Music for Life

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I am so pleased to be given the opportunity to share ideas and teaching observations from my classroom with my fellow teachers. To create music with children on a daily basis is truly one of the greatest privileges I can imagine. I bring to my classroom my skills as a classically trained violinist and pianist, and a church choir member, and my experience being brought up in a household where music played a very important part in family life. Music is not just something I do; music is very much a part of who I am. Music is my work, it is my pleasure, it is the passion of my life.

My teaching approach is eclectic. The Kodaly teaching method is a foundation for the activities I initiate in my classroom, but it is not my whole approach. Although the academic goal of elementary school music programs is to create students who are musically literate, I feel an equally important goal is to instill in each child a love of music and the desire to be a lifelong learner and participant in musical pursuits of some kind.

One of my favourite teaching units is camp songs. Students may be able to derive the rhythm pattern “ta ta ti ti ta” or hand sign a pentatonic song perfectly, but when they leave the music classroom they need musical experiences that can be used in the real world. Children who can sit around a campfire and share songs with their peers will be capable of making memories that last a lifetime. I believe that if we give children a love of music and a musical voice with which to share that love, their musical education will have truly achieved a great goal in the larger scheme of things.

A good place to begin in giving children a “musical voice” is giving them the direction they need to learn to sing in tune. I believe that every child can sing in tune and can find a singing voice given the right circumstances. From the very first time students enter my music class they hear me singing.

At the beginning of every class I sing them questions like “What is the weather like today?” or “What did you have for breakfast?” or “What colour is your toothbrush?” They love to answer these questions. I sing the question and initially they answer in a speaking voice. I repeat their answer in a singing voice and ask the class to echo me. There is no pressure for any child to sing at any particular pitch. Those children who are able to sing in tune already follow the model and sing in tune. Those who do not are just part of the group singing an answer. By the third week of school, I may ask, “Who can sing me something about the weather?” Again, the goal is only to have the child attempt to use a singing voice, not match a pitch. Whatever pitch they choose receives a “Thank you” or an appropriate response. I continue the process of repeating their answer in my singing voice and ask for students to echo in their singing voices.

Once the students are comfortable in using a singing voice to answer the opening questions, I may single out a student who has shown the ability to match a pitch and point out “Ann put her singing voice in exactly the same place as my voice” or “Was Ann’s singing voice higher or lower than my voice?” Once the students begin listening for these distinctions they can begin trying to change their voices to match the pitch.

As the students learn this routine, they love to sit in “the teacher’s chair” and sing a question for their classmates. Although they may choose their own questions, I also give them one or two question suggestions. This helps eliminate long pauses if the child cannot think of a question. Students learn to answer the efforts of their peers with a respectful “thank you” regardless of skill level.

This is also a great tool for observing and assessing whether or not a child has developed a singing voice.

Activities that involve a variety of voice placements can assist students in finding their head voice. We play “Hide and Seek” with voices. I say “good morning” in various voices and have the students echo. I include whispering, high squeaky voice, low voice, creaky voice, silly voice, etc. Having the students use their voices to follow your finger: up and down, round and round and in a silly pattern, can get them to use their voices outside of the familiar “talking” voice. Use a variety of voice placements to parallel the words of a song, poem or nursery rhyme. Two songs that I particularly like to use are “Hickory Dickory Dock” and “Humpty Dumpty.”

I include four verses: the clock struck two, the mouse said “Whew”; the clock stuck three the mouse said “Whee” and the clock struck four, the mouse said “No more!”

Humpty Dumpty can be handled in much the same way except I start with my voice on top of the wall (like Humpty), the downward slide occurs on the word “down,” and then the voice stays low to the end of the rhyme.

Other songs that can incorporate high/low voice placements are “Boom Chicka Boom” and “Poor Little Bug on the Wall,” or creating songs about ghosts, elevators or fire engines.

In my classroom I expect everyone will sing. Much support and group singing is provided to instill confidence until the time is right for each child to feel comfortable to sing on his or her own. By the end of grade two, most students can sing in tune and those who cannot match a pitch with me or their classmates are generally able to sing a song completely in tune if they choose their own starting pitch.

Much emphasis is put on the fact that all children have unchanged children’s treble voices. I specifically talk about boys who, when asked to sing, are told “You sound like a girl.” I let them know that a good answer to that is “Well, of course, that’s the way I’m supposed to sound. I have a child’s treble voice.” We talk about the fact that boys’ voices will eventually change and I invite them to come back to sing for me when they have a bass or a tenor or a baritone voice to show off. I have yet to receive any of those visits, but someday it might happen! I do believe that it is very empowering to create a positive focus on singing as a natural thing to do and to establish from the beginning that every effort is to be received with respect from fellow students. Students who are given a safe environment in which to experiment will learn and develop and arrive at positive results. I do give students two options as they get older: to sing or to listen (but never to talk while the class is singing) and most students choose to take part. I do not ever use “sing alone in front of the class” as a punishment.

I hope you and your students have begun the year with some great songs. Until next time, keep singing!