Connie Walker Music Ed 150

1/9/19 Reading Task #5

This portion of the Introduction to Music Education Course Packet contains plenty of

interesting information on how to train and organize young voices. The voices being discussed

are primarily voices ranging from that of 5th grade, through middle school, and possibly even

affecting certain voices in their freshman year of high school. It provides a guide on learning to

match pitch, which ultimately leads to reading, creating, and performing music (music literacy).

The majority of this section focused on navigating the needs of the young voice, including

navigating the changes they go through. This information is accompanied by the ranges these

voices can sing and the anatomy behind the voice itself, which helps to explain why it acts the

way it does.

The first strategy discussed is that behind training young singer to match pitch. This

process begins with having students imitating a siren while using a hand gesture, both matching

in their upward and downward motions. The students can then move on to sliding through

designated pitches, which is then followed by moving through the itches one by one and

sustaining them. This is truly helpful in allowing students to feel the difference in their voices.

They are given the opportunity to analyze how they have made the sound and how that sound

“feels” so that they can commit it to muscle memory. The more this exercise takes place, the

more quickly and accurate the students matching pitch will be. The next step would then be to

introduce the students to simple melodies taught by rote. After this step, the instructor could even

draw lines on the board, assign pitches to each one, and use them to explore smaller patterns.

This method could be used in several ways: making patterns, echoing, and even begin to give the

children a sense of how note heads move up and down on a staff.

As it is in any subject, repetition is key. “Practice becomes permanent.” This means that

if they are regularly allowed to sing off-key, they may never be able to match pitch. And they
Connie Walker Music Ed 150
1/9/19 Reading Task #5

risk affecting those around them when they continue to sing in this way. Matching pitch will

affect the rest of a child’s music career. One problem is that large groups always sound more

accurate than a singular vice would, so having ways to assess each student is very important.

Having small solos at a young age is not only a great way to check individual progress, it works

wonders later in life by making performing a little less stressful.

When working with unchanged, changing, or changed voices it is important to keep both

the student’s and the instructor’s vocal health in mind. A female instructor can hurt their voice

when trying to reach lower notes for changed voices, while a male instructor may strain their

voice while reaching for higher notes for unchanged voices. Using pitch pipes or other

instruments for these problem areas can keep their voice from harm and, sometimes, make things

clearer for the students. In the “in between” stages of the voice (ages around puberty) tone and

range flexibility is extremely important. There are three main ranges that are considered

“normal” for voices in these stages: C4-C5, F3-F4, and C3-C4. It is also important to remember

that these are transitional stages. If told that these changes are final, student will most likely not

develop their entire voice later one by exploring their full range. For example, if a young girl is

told she is an alto, then she is unlikely to ever try to sing soprano notes.

There was also a brief summary of some basics that have to do with the physics of sound.

I learned all of these concepts in my Acoustics class last semester, and I do find it very important

that every vocal student at least know of these few basics to help understand the science behind

sound and its behavior.