost the correct sitting position for good airstreams. Another good practice to verify this idea is to give each student a feather. Ask the student to keep the feather in the air using warm air--(non supported air). Of course, it can't be done. Then tell them to use the air that they can boss around--small stream--cool air. Now they can see how they can boss their air around. Hope this helps. I also tell them to think of lifting their waist (bring tummies up toward the ceiling) when they need to support their airstream.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************HEARING DIFFICULTY (Teacher)
PLUGS: I found my musicians' earplugs in the Shar catalog; and they probably can be found on line. Shar is a string instrument company. The earplugs were about $15 and work well....filtering sounds, not eliminating them. --- Mary Bourn, New Mexico
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PLUGS: I went to the audiologist and they created a form for my specific ear canal, then made the earplugs to fit exactly inside my ear. While wearing them, sound is almost normal (just a bit muffled) until anything gets over 80 decibels (I think that is correct, there are different frequencies and you can choose what level you want), then they shut down and protect your ear drum. So when the noise level is below damaging, the ear plugs sit in the ear canal and you can hear almost normally. Just when it gets loud do they protect the ear and filter out the damaging frequencies. Oh, and I paid ALOT more - about $180 a pair. I definitely would have tried your kind before investing in the ones I bought. However, my accountant said it was perfectly legal to write them off on my taxes, so I guess I got some of that back. And, you can not see them if you are looking at me - they are clear and have a teeny tiny microchip inside of them that sits inside the ear. Interesting technology! Making the forms for the ear plugs was spooky, though. They pour warm liquid-ish wax into your ears and you have to wait until it hardens (about 6 long minutes). I really had to fight my anxiety that I was going deaf. And then I kept thinking "what if the wax doesn't come out when it hardens?" Of course, it came out. --- PattyO in AR
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EAR PLUGS: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Hearos-High-Fidelity-Ear-Filters?sku=421214BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************HOW LONG SHOULD STUDENTS REHEARSE?
12/03 JUMP AROUND: One thought is, instead of working on one song and then the next song, and so on - - To jump around. Do the last part of a song, really drill it over five or six times. Then abandon that song, and go to the middle of another song - - wherever there might be a problem. drill that a little bit. Just jump from song to song, never doing anything for very long.
Then do an exercise song - - - either jumping up on a certain word and sitting back down on another, or throwing hands up into the air on the certain word and back down on another - - anything to pump up a little bit - - "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes," or something like that.
One organizational tool we have used with large groups is to get an assortment of party favors/ cheap gifts/whatever, and have all the kids sign a slip of paper and put the names in a box. After an exercise song or break time, to get them settled back down to work, draw two or three names out of the box and give them a "prize."
Then, consider how long it will take to sing straight through all the songs, and, that much time before the end of rehearsal, go straight through every song. - Contributed by Carol Cantrell
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12/03 SING-COLOR-SING....I came up with this idea to review program songs with my class of 12 EMI students yesterday: I had some extra copies of a ditto of a string of Christmas light bulbs. They were each given a paper and a dish of crayons. Each time we sang through a song, they would then sit down and color one lightbulb. As soon as they finished, they'd stand and we'd go through it again. It gave them a chance to move, made the repetitions less tedious.
After about the 3rd time, they automatically would sit down and color another bulb without me saying a word. It was so cute to see them giggling and coloring and standing up and singing and sitting down and giggling and coloring. The 30 minutes flew by and we accomplished a lot. - Contributed by Janet in MI COMPETE! I hold all-school singing practices each Tuesday for 30 minutes each. When I can tell the children are tired and fading out on me, I try a little competition between the left side and the right side, or between certain age levels. "Okay, all of you on this side, you really deserve a rest. For now, just listen while the other side sings..." Then switch, and ask the other group if they can do better. Then demonstrate how WONDERFUL the sound is when both sides sing together again. Even though some children are supposedly "resting" they are still hearing the song and your directions, and learning in spite of themselves. Maybe this would work for you also. The question is...will YOUR voice -- Contributed by Ellen in Flordia
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12/03 VARY ROUTINE: there are ways you could vary the rehearsals to keep the kids engaged and still accomplish the goals of learning the music.
1. Are you using accompaniment cds/tapes? or will the kids be accompanied by the piano?
2. Are you rehearsing in an auditorium with risers, a classroom, hall, gym, where? Are there chairs, desks, etc.?
.3. How many kids are we talking about actually?
4. Are they using music (ie looking at print music), reading from projected notation off a screen, or learning by rote?
5. Is food allowed in the rehearsal area?
First off, I would plan to rehearse no longer than 30 min. at a time in any given chunk. Consider blocking out your rehearsals as follows:
30 min. rehearsal
15 min. break
30 min. rehearsal
15 min. break
30 min. rehearsal
I'd see if healthy snacks could be allowed during one of the breaks (ie raisins, grapes, bananas, etc.) along with byo bottled water.
If you're using some recorded accompaniments, let the kids sit one out and listen to the demo track w/o singing, then singing along. Or, for some physical movement to get their energy up, pick out a few key words from the song, ask them to answer to these words by standing up and sitting down, standing up and spinning around once then sitting down, freezing into a statue until the next key word and freeze into a dift. statue, etc. Encourage them to sing along. Then run the song normally with them singing along.
One fun thing I've done in longer rehearsals, is announce a secret word (something you'd say fairly often during rehearsal like "listen"). Then tell them all that anytime you use that word, they are to interrupt whatever they're doing and sing "weeeeee" with hands up and fingers shimmering. Then make sure to use the secret word several times, emphasizing it as needed to see who's on the ball. Sometime you may say it and forget about it being the secret word. The kids will respond and surprise YOU! (Pee Wee Herman did this on his weekly show years ago). - Contributed by Gretchen in ILBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************MALE TEACHER VOICE
1207 I am an Elementary Music Teacher of the Male variety. Can I just say I thoroughly enjoy it, too? FALSETTO: My students this year have this idea that singing high is for girls and all boys should sing low. You may be singing in your falsetto voice a while, until they get over the idea that they sound girly. I use mine every time I teach a rote song (my turn your turn) and the pitch accuracy I get back is greatly improved. Now, when I'm just modeling a song ("I'm going to sing this for you; listen for xxx.") I use my normal singing voice - just so they don't forget that I have one or what the timbre of an adult male voice is.
I find that my K's have a very hard time "matching" pitches at the octave. If I say "sing this - lu" (insert pitch around G3) I get gravely K voices trying their hardest to get down to G3 rather than a beautiful G4 pitch. However, when I say "Oh, silly me, let's try this - lu" (insert falsetto G4) - I get the G4 pitch. -- Stephen Wight
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10/05 VIDEO There is a great video in the AOSA video library--John Feierabend on teaching little kids to sing. I'm not sure of the title, but I think it's the only one of his is the collection. It's aimed at pre-school kids, but I used his ideas with my k-2 kids and they work. One of the best things I learned from JF is: When learning a new song, sing it for the kids several times over a couple of sessions before allowing them to sing it. If they have heard it enough, they (95%) will naturally sing it in their own singing voice. When a kid still has trouble use another child as a model. I also use my falsetto from time to time. When a child tries to sing too high as a response to this, I explain that their singing voice is like a helium balloon and is too high and they should "grab the string and pull it down." this last suggestion is from a book by Helen Kemp (published by Choristers Guild: www.choristersguild.org) where she has suggestions for all types of uncertain singers. -- Alan Purdum
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SUGGESTIONS: 1. Although it is difficult to sing in falsetto for any length of time, a few times at first can be useful. My students usually have never heard a man sing before they come to me. I tell them that I have a lower voice than they do and demonstrate both my regular (tenor) singing and in falsetto. After that they usually only need to hear me sing falsetto occasionally for short periods of time. I also demonstrate the difference on the piano. Sometimes playing the notes they sing on the piano while I sing along also gets the idea across. The important thing is to explain why the voices are different and insist they sing in head voice at all times.
2. Using prerecorded CDs of children's voices also helps get them to hear what they should sound like. I use the Cds with my series sometimes even though I can play the piano just to get them to hear the correct sound. Then they sing acapella or with the piano by themselves.
3. I think it is also important to get students to try to sing as much as possible without my help. They learn faster if they try to sing a song even before they know it well.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************VOCAL NODES, VOCAL PROBLEMS
07/05 SORE THROATS I am diabetic (well ALMOST diabetic) and my doctor has told me that, if I take ginger root, and slice it up into coin sized slivers and then EAT THEM, and SWALLOW THEM (slices of the root) it has been shown to MAYBE activate the enzymes in the pancreas and intestines, helping the diabetes. In addition, he says it can lower cholesterol and triglycerides. I swallow pieces of ginger root EVERY DAY! -- Bill Ahlman
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10/04 I just got a note about one of my 3rd grade girls who has vocal nodules. The Dr.'s note says that she should not sing >in a group, especially if her voice is particularly raspy that day. > >
I had two boys like that and I had them read along and do all actions to the songs, but the other kids knew that he was not supposed to sing because of a medical excuse. They were not a problem.
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There are two ways to deal with nodes. The first is surgery and the second is vocal therapy. Surgery of nodes is not usually recommended until vocal therapy is tried and failed. After a few months, possibly 6 to 12, of vocal therapy with no response, surgery is the only option to remove the nodes.
http://www.myvoiceteacher.com/singers/nodes.html
Many vocal professionals who have vocal nodules continue to achieve vocal excellence despite the presence of the nodules. With this in mind, vocal nodules in some patients may resolve slowly, but in others may never resolve completely, although the vocal quality may be improved as a result of voice therapy. Thus, surgery is rarely indicated.
Nodes can be very prevalent in children. Because of a child's normal vocal abuse, due to the behavior on the schoolyard, amusement parks and so on, surgery is not recommended for children with nodes, even in a singing situation. More than often, when surgery is performed, the formation will recur because it is very hard to modify the behavior of children under 12, and as they grow up the nodes will usually resolve anyway. --- Contributed by Patti in FloridaBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************OUT OF TUNE SINGERS
12/11 VISUALS: Try using a visual such as a finger, a zipper and indicate how much farther they need to go (higher or lower). Discuss the feelings at different levels. ---- Norene Shepherd
I have a first grade boy who sings too high also - but he does it entirely to show me what a great singer he is, better than all the rest! It stopped pretty much after I mentioned that I could hear and see what a good singer he is and good singers always try to match the pitch. ---- Sarah in SC
Have you tried recording her privately and playing it back to her? Maybe if she could hear it that way, it might sink in better. ---- PattyO in AR
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06/09 RESOURCE: When working with students like this, you might look up some of the work of Dr. Don Campbell. He does a lot of brain research and also has thoughts on students who don't match pitch. Maybe you might be able to find some strategies to help this student. --- Paula Bettis
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06/09 TONE DEAF? It might just be physiological. It could be related to experience or any number of factors. I don't think I'd label him "tone deaf" in second grade. That malady is very rare. I had a student who sang everything an octave lower until around the middle of 4th grade, when lo and behold, the most glorious boy soprano voice blossomed. Give the kids a lot of singing experience. Just wait and see. It could be that you have a truly tone deaf student, but just wait and see what happens in the next couple of years. By the way, is this a transfer student? I find that is sometimes an issue depending on what county they come from in my area. I just had some auditions and the students who just came to my school this year have pitch related problems. She came from a school without a music, or rather, a consistent music program. --- Cynthia Coulson
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12/07 BEGIN WHERE THEY'RE AT: The thing that seems to help the most is a siren with a purpose... for example. If the boys are singing below the pitch, then YOU sing the pitch they are on and let them hear that you are at the same pitch as they are, then slide up to the right pitch and get them to do the same with their voice. Do this repeatedly (maybe not all at the same time).They just don't know what it feels like to sing other pitches. It's all about muscle memory.
Also, have them cup their fingers around their ears, pulling the top part of their ear forward with their palm near their mouths (kind of like holding a cell phone). This should amplify their own sound so they can actually hear themselves singing. This also may help some.
They also may have a very small range. I have a guy that I thought was hopelessly monotone. I found out that he had only 4 or 5 pitches that he could even phonate. Because his voice was changing, he couldn't FORCE his voice to do anything other than those notes! In fact, there are "blank" spaces in this voice where he can't even make a sound or even a squeak! When he gets to the top of his very small range, his pitch starts sinking and staying monotone. He just isn't able to GET to the other pitches (I understand this since this is what happens when I reach the top of my range at about an E two octaves above middle C. I just can't go higher and my pitch flattens out).
After working with him for 6 weeks (several times alone and the rest of the time in choir) he is almost always on or near the pitch. One of the things I had to do with him was get him to sing Jingle Bells, placing the song so that either the beginning pitch or the first interval was the pitch I wanted him to sing in the song we were working on. When he realized he actually had the pitch in his voice and could reach it (and he could "feel" what it was like to sing it), he could find it again in choir and sing it more consistently. If the students are interested in coming in at a different time to work with you, check with their parents and go for it. -- Dee Tiller
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06/06 WEBSITE: http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Music/perfectpitch.html
Topics covered: On line journal article on Absolute Pitch Absolute Pitch, aka Perfect Pitch Discussion The UCSF Neurogenetics 'Perfect Pitch' lab Testing For Pitch and much more Kids who don't sing in tune Why Sing? - Audiation -- Karen
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06/06 QUIETLY IS GOOD! I think one really important advice for teachers is not to ask children to sing loudly. The softer children sing (specially head voice) the more likely they will be accurate and controlled. I've noticed a lot of classroom teachers are forever urging young children to sing loudly, with disastrous results. Its important to point out that its ok for young children to sing softly. Small and quiet is good. Not everything is better bigger. --- Michael Roper, Melbourne Australia
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06/06 PATIENCE: I have heard from an audiologist that there will be some children who physically will NOT be able to match pitch until maturity. This may not be until 8th grade or so. Their ears and physical development just need time. I would just encourage them to continue singing. The more they use their voices, the more they will enjoy it. After all, I consider that my primary job...to get children to love music. -- Rhonda Schilling, Madison WI
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09/03 VOCAL DEVELOPMENT OF LOWER ELEMENTARY: Consistent and extensive use of the following is helpful:
- sung greetings on sm to teacher and to multiple stuffed animals/puppets as they relate to the day's lessons
- solo greetings around the class for favorite "furry friends"
- vocal exploration to begin each class (tossing balls and following with voice / Spiderman up & down building/ elevators / Sponge Bob up & down in net from the "sea" / etc. ( Group exploration & solo exploration for all)/ streamers & scarves
- lots of echo singing in limited vocal range (E up to C' or D')
- lots of singing with guitar / limited use of recordings and piano
- much rhythmic speech, often moving into use of sm tune - Contributed by Connie Herbon
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02/03 TOY MICROPHONE: is good for echo songs when teaching by rote. Kids sing when you point the mic. at them (someone else on this list suggested that a while ago).We also used the microphone for the colored candy game. All kids get a candy and hide it. Sit in circle. Leader gets the microphone (teacher first), closes eyes, and sings into the mic, "who has a yellow one (or some other color)". Whoever has yellow sings back, "I have a yellow one." Leader guesses one person who may then eat his/her candy. Leader passes microphone to the right and play again with new leader.
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10/02 DO YOU OBSERVE PEER PRESSURE WHICH AFFECTS A GROUP'S WILLINGNESS TO TRY TO SING? WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?
We have an all school respect rule and everyone is encouraged to be kind, respect others, and try to be your own person. As a school we talk about making good decisions, etc. I try have everyone in my music classes support each other, and really have not had any problem with that. I never have anyone sing in front of the class if they don't want to. I do have rows singing at a time, and that rule is that row #1 or #1 can not turn around and stare at row #3 (on the top of the risers). NO STARING ALLOWED!!
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05/21 'TELEPHONE': Using a "pitch matching telephone" can be a great resource for people struggling to hear their own voice and match pitch. You can use any type of hollow telephone receiver shaped item for example: plumbing hardware or a gas dryer hose cut about 8-12 inches. I also have a few "stress tubes" from a local mental health agency which are plastic tubes that you can pull apart and press together, these can be shaped like a telephone receiver as well. Simply take one end of your "pitch matching telephone" to your ear and the other end to your mouth and sing to yourself to analyze your voice.
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02/02 MR. POTATO HEAD: Students each receive parts of the Potato Head. Teacher sings "Who has the ear?" Student who has it sing back, "I have the ear!" Then... put the Potato Head together as you sing. I think so-mi-la-so-mi pitches are used although I don't think there is a law that says you have to use them! *smile*
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01/02 HUM THE PITCH: I've had success with asking the student to hum any tone, then find his tone on the piano. That seems to take away the "fear factor" that makes him afraid he won't be able to "find" the pitch you are giving him. Once we have found a pitch, I have him sing "Five, four, three, two, one" down the scale from there, or "one, two, three ,etc." up the scale. The guys are usually amazed to find that they have some very good notes to sing.
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01/02 WARM-UPS: We warm-up with silly sounds - a totally non-threatening way to experiment with your voice and make it do amazing things! Lots of "Yoo-hoo's" higher and higher! "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty" Someone on the list suggested saying "Ho-Ho-Ho" like Santa and then like his elves - way up high. This has been wonderful for me. Sirens or echo me with sounds like the wind! Sometimes we sing the high part of a song and octave lower just to see if we can do it and then move it up by half steps .I have them echo me - Opera Style! They love this because it takes the "seriousness" out of it. They think it's so funny and I love to hear them access their head voice - plus...they use lots of support to sing that way .I also have them lay on the floor and echo me solfege style. They keep their hands on their bellies and feel the rise and fall. Encouragement!!! I can't say enough about this. Some of my boys are so proud to be good singers now, but this is after years of encouragement! My motto at school is, "If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing." A saying from Zimbabwe. They are starting to believe me! (Now to work on their parents!)
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01/02 THE RED TOMATO STORY: [This story] came from a workshop looooong ago but I think it was also printed in MEJ once upon a time. I tell a brief story to the kids in first grade: "A gardener provides good ground, water, a sunny spot, and nutrition for his tomato plants so they can produce big juicy delicious red tomatoes. The tomatoes start out green but with proper care they ripen and become red. I am like the gardener and you are my tomato plants. Some of you can already match those great singing sounds in your singing voices - you are Red Tomatoes! Some of you need a little more time to turn from green tomatoes into Red Tomatoes. As your music teacher I provide songs, games, activities and experiences so students can learn about music and learn to match the singing sounds to become Red Tomatoes!!..." etc etc etc. -- Well, I play it up big and they get so excited about being red tomatoes!
I then explain the 'flipper-doo' thing in the throat, and we spend a few minutes each class doing sirens/owls/wind/slides etc. (Even the 4th graders love it!!) During class I'm constantly walking around the room. When I hear a student who has been resisting the 'flipper-doo' finally overcome it and get into the head range, I make a BIG DEAL that So-and-So has become a Red Tomato!! I lob the stuffed tomato to him/her and we clap and get all warm and fuzzy for the new Tomato!! Then we sing again and listen for the wonderful singing sounds the new Tomato is using!! The student gets to have the coveted stuffed Red Tomato sit by him/her for the rest of class! It's probably corny but the kids love it!!! I've had several students so far this year get the coveted Red Tomato and it's such a thrill for me to see the pride they feel about their accomplishment!! It's wonderfully POSITIVE for them and for music.
I also try to make it a point to recognize the 'other' kids (who use their singing voices but didn't go through the BIG DEAL) by saying something like, 'Wow, Jason, I hear your great Red Tomato voice!"....
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01/02 CONEHEAD: I tell them to imagine themselves turning into a "conehead" to put the pitch in their heads. Do a "slide" (yes, that might be something you'll have to break them of later, but for now, if it gets them there...........) My voice teacher in college would make me whine like a dog, then sing from there down to do ("whine, whine, whine, whine, so, fa, mi, re, do) For older kids, I tell them to pretend the teacher doesn't let them use the restroom for 7 hours! Gross out, but it works to get them to use the stomach muscles.
One summer, I took flute and piccolo lessons from the piccolo player from the ST. Louis Symphony. He told me that I should feel cool air when I breathe in. That meant my throat was open. I tell the kids now to have the "Cool Peppermint Patty sensation" when breathing in. Have some good singing examples on CD!
I do pitch match challenges occasionally and actually let the kids try for extra credit. They sing something like "Mama made me mash my M&M's". For extra credit, they can choose to sing it correctly in front of the class or sing it correctly a capella. amazingly enough, sometimes they do better singing a capella than they do with the piano! Maybe it's because they're concentrating more............
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01/02 TECHNIQUES: 1. lots of vocalizing on up and down pitches - not singing as such but simply making sound. Echo me: low voice, high voice, silly voice, spooky voice Yodelling - uses jumps over the break Coyote howls -Chant poems in low/middle/high registers - I use boom chicka boom in Musicplay 4 and 5 to do this.2. songs with an extreme jump - Liza Jane is great where it jumps the octave to "Oh Eliza" I also use Tommy Tinker very successfully for this purpose.3. Singers in my classes need to show me the 5 E's to achieve ExcellenceEyes+Ears+Effort+Energy+Expression= Excellent (When I was reviewing this a student added 'excitement' - that I thought was great.They also need to take a 'singers breath' and OPEN their mouth. (I need a way to work that into the 5 E's)
Sometimes they can't feel what their voice should be doing - sometimes they are just putting in too little effort. I've asked some of the boys who've made the jump to head voice what they've done differently - they say they just started singing in their high voice. They still slip into chest voice on occasion, and I just give them a quick reminder to sing in their 'high voice' and they can switch. What range is the music that you're singing - many of the songs that are published for children use too much of the middle C range - for the singers who are just finding head voice, they need to be an octave above that and descending from their. Eventually they'll be able to mix the head voice with the lower voice, but when they are just finding their voice, the low range of much published music isn't really good for them. I find the Key of F and G much better than the Key of C for establishing head voice.
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01/02 VIDEO: I purchased the video "Ready, Set, Sing," presented by Jeff Johnson. It has been like an open book to me. I recommend it to all - especially if you've had an instrumental background.
Something I've done that has really helped, is use my "Singing puppy." It's a little dalmatian, stuffed animal - beany baby size. All I have to do is bring him out when the students have forgotten to use their head voices immediately their singing voice "appears." It's so neat! I compare using a puppies' voice to an elephant's voice. It seems to be a big help in helping the children understand all the other explanations that have been already given on this thread. Also, I have them talk to me in their regular speaking voices, followed by ugly speaking voices and then a speaking head voice. We immediately go into a singing voice from that point. They say the same thing for each kind of voice. For instance: "Hello, It's a beautiful day." This has made a tremendous difference in their ability to tell the difference between their voice abilities.
Game: Students sit in a circle. One 6-8 inch ball is needed. The first student sings any pitch he wants to sing on "lou." He then rolls the ball while maintaining that pitch until another student catches the ball. That student then sings a pitch. (It can be the one he just heard, or it can be a new one.) The rest of the class then decides if the pitch stayed the same, or was changed. If changed, they tell if it went higher or lower. Then the entire class sings the two pitches -if two different pitches were sung. This game helps breath control and pitch control. The process takes the pressure off those who can't match pitch (for the time being) yet, makes everyone stay involved. we continue until everyone has had a turn to be the pitch giver.
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01/02 VOICE BREAK: Here's more or less what I say: "as you sing the siren, there is a flipper-doo feeling in your throat when you go from your speaking voice into that pretty high singing voice you have. LET IT HAPPEN!!! Let that flipper-doo flip because it's your voice's way of taking care of itself so it won't get hurt or strained, and it will take you right up into that pretty high singing voice you all have at this age." Then we do the siren and try to feel the flipper-doo. I have them raise their hands when they feel it happen. I don't do it every class.
I feel like a broken record by this time of the year but it'll eventually reach someone who's resisting - and the look on their faces when they realize it happens is priceless! THEEEEEENN, I toss the student the coveted tomato and we make a BIG DEAL of them having become a "red tomato"! ----- but that's a story for another day!
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01/02 SLIDE WHISTLE: I love my slide whistle for getting the kids to experiment with their head voice. First we do a lot of play with their whole bodies following the ups and downs of the slide whistle, then their voices.
Also, a good one for me is once they have learned a new rhyme/chant we say it "like a cat would say it" and that gives me lots of nice light "meows". >From there go into the other animals and they can feel/hear the difference.My listening pipe also helps (it's a whirly tube, I think, from the dollar store). The students can use it with one end near their ear and one near their mouth and they can hear themselves sing in a group! The mouth end can be moved next to the mouth of a neighboring singer to hear them and then compare. I also use this to quickly walk through my students and assess their pitch matching while the whole group is singing. (My ear to near their mouths) It's great!
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WHAT DO YOU HEAR? A major piece of the tonal-development aspect is activating a child's tonal portion of the brain. I begin with basic "what do you hear?" exercises. (ie, people talking, doors closing, etc.) I use various "mystery" boxes and other items with different resonating sounds to help discrimination skills grow.
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FREAKA: Also a very neat gimmick is the "freaka" --sold in toys stores under various names. It is a ridged tube (like a vacuum cleaner hose). When you swing it around it makes sound. BUT you can use it as a "telephone": hold one end to the child's ear and sing (softly, please) into the other end. Then hold the mouth end to the child's mouth as he/she sings the echo. This lets them concentrate on their own voice.
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LUDIC APPROACH: Deborah Jeter has some ideas on how to help the out-of-tune singer through the Ludic approach: http://home.earthlink.net/~bluesman1/articleone.html
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PUPPET: For a child that cannot find his high voice--it's the squeaky voice trick; Use a puppet. T: "This is my speaking voice"
Kids echo
whispering
squeaky voice (make it as high as possible, silly like)
who who (so so mi la so mi)
singing
playground voice (i.e., shouting)[only once in a while]
(Cleo Hamilton)
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HOLLOW TUBES: Go to a Dollar Store and find one of those cheap, long tubes with holes in both ends and ridged in the middle. (I don't know what they're called...sorry!) Anyway, they're about a foot and a half to two feet long. When you whirl it over your head, it makes a nice, high humming sound. First I have the little ones listen, then I have them imitate the sound ONLY when the "thingee" is whirling. When they can match the high pitch, I adjust the speed of the "thingee" so that their voices must go up and down to match it.
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KAZOOS: I do think it (kazoos) enhances the feeling of using their head voice in a non-threatening way. My voice teacher in college used to have me do lip trills and the feeling of humming into the kazoo, with the vibrations, gives a similar feeling...I think. I may use them school wide at various times next year!
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PITCH MATCH: MR. POTATO HEAD: I have been [this] for a pitch matching activity Put his various body parts in separate paper sacks, and pass them out. Sing "who has the nose" (sol-mi) and have student with the nose answer: "I have the nose" and place the nose on mr. potato head. while that is being done, the class sings "Thomas has the nose".
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CHANGING VOICE: I have found this especially helpful with those boys whose voices are changing, and they have no clue where the pitch is, or what they will produce. If you can find their pitch, then have them sing 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, etc. and they realize they can sing!!
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PITCH MATCHING: I have found 2 things to be true in teaching pitch matching:
1. You have to ask for it, model it.....make it clear that they understand that singing is not just allowing any sound to fall out of your mouth. I use the phrase "Please match the pitch." Every day. I say things like, "Make it sound just like mine." and then model the tone quality and the pitches I want them to sing.
2. I do the same warmup with them every class period. This not only warms up their voices, but singing the same thing over and over every class is good for their ears.
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PITCH MATCHING TECHNIQUES: I have recently had a great deal of success with a child who came to me for individual voice instruction. Her vocal quality was good, but her ability to sing on-pitch was challenging. I determined that it was her ar that was the problem and began working with her for 30 minutes a week. We use the following techniques, but on an individual level and here tonal matching has improved steadily and her singing is really getting there.
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KAZOOS: I noticed something today. My 5th graders at my afternoon school were almost 100% on pitch with the kazoos and they have never done that before! We sang it after we used the kazoos and they sang better than ever. Do the kazoos have THAT MUCH of a POSITIVE EFFECT on their singing voices?!
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WHISPER-SING: I sometimes tell little bullfrogs to "whisper-sing." Someone on the list more knowledgeable than I am scolded me for that, because actually whispering while trying to sing can damage vocal cords. When I tell them to "whisper-sing" I explain that I mean for them to sing VERY softly, so that they can hear ME. I rarely have to tell them anything else, since they usually pick up the pitch, and resume normal dynamic without being told. Another tool I sometimes shake out of my left sleeve is HUMMING. I sing "ooo" and play the piano, and have them hum the part - - being careful not to grit their teeth or tighten their throats. Humming can be a quick fix, and I theorize that it's easier to hear and feel. Singing "oooo" works well, and has the added attraction that frequently they just want to continue singing "ooo" because it sounds so beautiful. This you have to read from their faces - - it would not necessarily be cool to admit this! And finally, if it's too bad to even talk about, I've had considerable success with having them sing it again, with no comment and no sound in between. Just do it again. And maybe again. It's amazing how much cleanup will occur automatically with no jabber on my part if I just remember to keep quiet, stay out of the way, and let the music do its work.
It is also important that you allow the child to sing without backing the voice with the piano or any other instrument. The overtones of certain instruments, especially the piano, make it more difficult for the child to "tune-in" to the pitch. One thing that Ruth mentioned about not shaming a child or making a child feel self conscious about his/her voice is extremely important. I tell the children that their voices are as unique as a fingerprint. No one has a voice identical to theirs. If they are having difficulty with certain ranges, then sometimes I tell them to sing more softly so that they can hear those pitches being sung around them, (provided I have placed the struggling singer next to strong singers) and that will help them blend their voices. Another thing that I found very interesting is something that I learned from Sister Lorna Zemke. She said that there are parts of the ear that are not fully developed until around the age of 9. I'm not sure if it's the inner ear canal or what.
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ROLL CALL: I start every class with something we call roll call. I choose a three, four or five note pattern, for no other reason than I like the sound of it. First we learn it with solfege names and hand signs. Then I think of something they can sing to it that offers a variety of vowel sounds. I come up with a question that fits the pattern, and sing it to each one. They sing back the practiced answer. Every third time or so, I give a grade based on accuracy of pitch, volume and clarity of tone, then we change to a new one. Some kids get effort grades instead. You probably have one or two like that, yourself. The one we started today is mi do fa sol. "Where's Mary after school?" "I am playing." Sometimes I ask their favorite composer and they have to choose one whose name fits the pattern. On super busy days, I skip it, but they always let me know they mind when I do.
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TWO KINDS OF SINGING: I tell children (of all ages) that there are two kinds of singing --- singing for an audience, and "bathtub singing". The latter need not be energetic or well produced, since there is nobody listening! Whenever I hear lethargic, out of tune, insecure singing, all I have to do is say "I hear some bathtub singing -- get the towel!!" and they immediately improve posture, the pitch and tone. 4. Sometimes pitch can be improved (especially high pitches) by using the arms to "paint" the pitches.... arms swing up high for them.... be careful not to let the faces point upward, however. 5. Also, teachers must be aware that the vocal range of young children is very small... don't try to get them to sing pitches they don't yet have. Within a range of a 6th to an octave from middle c - d, children by grade 3-4 can be taught to sing accurately.
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PVC PIPES: I use the curved PVC pipe and make them into "telephones".....the child can hold one end to their ear while singing in the other end. It also looks like a telephone. I got this idea from Marilyn Wood at a workshop she did for us here in Ky. I have been forever grateful for it.....my children always love playing with them and it really helps them sing on pitch and/or in their singing voices.
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KAZOOS: I've used kazoos w/ k-2 kids and notice the difference in their singing in tune this year (particularly in 2nd +3rd grades this year). Last year's 3rd were not that much into using kazoos ( but that one particular class was not into music at all. ) I also notice that the 4th and 5th graders are not singing in tune ( we didn't use kazoos) last year. I'm wanting to use them school wide. They seem to hear the melodies more while using them.....( and using their head voice ,yes?)
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MATCH THEIR PITCH: I went to a Lynn Kleiner workshop last February, and she advocated matching the child's pitch, rather than the other way around. That way they can hear that pitch can be matched, and eventually they will match your pitch. I have found this especially helpful with those boys whose voices are changing, and they have no clue where the pitch is, or what they will produce. If you can find their pitch, then have them sing 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, etc. and they realize they can sing!!
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ACAPELLA: It is also important that you allow the child to sing without backing the voice with the piano or any other instrument. The overtones of certain instruments, especially the piano, make it more difficult for the child to "tune-in" to the pitch. One thing that Ruth mentioned about not shaming a child or making a child feel self to conscious about his/her voice is extremely important. I tell the children that their voices are as unique as a fingerprint. No one has a voice identical to theirs. If they are having difficulty with certain ranges, then sometimes I tell them to sing more softly so that they can hear those pitches being sung around them, (provided I have placed the struggling singer next to strong singers) and that will help them blend their voices. Another thing that I found very interesting is something that I learned from Sister Lorna Zemke. She said that there are parts of the ear that are not fully developed until around the age of 9. I'm not sure if it's the inner ear canal or what.
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TOP TEN FOR PITCH MATCHING
1. Two resource books- "Teaching Kids to Sing" by Ken Phillips and "One, Two, Three Echo Me" by Loretta Mitchell.
2. Lots of vocal exploration- sirens, animals sounds, imitation (ex. say "Land Ho" like the pirate then say "Land Ho" like the pirates wife...works on support and registers)
3. Use a drawing of a target to show them where their pitch is. My k-2's argue over who gets "target practice" each day.
4. Be physical have them show how the pitch moves with their hand or manipulatives
5. Using doo or a hum tends to center the pitch on it's own 6. Warm-up in all registers my K-2's love to hum up their airplanes and then have a parachute person jump out
singing Ah...after they are skilled at this you can stop the Ah on a given pitch. We do hand airplanes for kinesthetic learners.
7. Develop inner hearing sing the pattern-have them sing it mentally- then sing it aloud
8. Be near your students when they sing. Give quiet individual comments or have them sing for you while the others do their worksheet. Especially helpful for those having problems, but make sure everyone gets a turn.
9. Make sure that they are conscious of pitch even if that is not the main thrust of the lessons. Sometimes all they need is a reminder.
Pass out construction paper, each with one different letter of the alphabet written on it ......Who has the A? (S M M S-M) I have the A.......Tommy has the A. etc.. Kindergarten teachers will love you for this one.
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PITCH MATCHING GAME (I got this at a Doris Hotaling workshop years ago, but have seen adaptations of it elsewhere):
Materials: Picnic basket filled with "food" - I bought toy food at KMart a long time ago. Another good source is in the dog food aisle - there are squeaky hamburgers, hotdogs, porkchops, etc. In my basket I also have mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise bottles, empty milk and juice cartons (I glued them shut, but that didn't last long, because students opened them up to pretend to drink). Another option is to make a posterboard picnic basket and velcro pictures of food to it.
The song: Going on a picnic titi titi ta ta In the park today titi titi ta rest If it doesn't rain we'll titi titi ta ta Stay all day ta ta ta rest
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SINGING IN TUNE: A major piece of the tonal-development aspect is activating a child's tonal portion of the brain. I begin with basic "what do you hear?" exercises. (ie, people talking, doors closing, etc.) I use various "mystery" boxes and other items with different resonating sounds to help discrimination skills grow. We do a lot of echoes, not even singing at first, just vocalizing on silly nonsense sounds utilizing high and low, slides, etc. I also help them understand the difference of high and low, using various animal sounds. Most children who come from non-singing homes, have no idea that they have a voice beyond their speaking voice ("chest register"), unless it is used for baby- talk"head-register"). By using the afor-mentioned exercises, they find their head register, which I define as their singing voice. If they focus on developing this, the rest of their singing voice ("chest register") will come along.
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ACAPELLA: *There is no substitute for lots of time spent singing! I use mostly acapella singing with Kindergarten and 1st grade. ( I still use lots of acapella singing with 2nd-6th, but they are able by that point to maintain an accurate pitch with accompaniment CD's of piano added.) At first, they need to hear that pure, light single melody line in a voice. Some have not heard this. All they have heard for music is the radio, or CD's. *Echo singing is the best with little ones. Try Frere Jacques... ("123, Echo Me" is a wonderful book that has good echo songs in it.)
*I also say/sing "Yoo-hoo!" like one would high-voice holler over the fence at one's neighbor in days gone by. It works like a charm in getting their voices up high (and making them giggle!) I will throw this in periodically when I hear a high percentage singing in the basement. Also mentioned on this list previously is "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"
*Sirens... Kids love them and they sure get the voice moving in an unthreatening way.
*Compliment and encourage every single day. Get excited when someone is singing on pitch with you. Let the other kids hear that. I often have 1 student who volunteers to sing a short duet with me. The class can then hear the 2 of us matching pitch. One student said one time, "It sounds like you are 1 voice!" Bingo!! But never draw attention to those who are singing "off-pitch." Each child should sing in an environment of safety and joy! *I have a 2nd grade class at my morning school that has 21 students and every single one of them is singing on pitch beautifully! It is really exciting...not all my classes are there, but to this end I labor... *I have worked very hard on this over the years. I tell each child that they can indeed sing and their parents can sing. At P/T conferences, I am adamant about this. Most of my parents would not agree with me, however, I am on a crusade to correct their thinking! They say, "You believe that because you can sing..." Some people seem to be born matching pitch. Others can be taught to match pitch easily. I believe everyone who wants to sing on pitch can.
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KNOW THE DIFFERENCE: TALK, WHISPER, SHOUT, SING! This particular child may need to be helped to understand the difference between her shouting voice and her singing voice. Initially I identify their 4 voices: talking, whisper, shouting and singing. By doing a simple song in EACH of these voices (use their "INSIDE shouting voice"!!) they begin to understand the difference sensations of using the singing voice. As they get confidence, its fun to change the four voices within a song. Exciting!!!
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ECHOS: We do a lot of echoes, not even singing at first, just vocalizing on silly nonsense sounds utilizing high and low, slides, etc. I also help them understand the difference of high and low, using various animal sounds. Most children who come from non-singing homes, have no idea that they have a voice beyond their speaking voice ("chest register"), unless it is used for baby- talk"head-register"). By using the afor-mentioned exercises, they find their head register, which I define as their singing voice. If they focus on developing this, the rest of their singing voice ("chest register") will come along.
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ECHO: Use lots of echo singing! I have the kids echo me using various pitches as a "class starter" each day...I usually start with "How are you today" (Sol-Sol Sol-Sol Mi) They echo it! Then I might sing (I'm fine thankyou!) (MI MI SOL SOL) Then I sing other phrases to them to echo as I vary the pitches used...I think kids learn to sing best by good example and imitation. When they are under the pitch, I demonstrate what they sang and then I tell them that I didn't sing it that way...then I demonstate it correctly again...I make sure that they not only match my pitch but my tone, vowel production, posture etc...I make it like a pitch matching game! I even make nonsenses sound for them to reproduce exactly...like YOOHOO! or a glissando type effect using the word AHHHH! they love it!
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IDENTIFY MY PITCH: I. What's my pitch? A fun way to work with ear training in the classroom, is to use those chromatic bell instruments that many of us have in the classroom that may (or may not) be collecting dust. I use removable labels to write out the note name of each bell. In the classroom I play a note and give the children (individually) a chance to match the note. I let them strike the note and listen for about 20 seconds before the must make a choice. They call out the note and I say "yay" or "nay". If they miss it is the next person's turn. In a classroom of 20 or so children this gets boring, so I make up groups of 4 or 5 children who work together with one child acting as spokesperson on the guess. If it is missed, I then go to the next *group*.
II. Echo This
Strike a note and the singer must QUICKLY reproduce the tone. This is even difficult for experienced singers, because we just don't do this often in singing. Eventually the reproduced sound gets VERY accurate. Always warn anyone doing this that it will take time (even with an experienced singer) to begin to reproduce the tone *on pitch* on the first attempt. This also strengthens the vocal support mechanism because of the quick *calling into action* of the various mechanisms that go together to create voice.
III. Teach the various interval identification song connections (i.e., first two tones of "Here Comes the Bride" for a fourth up or the first two tones of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for a perfect fifth up) and play major and minor chords for the children to hear the difference. Then play a hot potato game. Where the ball stops the teacher asks the child to sing a third/fourth, etc. up or down from a given pitch or to identify the interval played. Also, play a major or minor chords and ask the child to determine which it is.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************PART SINGING
12/11 TEACHING PARTS TO DIFFERENT CLASSES
I do this with 3rd-6th all the time. My 3rd and 4th graders can totally handle it. And...I have done partner songs that way with 1st and 2nd. ---- Kristin Lukow
I would say it depends on the group. I've done it with a group that is super musical, but if I have an immature group of 2nds, it wouldn't work. "We are Thankful" from MK8 where one class holds a note while the rest do the echo. This one works well even if they're not super strong singers. ---- Jennifer Schoroeder
With second graders (even with kindergarteners), I will use harmony by either using vocal singing ostinati or chanting ostinati to get them used to being independent. For instance, K-8's "Hard Boiled Egg" song is awesome for this. ---- Karen Stafford
I did a partner song with my entire school (K-5) that way. Works just fine! ----- Delynne in AR
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01/07 It was our PARTNER SONGS-HARMONY: experience that partner songs were much easier than most other attempts at harmony. Next, we did music with the harmony a third higher. The kids were pretty well grounded before we even did rounds. -- Cak
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04/02 SEQUENCE FOR TWO PART MUSIC:
I begin some 2 part work in Grade 2. By Grade 3/4, they are quite successful with partner songs.
1. Echo songs (where the echo is held), The Water Is Wide
- Bill Grogan's Goat
- When I Believe in Me ( In Musicplay 5)
2. Add an ostinato
- Donkey Riding (In Musicplay 3) * prepare for this by doing lots of ostinato + rhythm patterns using b/p and rhythm instruments
3. Partner Songs: Land of the Silver Birch / My Paddle, Winter Fantasy (Gallina), Shalom (MK8), A Pizza Hut (A Ram sam sam) in Action Songs 2, The Provinces (Musicplay 3)
4. Rounds and Canons
- Little Tommy Tinker, Make New Friends, Row Row , Frere Jacques, scale round, clock round , - Let's Catch a Rooster , _ Kookaburra , - I Love the Mountains , - Sing, sing together , - Come follow , - Hey Ho
* do lots of rhythm canons as well with b/p and rhythm instruments
5. Two part work - descant
- Gypsy Rover
6. Two part work
- Siyahamba
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01/07 ROUNDS-HARMONY: As little kids, maybe 2nd grade or even 1st, they learn to sing an easy round, them on part 1 and you on part 2. Or they sing or speak a simple ostinato while you sing or play on your recorder the melody to a song they know. Echo songs is another good pre-part singing activity, and also partner songs--2 songs that will each stand alone but will combine to make harmony. Or a song that has an easy descant above the melody line. The HARDEST form of part singing is 2 parts, soprano and alto, both singing the same thing at the same time, just in intervals. That's where they are most likely to "lose it" so begin young and introduce them to many pre-part singing activities. I did a graduate paper on this topic for my Masters' degree, waaaaay back in the year 0000.-- Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana
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01/07 LET THE YOUNG TEACH THE VERY YOUNG: I would use those older kids as mentors for the younger one. Assign each student from the older group 2 or 3 beginners. Seat them together. Have the older student show the younger how to follow the score. (Point to the score as you sing. Little ones get lost in a score so easily.) Let the older student mark the score as you rehearse. Then reward the older students with lots of praise.
Divide the choir into two "teams" which can take turns singing the harmony parts. I never label them soprano and alto at this age, since in reality they're all sopranos. I usually choose a "head chorister" and two "team leaders." Giving leadership roles is a great motivator.
I have, at some times in the past, rehearsed longer with my older singers, having the little ones arrive later in the rehearsal. -- Jo Harney
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06/06 PRESENTATION TO TEACHERS ON TEACHING SINGING: I'm a big fan of teaching rather than presenting- I would do an echo greeting song, or echo/ call response sing the names of the people there; maybe some head voice vs. chest voice contrasting song to demonstrate proper singing voice; then a song they could use for classroom skill drill or circle time (I use "Which Word Doesn't Belong" from the Tune Up to Literacy series). My rationale for this type of presentation format is that I personally use the stuff I do in Orff workshops more than I use written lessons that I have to figure out musically (w/o seeing them in action), and figure that possibly music-phobic teachers need that more than I. Also, general classroom teachers have enough going on w/math/reading instruction to prep anything else (at least at my AYP-challenged school!)- so I hand them, on a silver platter, anything musical that I think they'd find useful instructionally. -- Becky Dougan
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07/03 THE ORCHESTRA SONG is a great one to try this with. First we sing the verses as written, but all sing the violin on the refrain. Then we all sing the clarinet, etc. until we're feeling fairly confident.
Next we sit in a large circle, with each set of congruent students (an arc in the circle) assigned an instrument and we try singing the refrain with the different parts joining in. Then I go around the circle and re-number them, 1-5, assigning each number an instrument, but now instead of singing with their arc, they're all mixed together. When they can do that, we break into circles of 5, one person to each part and try it again. Circles can then choose to sing independently for the class. Most do.
Eventually we try assigning instruments by birth month, last letter of Mom's first name, free choice and whatever else we can come up with. By the time we're done, they're pretty good at hearing and holding their own part. Plus, it's fun, and they always want to show their teacher what they can do. We also try it using body percussion instead of voices. -- Contributed by Andrea Cope
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04/03 SING WITH TAPE: I have helped students to sing rounds by 1) First learning very well the melody. 2)Tape recording them singing the melody 3) Playing back the melody and then starting the group singing the second entry against the melody. The students are then not distracted by a partner singing another part. it has worked so far for me. -- Contributed by Susan Michiels
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CAN I GOOF YOU UP? - One thing that I tried that did work was a little game. When I thought they knew the song well enough, I said "Now, I'm going to try to mess you up. I'm going to sing something different. Your job is to keep singing together. Don't sing with me. But my job is to try to get you to sing with me. Let's see who wins!" I started them singing the melody, then I began walking around the room singing the round. When they "won" then I asked for volunteers (2 or 3) to sing with me and mess the class up. Pretty soon, we had 2 equal groups. -- Contributed by Sally in NC
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05/21 SPREAD OUT! I have my kids break up in the room by group, stand in a circle, and sing their parts. That way, they really can't hear the other groups, but they hear themselves. We do this a few times and then put it back together. I notice improvement every time. Also, tell them if they can't hear another group, they are too loud.
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FINDING A BALANCE: Sometimes I let the kids choose. Then I listen to them and move a few key singers around so that the sound is "balanced". This worked for me this year, but it may not work for everyone... depends on the music, the group and the circumstances...2nd part is not always "low" and not always "harmony". It is good for boys to sing in their high (head) voice. I make a point of explaining how the parts need to be balanced to make musical sense and one part cannot overpower the other. I also try to keep strong singers on both parts.One thing that helped my boys (5th/6th grade) is that I do a lesson or 2 about Bobby McFerrin. We read about him, listen to "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and an audio interview with him (my kids are amazed at his deep speaking voice). Then we watch him do his Wizard of Oz schtick... very cool.... He has a large following among my students who find him really interesting.
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TEACHING TAPES: In a smaller class where kids are super cooperative, I make a teaching tape for each part (Kids echo my voice singing phrase by phrase - their part then putting several phrases together) Their "part" goes to a corner of the room with a tape recorder and learns, practices for about 10 minutes. This helps a little in cutting rehearsal time down.
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LABEL THEM 'PART I' AND SO ON...There are no 'altos' at their age, so I never refer to the parts as 'soprano' or 'alto' or 'high' or 'low' but use Part I and II (if it's in the music that way) or just 'left' and 'right' sides. Early in the year I line the kids up by height and assign them places to sit for the year so they're all ready when it's time to get on risers to perform. Regardless of height, I don't ever put one boy or girl sitting alone, but always seat at least 2 or 3 of the same gender next to each other so they feel comfortable enough to sing out. But I NEVER split the choir into boys and girls sections. I try to split up the strong singers so I have some key leaders on each side. Most songs we sing are partner songs or other arrangements with pretty equal parts and then the 2 sides of the choir can each get to be 'harmony' or 'melody' at some point.
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TEACH BOTH PARTS THEN THEY CHOOSE: I teach both parts to everyone, and then have them self-select. Each kid writes "Part 1," "Part 2" or "Part 3" (don't care). With a little juggling, I come out with two really balanced sections.
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LISTEN TO MR......Bring in that male teacher who sings!Ask him to be section leader for the low part! You have no idea if he'll agree to it but it would be a huge boost to your choir!
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SING PART II BUT NOT ALWAYS: I ask my chorus members which ones of them have taken piano or other instrument lessons or sing in other choirs. It seems to help to have those with more music experience singing on Part II since Part I is often the melody and doesn't require as much ability.
Note from another: Please, please, please do NOT keep kids singing harmony parts just because they play the piano and can read the music. That happened to me and both my daughters--consequently, we were not afforded the opportunity to develop upper notes--just belt out that alto part!!
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DIVIDING PARTS: I divide my chorus up with even number of boys on each side and even number of strong/weak singers on each side. They alternate who sings part 1 and part 2 on each song. This gives everyone experience at both parts every concert. It's only confusing for the 1st couple of rehearsals - and only for me!!! The kids remember which part they sing. I've done it this way for 20 years and I think it works fine.
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SWITCH OFF PARTS: With my children's choir, I switch the top part back and forth between sections, so that it's equally divided throughout any given program. This works fairly well with this age group (K-3) as the ranges in the printed music are pretty much the same, no matter which part I assign. With my older youth chorus (3-6), I keep them on the same part for the entire session (15 weeks) because the music is much more challenging, and the ranges are definitely more defined (we do SA, SSA). My process is this: I first ask them to tell me which part they'd like to sing and I do a quick scan - if it looks fairly evenly balanced to me and I can see some strong readers on both sides, I'll let it ride a rehearsal or two to see how it goes. Otherwise, I use my "listening" day (which I do every session, no matter what - a day when I listen to each singer individually, doing a range check as well as listening to them sing a section of a song) to glean some more for whichever part. If I've had a student for several years, and they've always chosen to sing Soprano 1, I try to get them to try alto or Soprano 2 for at least one session of their 6th grade year. But, in 8 years, I've only had to "assign" kids to a part they didn't really want once.
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VOCALIZE: Take time to vocalize something up and down the scale. Have the kids let you know when they have to drop out. The high and low parts sift themselves out that way in a short amount of time. Granted, they all have unchanged voices, but there are already by 5th grade distinctly high and low voices. Sometimes you can tell with their speaking voice ranges.
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THIS YEAR YOU SING ALTO: I put ALL of my fourth graders on soprano and ALL of my fifth graders on alto. That way, if they are in chorus both years, by the time they go to middle school, they will have sung both soprano(part 1) and alto(part 2.)They all pretty much have the same range, it seems, so it's not a matter of having the "kids who can sing high" on soprano, for example.
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CONCERT ARRANGEMENT: At the beginning of the year, I put an upside down meter stick on the wall, resting on the chalkboard ledge. In class, each kid in chorus gets measured, so I don't waste chorus time. I enter the heights on a spreadsheet (Excel), and I have a perfect line order, starting with the tallest-rear riser. When they divide into sections, I just enter it into Excel, and then have two perfect lines, each entering down opposite aisles. I sometimes make a complete chart of the risers, and make a few order changes to separate potential "problems" before the kids get in there. Works for me.
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DON'T PLACE BY HEIGHT: I seldom line my kids up by height. I have found that for the most part, the kids find a place that helps them see me the best, and it seems that all my shorter kids find their ways near the front anyway. My only requirement is that when they're on the risers, they be able to see me and I can see them. So, we do a "riser run" early on. If a singer can't see me, I ask them what they think a good solution would be, and invariably, they move themselves to a more appropriate spot. So many of these kids need these groups for social reasons, and when they're separated from their best buddy, moral support, etc., it takes away some of the fun of the group. Also, I have several boys who need to be next to another boy (I'll do anything to keep them singing when other "friends" are teasing them for being there!), and they're not always the same height.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************GETTING KIDS TO SING OUT
10/12 BEGIN WITH NURSERY RHYMES and have a 2nd grader in charge of a PreK or K student. I would also try to do some easy instrument work and have the 2nd graders play the xylophones. Then tell the Pre-K and K kids that when they get into 2nd grade they will get to do that, also. This way it is something well worth waiting for. It would help the 2nd graders to be playing instruments to familiar tunes and it won't be an entire waste for them to hear the songs over again. I would definitely make them the class helpers or leaders and have them read whatever you could. For instance in my room I would want the 2nd graders to learn about composer music and have the pre-K's listen to that music, so I would have the 2nd graders read out loud something about the composer and have the little ones be listeners or audience members during that time. You might want to choose composers that they haven't heard in K or 1st grade, so you are still enriching those 2nd graders music education. -- Caryn Mears
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12/11 I tell all of my students "you sound like kids because you are still young". I totally avoid saying anything about sounding like a girl or boy. "Everyone sounds the same when they're little. Your voice won't change until about 7th grade. Until then, we all sing higher notes." Again, avoiding saying anything about soprano or girl voices. "You won't sound like a man until you ARE a man some day and trying to sing low right now will [not make a good sound]." ---- Jennifer Schroeder
My room has an exterior door. When kids were getting droopy, I would take them out for a "run around the flagpole"! They loved it. They ran as fast as they could around the flagpole and then back in. IMMEDIATELY upon returning inside, I would go back to the piece and - my goodness - the difference was amazing. They could hear it too! We would all laugh and - well - they got it! ---- Kathleen Bragle
12/11 GYM CRAWL: I have my students do the Brain Gym Cross Crawl to get their blood moving along with some other physical type warm-ups. I also score my students on a scale of 1 - 10. I tend to start on the lower side and the become motivated to get closer to a ten. This almost never fails. I am so lucky to have a singing school. My kids love to sing!! I wonder sometimes that our students come to us after sitting in their desks for an extended period of time and they need to move!! I have several physical warm ups that I also do to get the blood flowing after they've been sitting for so long. It really does help with their singing and with their enthusiasm. ---- Todd in Sant Fe
12/11 ENCOURAGE. COMPLIMENT. Lead by example. Never, ever criticize. Find someone who IS singing and say "Wow! That is amazing!" I get 100% participation 99% of the time, but I have been here for years and it is the normal to participate. When I first came, not so much. Be kind. Be enthusiastic. Show examples of other classes singing and show enthusiasm for what you like! Find the good and keep building. ---- Kristen Lukow
12/11 JUMPING JACKS I get better results when I have them do jumping jacks while singing. Even in HS! I don't do it all the time, but it makes the point to them that they CAN sing more strongly. Also I discovered if they gestured all the words (they make 'em up as they go), that they sing less self-consciously and more loudly. Then I build on that. ---- Martha Stanley
12/11 CHOOSE REPERTOIRE WELL: Get good songs and get them singing. Ask them to enunciate and match pitch and follow your hand signals. Start there and as you see progress, get more precise with your expectations. MK8 has wonderful songs, and I've discovered that kids really do enjoy good Broadway musical literature. Hey Look Me Over is a good one that works well with guys and gals. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah is another. ---- Gary HeimbauerBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************REFLUX PROBLEMS
10/12 You could ask to be tested. They give you a drink then x-ray you, and reflux will show up if you have it. That's one way to be sure or rule it out .I quickly explained everything. She immediately responded that she knew at least some of the likely cause of my voice problems. I didn't stop to breathe when I talked.
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10/12 Since my doctor prescribed it, I am able to get omeprazole or ranitidine (which I currently take) through the pharmacy. Since it is generic, it is very reasonable. Some drug companies encourage you to contact them for free samples of stuff so that might be worth a try. ----Julie in MN
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Clearing the throat was a problem. The stomach acids actually make it up to the vocal folds, and can wreak havoc. I take omeprazole (generic Pril= osec) every night, and don't have a problem now. It's expensive, so if I ru= n out and don't get more for a few days, I have heartburn ALL DAY. The box = says don't take for more than 14 days, but that's just to keep the company from being liable. If your Dr says take it, take it. Get a 2-wk supply and = see if it helps. Two weeks won't hurt if you don't really need it.----- Susan Simandle Music Specialist
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10/12 By taking the meds for awhile-finding the RIGHT one was tricky-I don't get hoarse, or cough even during allergy time! Of course, I have to remember to drink my wate= r-sometimes I get busy, you know how it is- but the kiddos bring it to me without asking. Warming up the voice every m= orning helps too. Good luck! You want that voice to stay around for a long time. ----- Luana in sunny MN
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10/12 I have suffered from acid reflux in the past and have found that ginger tea helps so much. I grate about a tablespoon of fresh ginger and let it steep in hot water. Fortunately I love the taste of ginger. There are lots of benefits to eating ginger as well. BTW the crystalized ginger didn't help me . . . too sugary. ---- Todd in Santa FeBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************ROUTINES
12/07 STOP WATCH: One teacher has found a terrific device called an Attention Getter, from some teacher store. It's a stop watch, timer, watch, has three attention getting sounds stored in it. I forget the third, but the first two are the bugle call played when the horses are in the starting gate, and the Tarzan yell like Carol Burnett used to do.
The other idea is absolutely free. I have a colleague who says in a soft voice, "If you can hear my voice, clap once." The kids closest to her clap. The other kids may have continued talking, but now they have heard the clap, and they look up. She says, still softly, "If you can hear me, clap twice." By this time the whole class is, or should be, at attention. If she needs to go to three, class gets a strike. I've tried it. It works like a magic charm.-- Contributed by Tess Hoffman
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12/07 THE ORCHESTRA SONG is a great one to try this with. First we sing the verses as written, but all sing the violin on the refrain. Then we all sing the clarinet, etc. until we're feeling fairly confident.
Next we sit in a large circle, with each set of congruent students (an arc in the circle) assigned an instrument and we try singing the refrain with the different parts joining in. Then I go around the circle and re-number them, 1-5, assigning each number an instrument, but now instead of singing with their arc, they're all mixed together. When they can do that, we break into circles of 5, one person to each part and try it again. Circles can then choose to sing independently for the class. Most do.
Eventually we try assigning instruments by birth month, last letter of Mom's first name, free choice and whatever else we can come up with. By the time we're done, they're pretty good at hearing and holding their own part. Plus, it's fun, and they always want to show their teacher what they can do. We also try it using body percussion instead of voices. -- Contributed by Andrea Cope
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1. WARMUPS: We ALWAYS warm-up w/siren sounds, swoops, whoops, "high talking guys" (that's where we make each hand a "puppet" and they talk back and forth to each other saying silly things. The kids echo what I say...ALWAYS in a high speaking voice not unlike the same one used for sirens.)
2. I ask kids to echo me alone w/the sirens. I remind them over and over that that voice you use in a siren is "in the same place" as your singing voice.
3. I spotlight, highlight, and generally gush all over anyone who is singing correctly.
4. I established rules and consequences from the get go. If the discipline isn't in place, I don't feel the children can learn. I had many challenges (and still have some unpleasant surprises) but the listening and general behavior have come really far. We also dealt w/some mild disrespect (because it was tolerated in the past) and have mostly squashed that.
5. Lastly, I try to make it fun. (you knew it was coming! ;<) -- Dan Fee (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin) BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics ***********************************************************************READING SCORES
FINDING THE PAGE: I spent two weeks on this at the beginning of the year. I was pretty sure if they were frustrating me, they were frustrating their teachers even more.
Game One - Write a page # on the board in a square. Start a stopwatch and say "GO!" After all have found the page, without helping each other, write the final time on the board. Try to beat it with a few more tries. Then stop and strategize: When you see the page # can you tell if it'll be in the front, the middle or the back of the book? If you look at the page # you're on, how can you tell if you need to keep going or if you've gone too far? If you're looking for page 300 and you're on page 200, which is faster - turning one page at a time or turning a whole chunk of pages? Then try again with the stopwatch. If they get below a predetermined time (I always say a minute, but I sometimes fudge to make them feel successful if they're working really hard) they get to sing the song on that page.
Game Two - Line them up in teams. Set a book at the front of each line. Write a page number in a square on the board and let the first 2 batters go at it. First one to find the page gets a run for the team. If you notice one poor kid just doesn't have a clue, add a batting coach to help them with their turn until they get the hang of it.
These games made a huge difference in their ability to find the page and were worth every minute we spent on them. -- Andrea CopeBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************SINGING SOLOS
SOLO TODAY? WRITE YOUR NAME DOWN: I got this from John Feierband: Get a large sheet of paper, like chart paper. Put the teacher's name on it. He keeps two different markers. One color means that they sang a solo today. The other color means that they created a song today.
He asks for volunteers to sing a solo and whoever sings gets to write their names on the paper. Of course, many of the KGs can't write yet, but it would be interesting to see how their handwriting improves. That's why I haven't started it yet.
The next time he says "If your name is not on the chart and you would like to sing a solo, etc.)
After they sing, they get a little certificate that says "I sang a solo in music class today." When everyone's name is on the chart, you can go to check marks. - Contributed by Chandra SadlerBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************TESSITURA
We can speak of the tessitura of the voice or the tessitura of the song. The tessitura of the voice is, according to Andreas and Fowells, "the part of the voice which is capable of the easiest sustained production." On their Fach chart, they give a tessitura of a sixth for all Fachs. Lyric tenor is A3 to F4, dramatic tenor is F3 to D4. The tessitura of a song is indeed the prevailing range of the song, wherein most of the notes lie. Obviously, the clever singer chooses music with a tessitura that matches the tessitura of her/his voice.
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a- According to my dictionaries (French ones, sorry) the tessitura is the set of notes that can be produced quite easily by a singer. For most tenors, this range is more or less 2 octavas between low and high C. Another definition is the range of an instrument. But a voice's range is different of it's tessitura.
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According to my dictionaries (french ones, sorry) the tessitura is the set of notes that can be produced quite easily by a singer. For most tenors, this range is more or less 2 octavas between low and high C. Another definition is the range of an instrument. But a voice's range is different of it's tessitura. If you think about the tessitura as being a kind of *median* around which the music is based, (Karen). More difficult is the definition of the voice type.
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A - The first obvious definition of the voice type is it's tessitura. The question would be absurd. lyric-coloratura soprano roles (Karen) In the French def. of lyric-coloratura is a very high voice (Konstanze, Zerbinetta, Lakmé...). (I'm not sure it's the same elsewhere since "coloratura" should not mean high)
B - The second refers to score instead of the singer's voice. It is true that Wagner's heldentenor roles often have lower tessituras
C - The third refers to the voice's color. there can be some connection - or at least observations to be made - about tessitura when it comes to the *timbre* aspect (Karen) heldentenors often started out as baritones and always maintained a baritonal timbre
D - The fourth is composer based "Verdi barytone", "Mozart tenor" are examples.
F - The fifth refers to particular singers: What we call "Dugazon" or "Baryton Martin" is a good example of this definition Domingo...Melchior...Gedda... Wagnerian leading roles
G - The sixth refers to the role that will be played The opera de Paris, when it did exist, defined first, second... roles "Basso buffa", "tenore di grazia"... are examples.
H - The seventh is the musical style The Conservatoire de Paris used to make the difference between Oratorio, Opera-Comique and Opera singers
I- The eighth is the national style Often, whe make the difference between the french tenor (senechal) the german tenor (from Schreier to Melchior), the russian tenor (mostly the russian basses), the italian tenor, the american manager...
J - Last but not least in my list: the Holy German Fach System. I went on the tenorland site (that I recommand you) and copied the voice types. For the tenors, you have Spiel tenor (all the small characters, e.g. the universal Piero de Palma & Michel Sénéchal) Charaktertenor which have a similar color as the previous, but the roles are more consistent. Lyrisher Tenor typically Kraus, Gedda...Jugendlicher Heldentenor most Italian tenor roles. Singers like Careras, Pava, Bergonzi, Tuscke u.s.w. Heldentenor Heavy roles for Domingo, Corelli, Del Monaco, Melchior...
(Since the french system uses all together and nobody can work on roles htat are not in his/her category, you understand why there are so few good french singers)
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I'll take the dictionary def. of tessitura. In the previous list, only the A & F defs. show an obvious link between the tessitura and the type. The J doesn't show any (look at the example roles on tenorland if you're not sure) Who are the singers who where famous in Otello? Without being exhaustive Corelli, Del Monaco, Domingo, Luccioni, Vickers, Atlantov, Pava (recording only). All had huge high notes. Listen to senechal, Schreier... and look for their high notes: none or often awful or falsetto. I define myself as a multi-purpose tenor. In the German fach system, I'm a jugentlicher Heldentenor, but I sing roles from all the categories. One must adapt to the role he sings. One more time, I think that these categories are useful as a basis for the theaters and agencies, but a good singer should obviously adapt his technique to sing much more roles than his category lists. If the internationally famous singers sung so many roles, it's not because of their voice, but because of their technique that allowed them to adapt themselves to the roles they wanted to sing. For example, in English, one has to make a difference vocally between the stressed and unstressed syllables - they shouldn't be sung at the same dynamic - but one has to do this and still maintain the legato and the shape of the larger phrase.
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This is true, but the kind of diction I suspect your teacher is talking about is usually referred to over here as "choral scholar" or "Cathedral" diction, and what is associated with choral music -- specifically sacred choral music. The feminine endings are one of the major elements of this style. This is certainly what would be applied to Dowland and other ealier music, (and, to some degree, to Britten) but would not be appropriate for many other things, among them opera.
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Many elements of pronunciation are, for the most part, regional variationb and/or a choice to be made between acceptable pronuncations. Just as these elements are present in other languages, they are present in English (althuogh we may not recognise it as such). Examples: Do we roll the R, flip the R or use an "American" R?. How different is that from "Is it an open or closed E"? I think when it's your native tongue you become less sensitive to these details of pronunciation, details that we *slave* over in a foreign language!!
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In Britain, modern, clear English diction for opera singers does *not* mean Cathedral-choir diction -- that's too affected for general use, and is also starting to be considered rather old-fashioned. Modern "singers' English" is based on Italian vowels where possible, but incorporates the difficulties of English diphthongs. The consonants are as clear and crisp as possible. It is based on spoken Standard English (*not* RP which is very, very, VERY old-fashioned and as much a "dialect" as anything).
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English is essentially made up of rather brutal consonant clusters and diphthongs. Once you understand and recognise that, it becomes quite simple to address the difficulties,and to use your technique to improve your diction. Of course, the difficulty is always going to be a singers' sound production: will it allow the words to be clear? I know that with my own sound my diction gets swallowed up in the natural dark colour of the voice. I have to work very hard to get the words across sometimes, but I know what the problems are and how to compensate. Hopefully, the effect is one of natural sound *and* clear diction -- in reality, it's simply applied technique!!
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One thing I have always felt is that baritones are generally more successful with diction than anyone else: their sung range is much closer to their speaking range than any other voice type, and it seems easier for them to incorporate the elements of spoken text more readily.
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What advice can you offer a student who wishes to develop his head voice--specifically a student in elementary music ed who wishes to sing in a way that is appropriate for singing in the public school music classroom? Is there a set of vocalizes or an instruction book which is designed for this purpose? I'd suggest _Your Voice at Its Best_ by David McClosky, which teaches how to use your natural voice without wearing it out and how to use it to its fullest extent. It should be in music stores, though I'm not too sure about UT (I'm a Knoxville native). You might need to ask a bookstore to order it. It's printed by the Boston Music Company.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************TOO LOUD!!!
06/06 I show a visual with my fingers. If I hear mumbling, I put my thumb and forefinger about a half inch apart and say "I heard this much singing." Then I spread my thumb and forefinger as far as possible and say "This is yelling; I don't want yelling. But raise your hand if you can sing like this:" Then I hold my thumb and forefinger about 2 inches apart. Note that I let them know what I heard and what I want, as well as letting them know that I don't want yelling. It has always worked for me. -- Kay in GA
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12/03 I have my students imagine they have a volume control that is numbered 0-10. If one or two students are too loud I have them "turn their volume knob down" a couple of notches. - Contributed by JoAnne McConnell
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11/03 Have you tried having children singing to each other? I have them turn to a partner and sing. If they are not able to hear their partners voice they are too loud! Then give them a different partner ......play it like a game a and it usually works. We do it all together. they out a thumbs up if they are able to hear their partner. I walk around and join in ... sometimes being the over loud one and they immediately drop the thumb. - Contributed by Sue MichielsBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************SINGING TECHNIQUES, PROBLEMS, REHEARSALS
12/08 SINGING TOO HIGH:
Sometimes, I just use a little mental visual "Let's pull it off the ceiling (with a scooping motion) and put it on your nose" My Ms. Pacman works wonders, too. It's the famous slit tennis ball with google eyes. I tell the kids to aim for her mouth because she eats notes, then I hold it higher or lower to simulate the range. ---- Karen Stafford, "The Music Education Madness Site" http://www.musiceducationmadness.com/
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06/06 Try not talking at all in the beginning of your rehearsal, but start withstanding in front of the kids and begin doing a kind of Simon Says where they have to copy what you are doing. Try this: put your hands on your head, then put up on arm then the other. Eventually a few of the kids will begin to copy you and the rest will quiet down to see what you are doing. At that point do a few echoes with you voice and hand signals and eventually do a few echo clap patterns. Make this your routine BEFORE you start to speak to them. Try it and see if things get better. -- Adrienne Werring
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7/01 Tips for Conductors and Student Musicians: http://www.classicalarchives.com/learning/index.html
1. T. sings a known phrase on 'loo' and when stopping in the middle of the phrase, class finishes the phrase. (listening, pitch skills) 2. With songs that have rests (on unaccented beats) use a fingersnap and then to 'picture' phrase, use two hands w/fingers in a position such as pulling taffy vertically to get singers to 'stretch' phrase. 3. To remind singers of "round" sound, have a signal (the ok sign w/your hand) that you can use while using your hand to 'stretch' the phrase.
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Here's something I did - unplanned - the other day when warming -up my chorus. It worked really well, so I thought I'd share it. (Ain't it the truth?? You plan for hours and it flops. You get an idea on the spot and it soars?!) Anyway, this group is pretty duddy. I have trouble getting them to use a lot of air and sing with energy. So......
1. I had them spread WAY out along the walls of the gym, using the entire space....making a huge circle. They were about 3-4 feet from each other. (both arms stretched out for distance.)
2. We sang "America" and "SSB".
3. I told them to raise a hand up high if they could hear either person next to them.
4. When we sang again, I told them to raise both hands if they could hear the people on both sides of them. Instantly, they sang with more energy and used more air. The tone was substantially improved. I told them the goal was to get everyone's hand(s) up. I thought this worked pretty well for some evaluation:
1. The students were evaluating each other.
2. The students were evaluating themselves by seeing if those near them had their hands raised.
3. I could visually evaluate the group by watching to see how many hands were raised. We could all see where the pockets of wimpy singing were. ARBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************VOCAL EXPLORATION
07/11 USE A BALL: In K and 1 we have been doing vocal exploration with a ball. They echo me swooping up, down, up and down, loop-de-loops, etc. I then throw the ball across the room to a student and they "sing" for the ball as it arcs up then down. I found the downward portion is often the hardest so I've added a raspberry sound for when the ball lands in someone's hands. When I do my initial echoing, I hold the ball up above my head with one hand and have the other at waist level ready to receive the ball. I slowly bring it down (w/vocal slide down) and when it touches the bottom hand I add the "raspberry" and they echo. [(Note: a Raspberry sound as ball hits the low hand causes C. to anticipate and keep singing into the lower register)] ---- Laura Bartolomeo
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06/06 SING THAT SHAPE: Each student gets a pipe cleaner and shapes it as they choose. Then we go around the circle and sing each shape. They stand on the floor facing me. With the older kids, I stand on the risers, because they're taller than me, but chances are you don't have that problem. I do it, they do it. For example, I I drop one hand up my side making an upward sound. I bend over from the waist making a downward sound. I honk my nose and ring my ears, I even do raspberries. And every so often I raise my hands over my head and sing like an opera singer (ony in my imagination.) They're so engrossed in the game that they do it without thinking. Then, of course, I stare silently in shock at the beautiful sound and they just beam. They would play this game every class if we had time. On early dismissal days, when the bus lines get chaotic, I'll go in and start this and they're absolutely focused. The principal loves it. -- Andrea Cope
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06/06 PAY THE RENT! How about that old favorite "Pay the Rent"?I'll try to explain it...but it's sort of visual. It's spoken, in 4/4:
1. Divide the class into boys and girls. (you can usually tell just by looking which group they belong in.....;<))) it's been "a day"!)
2. The boys say, "You must pay the rent". Rhythmically, "you" is a pick-up, accent is on "must".
3. Girls respond, "I can't pay the rent!" Again, "I" is a pick-up and "can't" is accented.
4. They go back and forth about a million times like this. They boys use a LOW, sinister voice (like they've just tied the fair maiden to the railroad tracks.) They also put their index finger below their nose, indicating their fake moustache while speaking. The girls use a HIGH voice and "give themselves a hair bow" by placing hands, fingers together, on top of their heads....fingertips touching.
5. Finally, a kid chosen as the "hero" LOUDLY barges in and announces, "I'LL SAVE YOU!!" in a very heroic voice.
6. The girls swoon and say up squeeky-high, "My hero!"
7. Boys respond, "Curses! Foiled again!"Ok....here's where it gets fun and silly and might be just the right thing for those brain-dead testing days you mentioned. (Plus, if you're not careful, everyone will learn something.....esp the boys!)
8. SWITCH PARTS! The boys "give themselves the bow" and use a very high, squeeky voice. The girls speak low, etc. I haven't done this in a LONG time....and you all might have better variations of it. But it's FUNNNN and helps the guys experience their higher, lighter voices. -- Contibuted by Dan Fee
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06/06 JULIA CHILD: My choruses love to do the "Julia Child recipe thing"! I recite a recipe and they repeat in their Julia Child "high voice". It's simple and they think it's a hoot! I try to come in with some weird concoctions that they never thought of. All the while they are up there in their high voices, getting ready to sing! (future cooks of America?) GREAT fun! Kathleen Bragle
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06/06 BOOK: I use stories and activities from John Feierabend's "Book of Vocal Exploration". They LOOOOOVE echoing the slide whistle, and I use that quite often, but there are other activities and stories to use. Also his book/tape ( probably on CD by now) "Music For Little People" has great movement activites. I use the tape to save wear and tear on my voice........I have 7 Kindergarten classes on Wednesdyas AND Fridays!!! Also his "Music For Little People" has 2 of the vocal exploration stories from his book. -- Monica in CT
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I call the "swoops" doing the "rollercoaster". We trace out hands in the air up and down, slowly, quickly, loops, smoothly, jerky, up, down, etc. You can also do something falling from the sky and splatting on the ground. You could call it a bomb, but I'd rather say it's something funny, like an airplane drops a bucket full of green slime and it comes down: ooooooooooooooooooooooooo (from high to low in a glissando), then end it with a hearty, dramatic "SPLAT" sound. It's a great laugh. Then let them come up with more items for the plane to drop: ice cream, yogurt, spaghetti. And see if they can invent cool sound effects for each different item as it hits the ground. I'm giggling just thinking about it. Gosh, I'm such a kid! Of course, if you ask the kids what the plane could drop, they're gonna say stuff like: vomit, a cow, my little sister, my teacher, etc. -Meredith Inserra
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06/06 VOCAL MAPPING: fun one is having your students make their own map on construction paper, then select a few and sing them, or have the students direct the others using their created vocal map. Another one that I have had fun with is that I make a few vocal maps and "hide" them around the room. (I made them on bright green paper, so they could spot them.) When someone found one, we would all move to that area and try it out.
I used different things like: zzzzzzzzz pst pst pst, oooo, t t t , etc. drawn on paper, for example low zzzzzzz then a swirl up to high ahhhhh....falling back down to a duh, etc. They really enjoyed making these sounds.
I would get out the scarves and say "Sing with the movement of the scarf" When it was up, we sang high (on ah, or really, whatever one felt was appropriate!), then when it went in a circle, we would make our voices follow the movement of the scarf. When it dropped to the floor, there had to be absolute silence. When they got good at that, then I would let a student lead. (I did that with other things, too like "clap" and stop when it hits the ground, or giggle.) -- PattyO in ARBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************VOICE LESSONS
07/11 Getting kids ready to be independent on parts can start in kindergarten with vocal chants. I've even divided more advanced classes into two groups, but it usually works better if they do a part and I do another. I just make sure I do my part more quietly. Then I brag on them and say "WOW, you're doing stuff that the older kids do!" With rounds, I've used class versus CD before. The round I usually use is Tender Shepard from Peter Pan, which is in the 1999 Silver Burdett series (yeah, I know, old! :-) We sing the song as a round, with me helping them as we sing in harmony with the CD. Then, again, I have the kids divided into parts sitting at different sections of the room. Hone in on those kids who are strong singers and note them right away, even at the kindergarten level. You're going to notice those who take off right away with independence in parts. My fourth graders are singing some short harmony in their show "Heartland Hoedown", with the girls singing a descant to "For the Beauty of the Earth". I hone in on those girls who are stronger and "stick out more", and make sure they are near the singers who are pretty shy. The inner hearing really is working for them. After I demonstrate a tune (and this works for recorder, too!), they have to stop and "hear" it in their minds' ear before performing it. This is good training for sight reading, too. Giving the kids a chance to thoroughly think thru a phrase instead of jumping right in and playing or singing it. Giving them time to focus and think about it usually yields in much better results.
I'm kind of surprised the class by class didn't work. That's the way I usually do it, and it's pretty successful, although.......I've done it the other way, too, which is actually better for them musically. The odds and evens sound good, or sometimes, I even take volunteers, making sure ALL my strong singers aren't on Part II :-). Then, definitely, feel free to juggle as needed. Something that helps....have each part sit at different areas of the room and do the old hand cupped to ear routine. Yes, I know it affects intonation a little, but it does help kids learn to listen to themselves. Something else...work on individual parts. Sing the part to each section, and have them internally auralize the part (inner hearing...a big Gordon/Dalcroze thing). I've started using this with singing and with recorder playing, and it helps! ---- Karen Stafford
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05/21 I have been giving voice lessons for about a 1 1/2 years. I started with one student and now have 6. I highly suggest you pick the repertoire. I usually start with a something from Folk Songs for Solo Singers (Jay Althouse). These are some great books that include CD accompaniments. There's some also good Broadway song books that I use. May want to try The First Book Of Broadway Solos / Boytim, Joan (Ed.)
Next fall, my voice students will have to purchase books that I have selected. My high schoolers will have to purchase "Basics of Singing" by Jan Schmidt. It includes a WIDE variety of music as well as information about breathing, posture, technique, etc. This is somewhat expensive because it is more text related. The cheapest place I have found this book is on the net at www.tismusic.com . There's also CD's accompaniments that can be purchased separately. My younger students will use 36 Solos for Young Singers / Boytim, Joan (Ed.)
I work approximately 15 minutes on breathing exercises, sight-singing, ear-training and rhythm-reading. My students will all be purchasing a sight-singing book in the fall so that I do not have to keep writing them. In the fall they will be at my studio for 45 minutes. 30 minutes working with me and 15 minutes before or after lesson either doing a listening or theory lesson.BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************WARMUPS
12/16 Warm-Ups For Young Voices (this is our #1 all-time, bestseller in our Warm-Ups/Sight Singing store page)
https://www.musick8.com/store/alphadetail.php?product_group=390
Partner Warm-Ups For Young Voices (NEW resource!)
https://www.musick8.com/store/alphadetail.php?product_group=3775
Do Re Mi Fa Fun (this is our #2 all-time, bestseller in our Warm-Ups/Sight Singing store page)
https://www.musick8.com/store/alphadetail.php?product_group=174
Singing Tongue Twisters A-Z (this is our #5 all-time, bestseller in our Warm-Ups/Sight Singing store page)
https://www.musick8.com/store/alphadetail.php?product_group=1705
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12/11 BOOK: A great book that has a lot of vocal warm-ups is Voice Builders for Better Choirs by Emily Crocker. You can get from Plank Road House on the mk8 website. It comes with a CD that has samples of how each warm-up sounds. The CD does not include instrumental tracks. The book has all the piano accompaniments. I've been using the book for several years now. Another book I really like is Singing Tongue Twisters A-Z by Brian Kane. This book also comes with CD that has the vocals only. The book has all the piano accompaniments. Plank Road House also carries this book. I use both these books every day with my 2nd-5th grade classes. Both books should work well with middle school kids. They are designed for choirs of all ages. ---- Tami Mangusso
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07/11 GROUP VOICE LESSONS (Elementary) http://tuesdaymusic.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/
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06/10 POSTURE! That's the key. We do lots of very physical warm ups - raggedy Ann and Andy dolls - swinging arms (with care!)- jumping jacks - fresh air - and always reminders about posture. I think too that kids have to feel that they have something to SHARE. I will very often tell them that I want to see a diva etc. not stuck up but yes, with an attitude! Warmups are critical. Check out Rollo Dillworth's materials too - excellent! --- Kathleen Bragle
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Starting in the key of C: kids sing the numbers/scale steps (all numbers are 8th notes except for the ones with -- which are half notes)
12345--
54321--
15453525
1545321
15453525
154678!
Sing "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean," and have the kids stand up or sit down on every "b" word. Results in chaos!
One that someone shared here that my kids love:
mini mini mini mini
ming ming ming ming
what a pity what a pity
what what what what
zoom zoom zoom zoom
zaah-ah (on this note only you go up a half step)
"Oh what a lovely day" is one I use with my students that I used in college choir - sing the phrase up and down an arpeggio. --- Dana Edwards
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12/09 SING NUMBERS: One of the ideas that I think I got from this list is to have the students sing:
1,2,3,4,5
5,4,3,2,1,
1,5,4,5,3,5,2,5,
1,5,4,5,3,2,1.
They use the scale and sing up and down the five notes but say the numbers.? My kids love it.? They have quickly wanted to transfer that little ditty to the xylophones.
2. Sing: Me, may, ma, mo, moo - singing these syllables on each note, so they are singing 4 quarter notes on C and then a whole note on C.? The kids think is is very funny.? Then you sing it on D with the same syllables, then on E and so on.? --- Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
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BOOK: "Choir Builders" by Rollo Dilworth. This book is AMAZING! Last year it turned my group of reluctant choir members into singers. Some favorites were "Soda Pop Cans," "Do-Bah," "Corral the Chorale," and 12/09 "Calling, Calling." All the warm-ups use work some particular technique. It comes with CD and also piano accompinament. Good, good resource. --- Elizabeth in OH
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VIDEO: I would strongly recommend, for warm-ups, John Feirabend's new sets "Move IT!" one and two. Each one comes with a DVD and CD. --- Karen Stafford
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PHYSICAL WARMUP: I did this very fun warm up with 3rd thru 6 th grade.Quarter notes are LRLRLR etc ( in a marching/walking motion)
Half Notes are L step/clap? R step/clap (Stepping on 1, clap on 2)
Whole Notes are? Step L and point on 2, 3 4, then reverse..(so its Step on 1, and then we do this egyptian type pointing dance on 2,3 4)
Eighth notes are jogging on 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
Whole rests are a freeze with your fist up and head bob to the beat for 4 beats
I usually go over the different steps with the kids without music. Then I add some appropriate lively music, and I call out the notes at random.
As they get better at it, I plan to have students call out the beats for the class...At Halloween, we used Ghostbusters, and Thriller with the older kids.. They LOVED it. I have used music from HSM as well, and Aretha Franklins Respect... Its a good way to introduce new music too...--- Janet in Western MA, Deerfield Elementary
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12/07 GRIER WARMUPS: I love the Grier Warm ups. There were three versions... Developing, Church, and .... I can't remember. They run great exercises, a multitude of keys, and even go into some literature with up to optional 4 part voicings. I had a fantastic digital piano with a built in disk drive at the time. So I plugged the song into Finale and saved it as a General MIDI file. This way, the piano would play it back on its own. Kids liked it to. They would nearly revolt anytime I tried to do something else! And this was High School! --- Tom Matteson
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12/07 BOOK: My kids LOVE "BOOK OF CALL AND RESPONSE" I found in a John Fiereabend book, (Westmusic.com) The one they love is the one about meeting at the grocer and counting polar bears. The way I use it as a warm up is to sing it only on S-M (which I place in varying starting points each time). At the end, when it asks for the number of polar bears counted, I call on a student and they choose a number between 1 and 20. If they chose the number 19, I might then say "19 shoulder rolls" or "19 jumping jacks," etc. I also use students as the leaders after a while. The great thing about this warm-up is I can tailor it to the class's "mood" that day. If they're low-energy, I use it to get them jazzed up and vice versa. I use this from K-5 and also with my community youth chorus which is grades 4-7 and they ALL love it! -- Becky Luce
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12/07 WARMUP: Last year, I purchased Rollo Dilworth's Choir Builders book, and even though there are some more difficult warm-ups, there are some really fun ones that the younger kids may like. -- Jennifer Schroeder
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12/07 BOOK: I have had a tremendous amount of success with the Warm Ups published by Plank Road Publishing http://www.musick8.com/ as well as the Voccata's.? The voccata's are located in Volumes #14, 15 and 16, [of the Music K-8 magazines, #3 I think?] They are fabulous warm ups as well.? My fourth graders especially liked the one called Voccata #3 in magazine #16 and I like the one in #14.? The one in # 15 is called (Gloria) so would be very suited for a Christmas concert.? You can go to the Music K-8 website and listen to sound clips of each of these.? The warm ups are also very useful. -- Caryn Mears
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12/07 ROUNDS: My kids like rounds--the Peace Round, Scotland's Burning -with gestures- and the Ghost of John. -- Dianne Park President, San Diego American Orff Schulwerk Association, Visit our SDAOSA website at http://www.sbsd.k12.ca.us/~slloyd/index.htm
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06/07 PARODY on MY BONNIE LIES….
Change the words and have them the alternating up and down with every syllable that begins with B. A friend of mine suggested this:
My Bob-by lives beyond the Beltway. My Bob-by lives beyond the sea.
My Bob-by lives beyond the Beltway. Oh bring back my Bob-by to me. etc. -- Donna Boylan
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06/06 BOOK: "Sing Legato!" by Kenneth Jennings, published by Kjos.. The kids LOVE IT. I send the exercises home for homework! and THE KIDS DO THEIR HOMEWORK! (and-=---the parents are excited about CHOIR HOMEWORK--they realize that their children are actually LEARNING something tangible and useful! - Bill Ahlman“Sing Legato”] I love these warm ups. I also had some warm ups with accompanying tapes by Gene Grier. I would pop them into the tape recorder when the kids came in and they would warm up while they were getting their folders and getting seated.....cut down on chatter too. -- Judy in Wi.
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06/06 HARMONY WITH NUMBERS: [My students] have had a hard time learning to sing in harmony. They do great until we put the harmony with the melody and then it is like pulling teeth to keep everything in key. UNTIL... another music teacher gave me a sheet that focuses upon harmony. IT WORKS!!!
There are four lines (each line includes the pitch numbers and solfege.) Students can sing each line individually, or the magic is you can make a combination of any of the lines, or all of the lines to get four part harmony. The students love it and it is working. They are not yet perfect with this, but I see a great improvement. Here are the four lines:
8 7 8 6 5 7 8
3 4 3 1 1 4 3
5 5 5 4 5 5 5
1 2 1 4 3 2 1 -- Pamela Rezach
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ELIMINATION GAME: This is a fun thing to do. Start with the entire choir singing a round or a warm-up that can be sung as a round that they should know very well. I have many different ones that I can choose from, but for middle school I carefully choose something that doesn't have a big range to help the guys with changing voices. Go ahead and do it as a round with 2, 3 or four parts.
Ask the singers to stand (if they aren't already) and pair up. If there are groups of three, that's OK.
Tell the singers they are going to sing the round again, this time facing their partner and looking them in the eye. Let the singers decide who will go first. Start the entire group.
Whoever can finish the round in the pair is the winner. Remind them to use good singing voices - no shouting or other vocal manipulations to mess up the other person on purpose. If both singers were able to do it, they both win.
"Losers" sit down. "Winners" move on and form a new pair with someone else. Continue until you get to one singer. Sometimes I can't get just one winner - if there are several standing and they can all do this, then they are all the winners for the day!
This takes 5-8 minutes for my grades 9-12 un-auditioned choir of 70 to do....
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EXERCISE WARMUPS: In thinking about this whole issue of matching pitch and singing on pitch - I find that my warm ups for my Chorus are getting more and more "physical". We do jumping jacks, stretches, jogging etc. What a difference it has made just in terms of the energy level, but also with the kids singing more on pitch. I always remind them that a singer is like an athlete and should warm up before beginning.
The school environment is not often the best for singing so we make do with what we have. Two of my groups rehearse in the Cafeteria - another in the Gym so I try to keep warm ups "action oriented" as much as possible. I am amazed at the difference it has made!
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BOOK: I use Nancy Telfer's "SUCCESSFUL WARMUPS, Book 1 & 2, with my Junior High Choir. The exercises are well defined and easy. There is a student book and a teacher/director edition. Publisher Kjos Music Company (V83S) I think the student book cost $6.95 each.
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BOOK: "Warm-Ups for Young Voices": I just received my copy of the above from Plank Publishing this week and absolutely love the book! It is written by Anne Ellsworth and Teresa Jennings. Contains lots of good information, and just good sense type vocal warm-ups and activities. My students are loving it and so am I. I would highly recommend buying it to anyone. I had been looking for a good warm-up book for some time, and this certainly fits the bill. 07/05 Have you ever done "I am Slowly Going Crazy?" (1-2-3-4-5-6-switch; the students sing that first title line a la "leaning" on their elbows, palms under chins and then switch elbows when singing that title line backwards, gradually increasing the tempo of the song with each repetition) Okay, so now I can see some of you mouthing "crazy-going-slowly-am-I" :-). -- Contributed by Laurie
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07/05 BA-LAH-BA: A good "lip warmer upper" (and ears too): I don't think it has a name but I call it "Me Balabba" (thats bah-LAH-bah).
You write the pronouns on the board "Me, you, he, she, we, they, me." and the sequence goes like this:
ME balabba YOU balabba HE balabba SHE balabba
WE balabba THEY balabba ME
The rhythm is all sixteenth notes except the last "me"is a half note. The pitches run up and down Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, Fa, Mi, Re etc. ending on Do. Increase by half step and repeat (oo...that almost sounds like shampoo directions! -- Norm
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07/05 RUBBER BAND: I use a rubber band and make it match the melodic movement of the siren. It's no "biggie" but so much good has come from this: - it allowed me to compare the rubber band to what's happening in their throats when they sing. -it's another visual so they can SEE the music moving up, down .....etc. -
I often use the word "stretch" to encourage matching higher pitches. Now they can SEE the rubber band stretching as the pitch ascends. -when I have them echo solfeggio patterns back to me, again, they can SEE the melodic movement. -
Today, I asked for a child to replace me ("who wants to use the MAGIC rubber band and sit on the MAGIC stool?") - though I'm usually on the floor w/them - and this worked really well. I could do a little informal assessment of the leader. Also, I was amazed at their creativity. They didn't just do patterns that I had done. Some made different sounds for the class to echo. And every time, the rubber band they were using matched what was happening w/their voice.
One boy turned the rubber band sideways (something I'd never thought of) and sang one pitch..unchanging! Anyway, I want to move toward giving each of them a rubber band to use (will have to make consequences very clear because we all know what might happen!!) so they can really apply what we've tried so hard to do this year regarding matching.-- Dan Fee
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08/04 TECHNIQUES: 1. Roller coasters--students follow the path of a roller coaster with their arms and voices (for variety we switch arms and start high/low or add loops). When I had a room, we would also draw rollercoaster patterns on the board and "sing" them.
2. Pipe Cleaner Rollercoasters--Same principle, but students shape pipe cleaners as they choose, then we go around the circle and "sing" each child's shape.
3. Mixed-up Rollercoasters--Pre-draw several different patterns on separate cards. "Sing" them separately and in a connected line, then shuffle the order.
4. Coyote Slides--I use this with older kids. I discuss the sound on the cartoon when Wylie Coyote falls off a cliff. Then we put a hand up high and throw him off the cliff with a long, slow "loo" until our voices give out. Then we quietly say, "Splat." The great thing about it is that I can kick them into higher voices by saying, "THAT wasn't a very high cliff! It's got to start REALLY high!" My 5th boys just LOVED it.
5. Mr. Glissando (mentioned on a recent posting)--toss/bounce a stuffed animal and children follow it with their voices.
6. Slide Whistle (posted before)--Students echo a slide whistle.
7. Elevators--I use my flat hand to show relative height (ptich level), and children mirror my movements. We start at a very low pitch and then move slowly higher, hovering a couple of times on the way up for children to try to stabilize on a single pitch (it was a bigger hit than I expected w/ my 3rd graders). We end up as high as possible in the penthouse, then slide all the way back down to the basement. Hope some of these help. Don't be afraid to be creative. Just do anything that makes the children experiment with their voices within a wide pitch range. Also, be sure that children don't sing songs that are pitched too low. Until they can consistently identify and use their singing voices, they will often sing too low or with a very rough tone on lower notes. -- Contributed by Beth in AZ
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LOWER ELEMENTARY
VOICE FLEX CARDS: I bought some voice flexing cards this year. I have been using these cards very successfully with my students all ages. They are cards with line drawings on them that the children follow with their voices. They are wonderful for vocal experimentation and range expansion.
Well...on the spur of the moment I thought...this would be great if the children made their own! So...my 2nd graders did! They had already been through about 10 of the cards so they understood what they needed to do! I gave them a piece of heavy white paper and they drew their own with pencil and then traced it with marker. When they finished, we vocalized each one.
They were so proud to take them home and show their parents what neat things they could do with their voices.It seems to me that anytime we can get the children to create something of their own...it awakens them and energizes them. Maybe not all of them...but a high percentage. When I use the voice flexing cards from now on...they will remember what a fun thing they did with theirs! -- Contributed by Kristin Lukow
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BOOKS:
"Voice Builders for Better Choirs" by Emily Crocker published by Hal Leonard. If I'm not mistaken Plank Road has it. There are some really nice warm-ups in this book (for all ages). It also comes with a CD that demonstrates each warm-up(adult voices). The piano accompaniments are in the back of the book. We do about 2-4 exercise each time. I change them about every 2 months. I would share some with all of you, but I don't want to break the copyright law.
BOOK: MK8 magazine(4th and 5th grade - musick8.com): Who Do Warm-Up(vol. 13 no. 1), Warm-up in Gee (and Gosh Golly)(Vol. 11 No. 1), and Warm-Up (Vol 4 No.5). Before we start singing of any kind we do breathing exercise. I have a Hoberman Sphere that works well for a visual. We breathe in for 4 and out on "sss", in for 4 out on "ch, ch, ch---", in for 4 out on "ch, who" (just shape the mouth as if were saying who, but just blow without making any vocal sounds), and then I just make up breathing exercises as we go, sometimes we put several of them together and will make it sound like a train (I only do this with 3-5 grade).
After breathing we do sirens with "Mr. Glissando" (stuffed teddy bear) as I toss him students make siren sounds according to how high he goes. I also will move him in circles and zig zag lines and student make their voice match with how he moves. My students like this activity because if they all do it correctly and no one talks right after a siren the metallophones will sing. They want to know how do I get the metallophones to sing. I told them it was not me, but all of their voices that did it. They don't believe me, so now they think I am a magician. -- Contributed by Tami Mangusso
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Use a BIRD PUPPET: Make it 'fly'Fly down: Fly up: Caught in a storm (up & down repeatedly); Echoes: (use sol, mi, do, and la) on: I am a robin, I am flying low, I am flying high
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To develop tone: have C. sing (on sol, mi) the vowels: Oo, Ee, Ay, Ah, Oh; (Use butterfly puppet to direct up/down)
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BEAN BAGS: (Vocalize each throw arching vowel: Oo ALPHABET: Chant the entire alphabet on one pitch, count up to ......on one pitch
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UPPER ELEMENTARY
06/04 SEVEN SIAMESE sailors sailed the seven salty seas!
D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-s-f-m-r-d (ti-ti tiri-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta)
up a half step each time! -- Contributed by RaeAnna Goss
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Vocalize:
sh sh sh sh, (one pitch:) ah, ah, ah, ah
[up by half tones]
sh, sh, sh, sh, (do, mi, sol, mi) ah, ah, ah, ah
[up by half tones] (use all vowels)
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I LOVE __ __ TO SING__ __ __
D D' S M D________
Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo__________
S S S S S F M R D z
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BREATHING
1. Stand w/one hand around throat, other flat against ribs in back;Breathe and feel rib cage expand, no tightening in throat;
2. Tightening throat: (to feel this action) move arms and body as if to lift a weight off the ground (throat tightens)
3. If breath is not silent, something in mechanism is engaging improperly; 4. Use a "good stretch machine" (hold arms out in front -palms facing each other- and pull apart out to side of body - expands rib cage)
5. Exercise: "Take a LOW breath, ....Now take a HIGH breath" "Breathe LOW!!"
Warmups 1. 3/4: (on "noh")I I I b I b I b. I I I I I I I I I b. d' t l s f m f s d" t' l' s' f' m' r' d' t d'
2. (1 pitch) Chester Cheetah chewed a chunk of Cheap Cheddar Cheese
3. Barber Baby Bubbles and a Bumble Bee
4. Red Leather, Yellow Leather
5. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
6. Mommy made me mash my M.& M.'s
7. A cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup
(do re mi fa so fa mi re do) so do
8. Pardon me but have you an -y Gray Pou-pon? (1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1,5,1)
9. So La So C am dm G7 // (etc., in 1/2 step increments)
10. Lips Teeth Tip of the Tongue (drmd, rmfr, etc., then descend)
11. Oo, ee, aa, ooh, ah (one pitch, back of throat) then Noh, etc., (Have
student hold one finger on each side of mouth and sing these vowels w/o changing shape of mouth)
12. To the tune of Saraponda:
Chocolate cookie, ....chocolate cookie yum yum yum (repeat from beg)
And or-e-o I love my oreo
I love my chocolate cookie and my chocolate oreo
13. 1. 1-2. 1-2-3. 1-2-3-4. (using pitches ascending)
14. I Love to Sing (s d'____s m d)
15. Scale on Oo
16. A, B, C's (sing alphabet on 1 pitch, hold on 'O')
17. Ubi Caritas
18. No-ah, No-ah, No-ah, No-ah's ark. (smfrmdrtd) (snap on rest)
19. Ping Pong (as noah but point w/index finger)
20. "Body,Mind, Spirit, Voice, It takes the whole person to sing and rejoice" (Helen Kemp)
21. f f f f, s, s, s, s, sh, sh, sh, sh, Then use chart with rhythms: I I // I, I z I z, etc.,
End with bend over to expel air on 'sh'
22. P, T, K, K, K (point)
23. Betty Botter bought bum butter. "Blah!" said she, "Bum butter's bitter!
But it's blended in my batter and it's made my batter bitter!
But if I blend some better butter, better than the bitter butter,
It'll make my bitter batter better!"
So, Betty bought better butter Better than the bitter butter
Blended it in her bitter batter, and Now her bitter batter's better!
24. Lips, teeth, tip of the tongue. (sung in a descending scale, all syllables on do, then ti, etc.)
25. DRMFSFMRD Potassium, Magnesium (repeat as you go up and down)
26. DMRFSLFRDtD (t is below d) See the swimmers swimming in the salty sea
27. DMShiDSMD (?) SSFFMMRRD (answer) Yes, I know... (?) No ya, no ya, no ya, no ya don't (answer) ...guys or altos and men
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SCALE WARMUP....works as a canon after they learn it:
D(rest through 4)
DR (rest through 4)
DRM (rest 4)
DRMF, DRMFS, DRMFSL, DRMFSLT, DRMFSLTD, DRMFSLT,
DRMFSL, DRMFS, DRMF, DRM, DR, D
(this works perfectly as you conduct in 4/4) the pattern works in eighth notes...adding a note each time...the full scale DRMFSLTD takes 4 beats to say. As they can do this...then you do a canon.
Start one group on beat 1, the next on 3 (when they can do 2 parts)
Start on group on beat 1, 2, and then 3(when they can do 3 parts) add..on the fourth group.
with the canon the trick is that D (low D) always starts on their beat (beat 1 traditionally) beat 3 for 2 parts. etc..
You can also use scale degrees for this...1, 12, 123 etc...
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BOOK: "Warm-Ups for Young Voices" I just received my copy of the above from Plank Publishing this week and absolutely love the book! It is written by Anne Ellsworth and Teresa Jennings. Contains lots of good information, and just good sense type vocal warm-ups and activities. My students are loving it and so am I. I would highly recommend buying it to anyone. I had been looking for a good warm-up book for some time, and this certainly fits the bill.
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FILL THE TANK: In warmup, I stand in front of my choir and tell them to raise their arms slowly as they inhale, and to pretend they are inhaling through one of those giant plastic Pixy Stix. (A tube approx. 1/2 inch in diameter) I model so that they can see how gradually we "fill the tank". As we exhale (through the Pixy Stix, for a stream of air), we gradually lower our arms to our sides. We do 2 or 3 of those, depending on how focused the kids are. Then I have them raise their arms and inhale through the Pixy Stix, but when we exhale, we make a "sssss" sound, like a long slow leak in a tire.
The first few times we do this, we talk about the "tummy" muscles that contract in order to make this happen, and I explain that really, it's the diaphragm. Then, I have them raise their arms, inhale as before, but when we exhale, we make a "ssst" sound, about one per beat at mm76 or so. Our arms come down like a jerky second hand on a clock. The kids call this the Sprinkler, because (1) it sounds like the big commercial lawn sprinklers you hear on public grounds, and (2) sometimes we inadvertently shower a little saliva when we do this...........oops.......When our arms get to about 4 and 8 o'clock, we finish with a slow leak so that we don't pass out. Again, we talk about our muscles controlling our air. I use other exercises, but this one seems easiest for the kids to grasp.
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BOOKS: There are two choral warm-ups that I use. One is by Teresa Jennings from an old MK8 magazine (check the index). The other is by Gene Grier and is sold as a single octavo with accompaniment tape. I think it's called "Time-saving Warm ups for the Developing Choir."
The complete Choral Warm-up Book by Russell Robinson and Jay Althouse published by Alfred is REALLY good, check it out!!!!
I use Nancy Telfer's "SUCCESSFUL WARMUPS, Book 1 & 2, with my Junior High Choir. The exercises are well defined and easy. There is a student book and a teacher/director edition. Publisher Kjos Music Company (V83S) I think the student book cost $6.95 each.
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MOVEMENT: I do these with my chorus and from K on up. I also tell them that they just dont' sing with their throats/voice...they sing with the whole body. I use classical music, world music. I have them do slow sustained movements, sharp movements, bending and stretching and finish with some fun karate moves that include vocal sounds as well. All the time keeping them aware of that diaphragm muscle for breath control. Make it a habit and the silliness stops and they get busy.
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CONCENTRATION WARMUP: Something I tried this week was fun. It it not really a musical exercise at all, but a good concentration warmup. (I have found that it is important to have a variety of warmup or breathing or movement type of exercise available for use at the beginning of a class.) It is an exercise used in drama classes, so many of you may have done it before. It is called zoom. The children sit in a circle, and the child who starts it looks into the eyes of child sitting beside him/her and says: "zoom." That child in turn passes it to the next in the circle. The idea is to get it going very fast. Children in 3rd-5th grades are pretty good at this, so a challenging variation is to get two or three "zooms" going around the circle simultaneously.
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BOOK: I have a book called Choral Warm-ups from A toZ: singing Sr. Seuss's ABC by Karle J Erickson Hinshaw Music
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CHOOSE TEACHING WARMUPS: I like to do warm-ups that teach something from a song---especially with pronounciation. I put the words together "Down, Town, Found, A-Round" and sing it descending (So-Fa-Mi-Re-Do). We concentrate on taking out our Hoosier "ow" sound to make it more rounded and beautiful. It is easy to then correlate it back during a song: i.e.: "what warm-up could we apply in this passage?" I also do that with taking out the "chew" as in "Don't you, Did you Know." Our goal is to see how many repetitions we can make without ANY chew's.
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CHART: One of my most successful strategies for warmup is that I made a huge chart that is posted high in my room with each of the 15 warmups that they know and they are numbered. I have the name of each child in the choir in a bag and I pull one student's name out after each warm-up session. That student then "sponsors" the warmup of the next class period by writing the number of the warm-ups on their name slip that they want us to do. I always write an agenda of the rehearsal on the board, and so # 1 is always Warmups with the numbers after it that have been chosen and the name of the student that sponsors it. They LOVE to do this and remind me if I forget to draw a name. This gives them ownership in the rehearsal. I always do a solfege warmup singing with hand signs after their warm ups.
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SING A ROUND: This year I started "Sing a Round" for a warmup. I teach them a round and then we split the class into as many as 4 groups. They like that too....it's good parts singing without a lot of teaching time.
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FAVORITE warmups are ; How blue is the Sky (so do' so mi do) and then go up each time. It is good for oo sound and ah for the i sound. Po-ta- to-o-o-o-o (do mi so fa me re do with the first 2 staccato and the descending pattern legato)
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BOOK: The Iowa Choral Director's Association has a wonderful thick book of warm-ups available for purchase...not a fancy book but lots of GREAT ideas!!!!! If you are a member of ACDA, they can give you the number for the contact person in ICDA. As I recall, the book is only about $5.00 contact Bruce Norris in Iowa of the Iowa Choral Director's Association...he's in charge of those things. His address is: Bruce Norris's email address is: [email protected]
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BOOK: "Teaching the Elementary School Chorus" by Linda Swears. It gets you thinking about logistics and other things I tend to forget about until they are upon me. ;-) It's available through West Music and other places as well
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BOOK: Choral Warm-Ups From A to Z:Singing...Dr. Seuss's ABC, Karle J. Erickson Hinshaw MusicISBN: 0-937276-19-7 #HMB-205 Teacher's Edition $9.95
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WARMUP #1. One of the things I do that the students absolutely love, is sing questions and whatever person I point to answers back by either copying the melodic phrase I use or improvising his answer. I keep it very easy. Example: I sing to the melodic motif SSMLSM "Did you do your homework?" The student can answer back something as easy as "Yes, I did." (Using the same melodic pattern or making up his own melodic pattern.) In the beginning, most of the students copy the melody I use, but once one brave soul improvises, the "ball gets to rolling" with the others. I try to think of questions to ask that I know they will enjoy answering. Other questions I use are: Do you like pickles?Do you have a brother? What's your favorite subject? Did you brush your teeth today? Etc.
WARMUP #2. I begin and stay on Do and sing: "Do you like pickles = Ta ti-ti Ta Ta? And the entire chorus sings back, "Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum = Ti-ti, Ti-ti, Ta." Their pitches are Do, Re, Me, Re, Do. Then I move up 1/2 step and ask another question to the whole chorus. They answer back with the same answer, but begin 1/2 step higher. I got this idea from a book, but can't remember where I got it. The students love this one! It has really helped to develop wider ranges among the students.
WARMUP #3. I use jazz CD's. I will sign familiar melodic motifs (using Kodaly signs) and the students sing them back to me. With the jazz background it's like being in a performance! If you don't have a jazz CD, use one of the jazz songs from Music K-8. They work too. Just be sure and use the instrumental track. (This is when I stress all basic Kodaly motifs.) It is also a great way to get the students singing scat. Last year, I had several students who wanted to be the leader. It was great! It's also a great time to get the students to sing in rounds as they sing simple melodic patterns. The jazz background keeps the beat steady for them and they really sound great with this. These are the warm-ups I use most often. (Of course, we do a lot of siren sounds, dog sounds, high/low, etc. They like moving like elevators too, as they move up and down the scale.
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TONGUE TWISTER: I have a tongue twisting warm-up that is fun: I use a major scale going up & down in quarter notes, with 2 quarter notes on each scale step. On each quarter note, I say the word "minimum," i.e., I say "minimum" twice on every scale step. I start slowly & increase tempo as the students get more proficient. I also use "lingeringly, longingly" ( one word on each quarter note, 1 time through the phrase on each scale step) and "red leather, yellow leather" (Quarter note and 6 eighths on each scale step)
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TUNE IN! I have also found that "tuning in" by singing most exercises in canon and/or contrary motion is very beneficial. Accuracy of pitch matching has been interesting with my secondary students when I use falsetto, once students are familiar with the tonal qualities of this voice type they rapidly improve pitch placement and voice control. My primary students seem to do this quite naturally.
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Check out Gene Grier's warm-ups, available at most music stores. He has several different ones and they have accompaniment tapes (CDs no?) so they can be warming up as they come in....they're great!
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COUNTING FOR WARMTH
Vocal Warmup Technique:
This exercise works for upper elementary choirs through adult. It is great to focus your singers. Scale degrees are sung with numbers using the following sequence:
1, 121, 12321, 1234321, 123454321...etc. after reaching 8, then you work your way down until you finish exactly like you started.
After this is secure in unison, try 2 or 4 part canons with it. Each group enters after the preceding group sings "1, 12*" (the asterisk is where the next group starts from the beginning).
This exercise sounds very impressive to others who may be observing.
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MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL
I divide the group into either 2 or 3 parts (sometimes by the end of the year,4 parts). I assign part 1 a simple scat melody that I make up on the spots using only the I and V7 chord. I keep it jazzy, with lots of syncopation, etc. Then I give another part, still based on those two chords to part 2 and part 3,so that we end up with a very short, 3-part "sample." Once they're singing their parts, I stop and tell them they have 30 seconds to come up with a motion that "fits" their part. When we put it all together, we have a physical warm-up as well. The next challenge is for them to listen and watch each other, because then we rotate parts! --------------------------
Here's a simplified (no rhythms included) version:
Part 1: do mi do, ti do re do ti, (repeat)
Part 2: mi so do (high), so fa mi re do (repeat)
Part 3: so (slide to high) do, so la so la so, (repeat)
The nice thing about this is it can be expanded to include more chords, thus making a longer warm-up, adjusted to use blues chords, etc.
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SING CORRECTLY ALL THE WAY!
Here's a neat warm-up for choir.
Use this pattern 1234543212345432123454321-5-1.
Now, use these words: I just want to sing today and, sing correctly all the way be - cause to sing correctly is the way -to- sing.
Then, go up the scale by 1/2 steps while singing this. It's lots of fun. This warm-up could also be used to warm-up before a show or a musical. This warms up the lips, tongue, and vocal cords. Have fun!
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COUNTING FOR WARMTH
Vocal Warmup Technique:
This exercise works for upper elementary choirs through adult. It is great to focus your singers. Scale degrees are sung with numbers using the following sequence:
1, 121, 12321, 1234321, 123454321...etc. after reaching 8, then you work your way down until you finish exactly like you started.
After this is secure in unison, try 2 or 4 part canons with it. Each group enters after the preceding group sings "1, 12*" (the asterisk is where the next group starts from the beginning).
This exercise sounds very impressive to others who may be observing.
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VIDEO: I highly recommend the video Vocal Techniques for the Young Singer, by Henry Leck with guest artist Steven Rickards and the Indianapolis children's choir. This is an approach to teaching vocal techniques utilizing visualization, movement, and aural modeling. It comes with a booklet on warm-ups which are also demonstrated on the video. Some of the exercises are solfege-based, some are vocalizes on vowels, some are words. They are varied and interesting.
The warm-ups have standing in place movements which you can add to the vocalises. I have seen Henry Leck do these with students (Milwaukee, Sept. 2000) and the results are very impressive. I have also played part of the video for my Boys Chorus--they were mesmerized and mimicked the actions on the video. Highly recommend. I am taking part of my summer to sit down and go through the video--marking off sections I can show the students. The address on the tape is Plymouth Music Co., Inc., 170 N. E. 33rd Street, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334 (I purchased it through a music catalogue.)
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VOCAL WARMUPS.... This is a fun thing to do, although it isn't something to do very often. It's fun to see who is left standing!
Start with the entire choir singing a round or a warm-up that can be sung as a round that they should know very well. I have many different ones that I can choose from, but for middle school I carefully choose something that doesn't have a big range to help the guys with changing voices.
Go ahead and do it as a round with 2, 3 or four parts.
Ask the singers to stand (if they aren't already) and pair up. If there are groups of three, that's OK.
Tell the singers they are going to sing the round again, this time facing their partner and looking them in the eye.
Let the singers decide who will go first. Start the entire group.
Whoever can finish the round in the pair is the winner. Remind them to use good singing voices - no shouting or other vocal manipulations to mess up the other person on purpose. If both singers were able to do it, they both win.
"Losers" sit down. "Winners" move on and form a new pair with someone else. Continue until you get to one singer. Sometimes I can't get just one winner- if there are several standing and they can all do this, then they are all the winners for the day!
This takes 5-8 minutes for my grades 9-12 un-auditioned choir of 70 todo....BACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
***********************************************************************WEBSITES
12/11 You ‘gotta’ see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGE0My7XAxw – Mal Webb’s Ti Tree kids.
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06/09 ARTICLE: "Singing: The Key to a Long Life" by Brian Eno (NPR Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97320958&sc=fb&cc=fbnote-20090212
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Song Lyrics for Kids’ songs: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/music.htm#index
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For information on voice care (this is good for EVERY MUSIC TEACHER!!!) go to www.voiceacademy.org and check out their site. Great info! -- Contributed by Pat Price
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www.voicelesson.comBACK to Voice, Warmups, Techniques topics
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