In any examination of singing/choral tuition at a school, the fact that we are dealing with young voices must be stressed. Children are not and perhaps should not be professional singers. Learning to sing well involves a long process of intense study, and only a few children will be capable of following this path. Nevertheless, pretty much any child’s voice can be improved with training, and basic elements of singing technique can be instilled at a young age. In particular, the flattening of the tongue, and raising of the soft palate, the use of the diaphragm muscles to support the voice, and the coup de glotte. As in all subjects, children will pick things up at different speeds, and individual holistic tuition will always be preferable to group teaching.
Some children will have a better ear for music than others, but this does not mean that the other children cannot be trained to match them. Also, some children will have stronger voices, and although there will always be children naturally more gifted than others, good training can build a weak voice into a strong one. The danger of group singing is that those children who recognise they have a weak voice or bad ear, may just lose heart and give up. A serious point to make here is that insecurity of voice applies to all boys when they are going through the period of change in the voice.
Choir singing is probably the best way to train children at primary level, but with these provisos: that some basic technique is taught to the choir by an experienced teacher who can observe which of the children have understood, and help those individuals who are struggling with certain concepts; that some music theory is learnt, ideally all children who have music lessons should be taught to read music; that the songs learnt are not too challenging in range; that children become used to holding a line of music by singing rounds or partner songs, to prepare them for more sophisticated choral music.
To explain the above: A young very talented private student of mine took about 8 months to grasp the concept of diaphragmatic support of the voice, and that is with individual lessons and a great deal of support from her parents. In fact, I taught the relevant techniques to the parents, and with daily attempts at achieving the goal, the child finally got it. The transformation of her voice was predictably immense, and she started to win talent competitions and get the lead roles in productions etc. These basic techniques can be the difference between having a voice or not having a voice. Trying to achieve this with, say, 30 kids in a group situation is probably impossible, although in my experience some success can be achieved and once certain children learn the techniques, they help their friends. Therefore my conclusion on this would be it is worth a try, and certainly better than just bashing out repertoire. A few children will always get the sense of being left behind, however and care must be taken with these children, as, I am a great believer in the Rudolf Steiner philosophy that all children can grasp concepts, it just takes longer with some.
The point about music theory and reading music is an important one. The English alphabet has 26 letters, and children learn it easily enough. The musical alphabet has just 7 letters (arranged in the same order as the English alphabet) yet very few children are taught to read music. The best time for a child to easily acquire a new language is up to the age of 6. If an English teacher had a class of children who couldn’t read or write English, parents would be up in arms. Why should it be any different with music?
The range of songs chosen for choir training is crucial for the development of young voices. Although there is less fluctuation in tessitura of voices than say the German Fach system implies, nevertheless, some children’s voices will be higher or lower than others. The children with lower placed voices will suffer most if a song is sung in too high a key, and may be put off singing for life. This is of course particularly relevant to boys after the change in the voice. It takes time for a boy to understand where his voice lies, and the insecurity that springs from not being able to pitch notes correctly because of this is probably the main reason so many boys give up singing at senior level.
The importance of children developing the ability to hold a line in a choir situation is obvious. Too much unison singing will hinder this, and just reinforce the inability to sing independently.
One important technical issue is that it is much better for the human voice to warm up gradually, and settle over the course of a day. A good night’s sleep, and a healthy lifestyle make a huge difference to the voice. If children get tired, they are also more prone to sickness.
Importance of Singing in School By Robert Millner, Singing and Choral Development Teacher BSAK
