And now we get to the juicy, fun stuff!
Singing is a biggie!
It's probably the biggest biggie when teaching elementary general music. It's the skill and sound source for almost all the modeling of other sounds that kids will make with instruments or otherwise in your class.
Singing is the one musical thing that the youngest to the oldest adult can do and always feel successful about their efforts.
Singing can also be a target on each child's ego if they feel they aren't good enough.
A reaction of a callus teacher, a wayward grimace from a parent, an inappropriate laugh from a classmate, a maladroit complement from a principal, or just the every day insensitivity that the world can incessantly churn out can be the genesis for a child thinking they can't sing.
Most adults who tell me that they can't sing we're told they couldn’t sing when they had a single digit age and they have been playing that trope/tape over and over and over in their heads since their youngest years.
Before we examine the singing of our students, let's take a look at ourselves as musicians and educators.
Self-assessment
Do you sing?
Do you like to sing?
Are you any good at singing?
What have people told you about your singing?
Have you ever sung in public, either in a group or solo?
Have you ever sung into a microphone?
Have you ever had someone clap for your vocal performance after you sang?
Have you ever had anyone boo after you’ve sung?
Do you feel that singing is only for those who are really gifted in the skill?
Do you now have or have you ever had students who sang better than you?
Do you believe that you can get better at your singing?
Let's take a look at a couple of these queries.
Do you sing? Well, if you're a general music teacher in elementary or junior high, you better be able to sing.
Unfortunately, a lot of instrumental music majors end up getting elementary general music gigs and primarily focus on the instrumental aspects of teaching children music without embracing the concept that the child's voice is the first instrument they'll ever engage.
These teachers avoid singing or nonchalantly approach it like a natural skill or talent.
Do you like to sing? This is sort of a loaded question. I would hope you would love to sing.
I do.
I've always felt that the best elementary general music teachers I've ever observed exhibited a joy when they sang.
Therein lies the rub.
As someone who has sung professionally for decades, I've occasionally had to sing material that I really did not care for but I had to present it in a way that appeared that I loved it.
That is a skill that I did not have to use in school but sporadically had to on gigs.
If you don't like to sing or if you have hang-ups about your own singing right now, it's important to learn to appear like you're having fun while you're singing with your students.
The short reason for that is if you're not having fun, why should they?
And singing should be fun!
If you have issues with singing, it's best to work through them.
Accept your abilities where they are right now, no matter how weak a singer you think you are, and strive to get better.
Am I saying go get vocal lessons?
No, not necessarily.
If you are the person who is driven by a teacher/student paradigm, then sure, find a good vocal mentor or teacher.
But if you have a tendency to approach things like an autodidact, start being scientific about your sound and technique when you sing. Understand how your body works when it makes us a vocal sound.
Be able to think top down in your body and visualize what's going on with your sinuses, your nasal cavities, your mouth, your tongue, your throat, your lungs, and your stomach.
Just as an instrumentalist understands all the intricacies of their own personal instrument and how manipulating it can add nuance to intonation or sustain, as a singer, you must think about your voice as an instrument and understand it as such.
I've heard many music teachers say, “I can't stand the sound of my own voice.”
I hate to tell you this but I'm going to break the news to you right now.
Your voice is the only voice you have.
You can look at your voice as either a curse or a gift.
My advice is to approach it as the latter.
It's the voice that your parents gave you. As I grew older and into my thirties and forties, I came to realize that I could hear my father's voice in my voice, which sort of freaked me out at the time.
I was not expecting it.
I grew into the understanding of hearing that sound and came to see that it as one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me.
Are you any good at singing? Yes! You are great at it. I'm telling you this and I haven't even heard you sing. But I believe that if you hear the qualities you want to hear in your own voice as you sing then, yes, you are a good singer.
Has anyone told you anything about your singing? I hope you have been told that you sound great. But if you haven’t, know that those compliments are just a little bit down the road from where you are. They’re coming!
Fortunately, from my earliest years, negative criticism really never bothered me that much.
If you've heard or seen negative reactions after you've sung in the past, try and dust it off your shoulder.
You are a work in progress.
More on the importance of singing in “Stacking Skills for Success: Singing – Part Two”.
Singing is a biggie!
It's probably the biggest biggie when teaching elementary general music. It's the skill and sound source for almost all the modeling of other sounds that kids will make with instruments or otherwise in your class.
Singing is the one musical thing that the youngest to the oldest adult can do and always feel successful about their efforts.
Singing can also be a target on each child's ego if they feel they aren't good enough.
A reaction of a callus teacher, a wayward grimace from a parent, an inappropriate laugh from a classmate, a maladroit complement from a principal, or just the every day insensitivity that the world can incessantly churn out can be the genesis for a child thinking they can't sing.
Most adults who tell me that they can't sing we're told they couldn’t sing when they had a single digit age and they have been playing that trope/tape over and over and over in their heads since their youngest years.
Before we examine the singing of our students, let's take a look at ourselves as musicians and educators.
Self-assessment
Do you sing?
Do you like to sing?
Are you any good at singing?
What have people told you about your singing?
Have you ever sung in public, either in a group or solo?
Have you ever sung into a microphone?
Have you ever had someone clap for your vocal performance after you sang?
Have you ever had anyone boo after you’ve sung?
Do you feel that singing is only for those who are really gifted in the skill?
Do you now have or have you ever had students who sang better than you?
Do you believe that you can get better at your singing?
Let's take a look at a couple of these queries.
Do you sing? Well, if you're a general music teacher in elementary or junior high, you better be able to sing.
Unfortunately, a lot of instrumental music majors end up getting elementary general music gigs and primarily focus on the instrumental aspects of teaching children music without embracing the concept that the child's voice is the first instrument they'll ever engage.
These teachers avoid singing or nonchalantly approach it like a natural skill or talent.
Do you like to sing? This is sort of a loaded question. I would hope you would love to sing.
I do.
I've always felt that the best elementary general music teachers I've ever observed exhibited a joy when they sang.
Therein lies the rub.
As someone who has sung professionally for decades, I've occasionally had to sing material that I really did not care for but I had to present it in a way that appeared that I loved it.
That is a skill that I did not have to use in school but sporadically had to on gigs.
If you don't like to sing or if you have hang-ups about your own singing right now, it's important to learn to appear like you're having fun while you're singing with your students.
The short reason for that is if you're not having fun, why should they?
And singing should be fun!
If you have issues with singing, it's best to work through them.
Accept your abilities where they are right now, no matter how weak a singer you think you are, and strive to get better.
Am I saying go get vocal lessons?
No, not necessarily.
If you are the person who is driven by a teacher/student paradigm, then sure, find a good vocal mentor or teacher.
But if you have a tendency to approach things like an autodidact, start being scientific about your sound and technique when you sing. Understand how your body works when it makes us a vocal sound.
Be able to think top down in your body and visualize what's going on with your sinuses, your nasal cavities, your mouth, your tongue, your throat, your lungs, and your stomach.
Just as an instrumentalist understands all the intricacies of their own personal instrument and how manipulating it can add nuance to intonation or sustain, as a singer, you must think about your voice as an instrument and understand it as such.
I've heard many music teachers say, “I can't stand the sound of my own voice.”
I hate to tell you this but I'm going to break the news to you right now.
Your voice is the only voice you have.
You can look at your voice as either a curse or a gift.
My advice is to approach it as the latter.
It's the voice that your parents gave you. As I grew older and into my thirties and forties, I came to realize that I could hear my father's voice in my voice, which sort of freaked me out at the time.
I was not expecting it.
I grew into the understanding of hearing that sound and came to see that it as one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me.
Are you any good at singing? Yes! You are great at it. I'm telling you this and I haven't even heard you sing. But I believe that if you hear the qualities you want to hear in your own voice as you sing then, yes, you are a good singer.
Has anyone told you anything about your singing? I hope you have been told that you sound great. But if you haven’t, know that those compliments are just a little bit down the road from where you are. They’re coming!
Fortunately, from my earliest years, negative criticism really never bothered me that much.
If you've heard or seen negative reactions after you've sung in the past, try and dust it off your shoulder.
You are a work in progress.
More on the importance of singing in “Stacking Skills for Success: Singing – Part Two”.
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