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Teaching The Young Voice

Introduction
Instructing the young voice is a skill that most vocal teachers have not developed. There is great demand in this day and age for voice teachers to work with children under the age of twelve. The increased effect of society’s access to the media has created a world where parents dream of their child becoming the next big star. Contemporary voice teachers can find varying opinions regarding teaching students of any age as well as significant debate surrounding teaching those under the age of twelve, and even those into adolescence.

The conundrum of whether to teach young voices comes from many sources. Some antiquated thought is teaching young children in a private voice lesson setting can be dangerous and will put teachers and students at risk, which has its merit. Some are adamantly opposed and others find great benefit to working with young singers.

“Since children’s voices are very vulnerable to misuse and abuse, vocal music educators need to be particularly vigilant in protecting them. All beginning voice students benefit greatly from having personal time with a competent instructor to guide their training and to offer regular feedback.” An importance should be placed on teaching young voices as sound pedagogical training for children can be beneficial and effective for the young performance. Steps can be taken that will create a healthy and balanced young singer, who will in turn become a confident performer.

Understanding the Young Vocal Mechanism and Growth
Children and adolescents are not adults and cannot be taught as such. Effective voice teachers must understand the vocal mechanism of children and the growth that occurs to develop them into healthy performers. “A child’s voice must be allowed to sound like a child’s voice until the larynx grows and drops, and until the vocal folds are fully developed.”

The larynx includes both extrinsic (connecting to the skull and thorax) and intrinsic (connecting to the cartilages of the larynx) muscles, both of which contribute to the function of singing by opening and closing the vocal folds. Phonation is rapid vocal fold vibration and pitch is determined by the frequency of those vibrations. The laryngeal muscles and vocal folds grow in length and strengthen just as the rest of children’s bodies. Puberty can occur as early as eight in girls and nine in boys, being mostly complete by age fifteen. The vocal mechanism is affected by growth during this time including vocal-fold and larynx lengthening. Recognizing the difference in the child’s vocal mechanism versus an adult and understanding the growth that occurs is vital for a voice teacher working with young voices. This knowledge will allow effective pedagogical practice without forcing vocal growth before a child’s physical ability.

Body Awareness
The next step to successfully teaching young voices is body awareness in the vocal studio. Children can learn how their body automatically functions by teaching them to be sensitive to the muscles involved in producing vocal tone as well as breathing. Children can learn to manipulate musculature that once was thought to involuntary and can now be made voluntary. Very few beginning students understand where the breath is centered and what parts of the body are used to correctly support and produce a clear vocal tone. Teachers should be aware of the language you are using to communicate with your young singers during lessons or rehearsals. Some phrases can have detrimental results to breath support and tone production. In general, avoid using the words “push” or “tension.” To give a more specific example “sustain that note” allows for a more flowing breath support than “hold that note.” The word “energize” or “engage” allows for a better gaging of maximum volume than “sing louder.” “Release your muscles” will result in more energized posture than “relax your muscles. The foundation for singing is correct breath support, controlled by posture or body alignment.

Individualized Focus
Voice teachers may find it easy to address pedagogy from the perspective of their acquired knowledge. Although vocal pedagogy is known as “the development of skills that produce quality, range, and control. It is important to provide a simple individualized focus to develop a healthy performer in a young singer. Each child is different and learns in different ways. Effective teachers need to meet students where they are in their physical and emotional development.

Methodology for Teaching the Young Voice

Connect Speech to Singing
Directly connect speech to singing by exploring a child’s natural pitch level in speaking. Young children can appreciate the difference between singing and talking. Vowels are sustained in singing but not in speaking. One simple procedure is to sing a song or phrase on a neutral syllable instead of with words. When the flow of singing tone has been achieved, the song should be sung with words and with the same stream of sound maintained.

Teach Basic Musical Concepts
Musical concept pedagogy (or music theory) can be achieved alongside beginning vocal technique. Having a sound pedagogical basis, teachers can put the exercises in terms of “tools” and identify 2-3 uses for each of the tools, so the student can apply it on their own. Young singers need to establish a solid foundation of basic musical skills. Vocal music is an excellent place for many young students to start their musical education; they are capable of learning to read music and how it relates to the vocal instrument.”

Make it Fun!
Building upon teaching basic musical concepts within the vocal lesson, teachers can review these skills with an element of fun. A child’s work is play; play-based learning is where they thrive. This can be a successful part of the vocal lessons and can help secure a solid musical foundation. Children learn through play and engagement. Images and exercises that engage their imaginations, and sometimes include an element of humor, can be much more effective than a more “technical” style of teaching that works well with many adults.”

Age Appropriate Repertoire
Eventually, songs need to be introduced into the vocal lesson. This is a suitable way to apply previous technique and musical concepts in a practical setting. The amount repertoire available for young voices has greatly increased in recent years. Finding age appropriate repertoire is much easier now and can be located using a variety of current publishing companies.
Teachers should choose songs to assist in developing strong musical and stringing skills such as singing legato, singing longer phrases, clear articulation and diction, expressive singing, singing larger intervals, singing dotted rhythms or syncopation, developing the vocal registers, independent singing skills.

Developing A Confident Performer

Singing Unaccompanied
Confidence can be instilled in young singers by encouraging singing unaccompanied, this should be the first objective. Helping a young singers to feel comfortable and enjoy singing is key. Allowing them to sing without always supporting them will help to focus on the sounds they make, rather than listening exclusively to the piano or the teacher’s voice. Even before diving into repertoire, work on singing without hesitation and having the ability to sing unaccompanied. Once this ability is achieved the young singer will learn repertoire quickly and be more confident in performance opportunities.

Developing Performing Skills
Public speaking is most people’s biggest fear. Children are not devoid of this either. Voice teachers can combat this stage fright by developing performing skills in a variety of ways. Group vocal classes versus one-on-one vocal lessons could be considered since some young singers will be at ease with others their own age. Others may thrive and become more confident in an intimate environment, building the audience slowly. Teachers should be mindful of the words they use to correct or “criticize”, being mindful to find something positive to say and give encouragement as much as needed. Preparation and practice will always give confidence and cause stage fright to become less of a problem overall.

Other websites

• www.thefullvoice.com
• www.blog.musicteachershelper.com/approaching-teaching-the-extremely-young-privatevoice-student/
• www.voiceteacher.com/children_article/children.html
• www.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/16/02/09/12-53-38_0.pdf