Clearly, there is much more to singing than my five attributes of “big singing”:
No hands on face.
No screaming.
Open your mouth.
Move your lips.
Move your tongue.
But these five points were my starting place and I could use them with kids from kindergarten to fifth grade knowing that they understood what those five components were and how they affected the improvement of their sound when they sang.
Vowel sounds were something that I strongly considered putting in the big singing list but didn't, primarily because it wasn't connected to their anatomy like hand, face, mouth, tongue, and lips.
Another reason was that getting vowel sounds was often a question of students not aurally modeling me close enough, not listening to my sound, not differentiating between my vowels and theirs.
Many a time I yelled at my chorus, “Ugh!! When you sing the word ‘go’, you sound like you're all from New Castle, Delaware.”
“But, Mr. Holmes, we are from New Castle, Delaware!”
“Ahhh, but you have to sound as if you are from everywhere and nowhere all at once. I shouldn't be able to listen to you and tell by your accent where you're from. There should be no discernable accent in your singing!”
One last word about the importance of modeling and singing.
Occasionally when I saw a class that was not following the five elements of big singing, I would say, “I'm going to show you a video of a group of young singers. I want you to tell me how good you think they sound.”
I would then show a video of PS 22 from New York City singing one of their songs, usually the Journey’s, “Don’t Stop Believing”.
I would have the volume all the way off.
As the silent video started to play, kids would say, “But, Mr. Holmes, we can't hear them.”
My response was, “I told you I was going to show you a video, not let you hear a video. As you watch how they're singing, can you tell if they sound good or not? And what are you making your prediction on? Are you considering the five steps of big singing? Do you see any of them doing any of those five things as they sing?”
Silence ensued as the kids thought.
After a few seconds, the kids spontaneously called out the good singing traits they saw.
After I had enough evidence that the class was seeing a difference in singing styles and technique without relying on sound, I replayed the video with the sound up and asked the kids if their predictions were accurate. Inevitably, that little activity was a huge validation to their efforts to improve their singing technique.
After all, modeling from the teacher can only go so far, it can only have so much of an effect.
Kids learn best from other kids.
By having my classes and choruses watching singers their own age, evaluating how the kids in the video controlled their bodies as they sang, and appreciating how good kids in the video sounded, my students received a shot of adrenaline to their vocal technique.
Before attending chorus festivals, I told my singers to make mental notes of what they observed when the other school choruses sang – what did they like, what didn’t they like, and what would they do differently.
Afterwards, I was always amazed at the details they remembered from the performances (some kids actually made written notes!) and how they had learned that not paying attention to small vocal and performance details could undermine the overall effect of a piece.
Once again, it's not what teachers say but rather what we visually introduce and provide to students as a model that makes the biggest difference, especially in singing.
Wrap-up
Singing is an elemental sound.
It captures all human emotions and is a dependable way for kids to release their feelings.
The sound of the voice is our aural fingerprint, a gift from our parents that has been genetically shaped over centuries just for us.
It is something to treasure and to teach younger generations that their voices are as individualist as they are.
While some classically trained singer strive for the perfection of the composers who wrote the material they sing, the rest of us sing because of what it adds to our life.
As teachers, we’re not concerned with perfection: it’s about participation.
As teachers, we have to not just model the techniques used in singing – we need to exhibit the results of singing.
As I’ve alluded to in other posts, I am not a “gusher’ or a teacher who is perpetually smiling at my class. I’m not frowning but rather trying to project a tabula rasa.
When children sang from an uninhibited place, I always broke out a broad grin. They learned that the easiest way to prompt Mr. Holmes’ approving smile was to be musical, to lose themselves in the sound for a few seconds or minutes.
In short, to take an unprompted artistic chance.
As I often reminded my students, “Singing doesn’t count unless the sound travels through your heart”.
Developing confident, competent singers from the younget ages creates a foundation for all future musical skill stacking.
When kids realize that singing isn’t just a “gimmie” but rather a skill that can be developed and demonstrably improved, something that can shape the emotions and lives of their listeners as well as themselves, the stage is set for the successful introduction and integration of all future music skills.
No hands on face.
No screaming.
Open your mouth.
Move your lips.
Move your tongue.
But these five points were my starting place and I could use them with kids from kindergarten to fifth grade knowing that they understood what those five components were and how they affected the improvement of their sound when they sang.
Vowel sounds were something that I strongly considered putting in the big singing list but didn't, primarily because it wasn't connected to their anatomy like hand, face, mouth, tongue, and lips.
Another reason was that getting vowel sounds was often a question of students not aurally modeling me close enough, not listening to my sound, not differentiating between my vowels and theirs.
Many a time I yelled at my chorus, “Ugh!! When you sing the word ‘go’, you sound like you're all from New Castle, Delaware.”
“But, Mr. Holmes, we are from New Castle, Delaware!”
“Ahhh, but you have to sound as if you are from everywhere and nowhere all at once. I shouldn't be able to listen to you and tell by your accent where you're from. There should be no discernable accent in your singing!”
One last word about the importance of modeling and singing.
Occasionally when I saw a class that was not following the five elements of big singing, I would say, “I'm going to show you a video of a group of young singers. I want you to tell me how good you think they sound.”
I would then show a video of PS 22 from New York City singing one of their songs, usually the Journey’s, “Don’t Stop Believing”.
I would have the volume all the way off.
As the silent video started to play, kids would say, “But, Mr. Holmes, we can't hear them.”
My response was, “I told you I was going to show you a video, not let you hear a video. As you watch how they're singing, can you tell if they sound good or not? And what are you making your prediction on? Are you considering the five steps of big singing? Do you see any of them doing any of those five things as they sing?”
Silence ensued as the kids thought.
After a few seconds, the kids spontaneously called out the good singing traits they saw.
After I had enough evidence that the class was seeing a difference in singing styles and technique without relying on sound, I replayed the video with the sound up and asked the kids if their predictions were accurate. Inevitably, that little activity was a huge validation to their efforts to improve their singing technique.
After all, modeling from the teacher can only go so far, it can only have so much of an effect.
Kids learn best from other kids.
By having my classes and choruses watching singers their own age, evaluating how the kids in the video controlled their bodies as they sang, and appreciating how good kids in the video sounded, my students received a shot of adrenaline to their vocal technique.
Before attending chorus festivals, I told my singers to make mental notes of what they observed when the other school choruses sang – what did they like, what didn’t they like, and what would they do differently.
Afterwards, I was always amazed at the details they remembered from the performances (some kids actually made written notes!) and how they had learned that not paying attention to small vocal and performance details could undermine the overall effect of a piece.
Once again, it's not what teachers say but rather what we visually introduce and provide to students as a model that makes the biggest difference, especially in singing.
Wrap-up
Singing is an elemental sound.
It captures all human emotions and is a dependable way for kids to release their feelings.
The sound of the voice is our aural fingerprint, a gift from our parents that has been genetically shaped over centuries just for us.
It is something to treasure and to teach younger generations that their voices are as individualist as they are.
While some classically trained singer strive for the perfection of the composers who wrote the material they sing, the rest of us sing because of what it adds to our life.
As teachers, we’re not concerned with perfection: it’s about participation.
As teachers, we have to not just model the techniques used in singing – we need to exhibit the results of singing.
As I’ve alluded to in other posts, I am not a “gusher’ or a teacher who is perpetually smiling at my class. I’m not frowning but rather trying to project a tabula rasa.
When children sang from an uninhibited place, I always broke out a broad grin. They learned that the easiest way to prompt Mr. Holmes’ approving smile was to be musical, to lose themselves in the sound for a few seconds or minutes.
In short, to take an unprompted artistic chance.
As I often reminded my students, “Singing doesn’t count unless the sound travels through your heart”.
Developing confident, competent singers from the younget ages creates a foundation for all future musical skill stacking.
When kids realize that singing isn’t just a “gimmie” but rather a skill that can be developed and demonstrably improved, something that can shape the emotions and lives of their listeners as well as themselves, the stage is set for the successful introduction and integration of all future music skills.
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