When our students hear the words MUSIC APPRECIATION they most likely think “what a snore”. They most often will think this means listening to a lot of lectures and a lot of music they have never heard or will hear again. After all, who wants to sit and listen to someone talk about music of dead composers? Of course, as teachers we believe that just as current events are relevant to us so is the past as it has been part of the evolution that has made us who we are.
Build Technique with a New Routine
by Developing Voices contributing author Jennifer Berroth ~ You’re a month into teaching your choir students. You have established your classroom routine and are in the thick of learning concert music. You are encouraged by their progress, but you sense that your students are about to hit a late-September wall. So how do you keep […]
Conducting A More Effective Audition
Choosing the best personnel for the ensemble is, indeed, the “coin of the realm.” No matter the level of talent and training that has been achieved on the part of the candidate, and no matter the experience and due diligence of the panel conducting the audition, a choral audition is an intimidating and messy business. Here are suggestions offered to assist those of us who hear auditions as we prioritize our goals and design a structure that well serves those goals.
The Voice of the Very Young Child: Birth to 5 Years Part 2: The Physical Ability to Sing
What are the basic requirements needed for children to learn to sing? The physical ability to sing depends on the degree of normal and healthy development of the vocal mechanism (larynx, vocal folds, breathing apparatus), and on one’s neuro-biological ability to process music pitch.
Anyone who has heard a child improvise melodies from the crib knows it is a precious sound. Little ones can babble repetitive songs with pitch accuracy as early as the age of ten months. It’s likely these children have been sung to and/or have heard singing frequently during the pre-birth and early infant years.
The Voice of the Very Young Child (birth to 5 years)
The voice of the very young child (from birth to 5 years) is not like the voice of an older child or an adult. Know the differences in an adult’s and a child’s vocal apparatus.
Voice Anatomy for the Choir Classroom – Demonstrations and Activities
The effective and fun projects for the choral classroom show your students how to build a larynx, and lung to better understand the mechanics for singing. It also aids students in their understanding of concise terminology to describe in detail how their voice is working for them.