In tune Singing and Vocal Exploration Strategies

Hello and Happy Holidays!
This is Tanya LeJeune. There is excitement and restlessness in the air at my school; we have one week to go before a two-week winter break!
As we approach the mid-school year break I've been evaluating where the students are with their musical skills and thinking of how to adjust my year plans to get them where they need to be by the end of the year.

One challenge I face every year is with the first graders. The kindergarteners at my school do not get art, music, or PE. As a result, many 1st graders come to music class without any prior social musical experiences. My solution is to start a kindergarten curriculum in the first half of 1st grade and then, in January, begin 1st grade concepts.  It does feel a bit rushed, but those initial musical experiences must  happen so that we can build on them. The kindergarten year should be about soaking up quality songs, moving to music, and finding students finding their singing voice. Ah, the singing voice! I admit it; I am primarily a singer. As I was growing up, everyone around me sang and I just assumed it was second nature to everyone. I would never have guessed that getting kids to sing would be such a large task!

This year I have three 1st grade classes; one of which began the year with the following singing skills:

• 11 non-singers, (students who do not use their singing voices,)  
• 14 emerging singers (students who sing but are out of tune, usually flat), 
• 1 in-tune singer. 

Yikes! How do I get those kids comfortable with their voices and lead them to in tune singing? Vocal exploration is a large part of building the singing voice. Students need to know what their voices are capable of and what singing physically feels like. I make a point of including vocal exploration in every 1st grade class period.

Here are my top 10 In Tune Singing and Vocal Exploration Activities:

10. Sirens

• Have students echo first high to low, then low to high sirens. There are many ways to mix this activity up to make it more fun. I like to ask students to connect hand gestures with a specific sirens, say low to high on "whoop!" when I show a thumbs up. After memorizing three or four gestures/sirens, have a student "conductor" lead the group who must follow and "perform" the sirens that the conductor shows.

 9. Echo singing

• There are so many echo songs that are perfect for younger grades. John Feierabend has a wonderful collection of Echo Songs that is worth owning. A couple of class favorites are Down By the Bay and No More Pie.

8. Animal sounds (pictures or puppets)

• What kid doesn't love the opportunity to make pig sounds? Wether you incorporate animal sounds within a song, (a la Bought Me a Cat, for example,) or simply hold up pictures of animals, imitating animals is a fun way to get them exploring their voices. Aim for the upper register by encouraging "baby" animals like a whimpering puppy or a mewing kitten.
• If you give a kid a puppet the attention is on the puppet and the puppet's voice, (not the kid.) When a child sings through the puppet, they feel less self-conscious and are willing to take more risks. As the teacher, don't forget to talk to, sing to, and make eye contact with the puppet. 

7. Ball games

• Call a child’s name; toss them a ball or beanbag (underhand,) while your voice follows the arc of the ball. The game continues until every child has had a turn to toss and catch. Pitch a baseball (great for choral warm-ups)
• Pitch a baseball/pass a football; everyone takes a big belly breath as their arm goes back and their voices let loose with the release of the ball. Don't forget to follow through! Who can pitch farthest/last longest without taking a breath? (These are a favorite for choir warm-ups!)

6. Ghost melodies

• Student voices follow a ghost puppet or picture as it swoops up and down
• Students write a ghost melody with pipe cleaners , yarn, or wiki-sticks.

5. Roller coasters

• Visual: individual students draw a roller coaster and then lead (track) the class
• Physical: students stand/sit/kneel in a circle showing different levels while a puppet takes a ride.

4. Balloon Bop

• Voices follow the direction of the floating balloon, if the balloon is in a hand or touching the floor, the sound stops. (This is also a great “watch the conductor” warm-up.)

3.  Slide Whistle 

• After passing out "imaginary slide whistles",  students echo the teacher's slide whistle.

2. Trace pictures with your voice (mountains, waves, ect.)

Follow the path to help Clara and the nutcracker get to the tree.

There are many fun vocal exploration files available on Teachers Pay Teachers. However, it's even easier to pull up pictures of mountains, landscapes, or any contrasting line picture and have students trace the lines with their voices.

1. Rhymes/chants/songs with different voices

The best way to have children explore the capabilities of their voice is through the wonderful literature you are already using in the music class. Many chants such as "You Must Pay the Rent" are meant for "different voices" but you don't have to limit vocal exploration to chants that require vocal exploration.  Singing Lucy Locket? Why not sing it like a mouse? Or a bull dog? Or a ghost? My students especially love to sing Bow Wow Wow with only dog barks; some are large dogs, others are yippy, little dogs.

All of these little activities can make a big difference. I'm happy to report that my 1st grade class I've been most concerned about now has shifted:

• 1 non-singer (previously 11. Only 1 hold-out! Don't worry- he'll get there!)
• 10 emerging singers (previously 14.)
• 15 in tune singers (previously 1.)

Yes, there is still room for growth. Many of my emerging singers became in tune singers and all but one of my non-singers found their singing voices.

The list of vocal exploration strategies is just a sampling of ways to lead students towards in-tune singing. (And I haven't even touched on the importance of critical listening; that's another post for another time!) What are some of your favorite vocal exploration activities?

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I Can't Sing.

"I can't sing."

This is one of the top responses I get whenever I tell someone I am an elementary music teacher (another response I often get is an air-recorder version of  "Hot Cross Buns." Love that one...). I always cringe when I hear the stories of "my teacher told me to mouth the words" or, "I always had to stand in the back row so people wouldn't hear me." Each year, I establish goals for my teaching and my students. This year, as I started in a new building with kids who had limited Kodaly exposure, two of my goals were:

Every child will sing

I will not say "good" unless it is true.

I have to admit, it is not always easy to stick with these goals. It is much easier to let that student who is not singing slide under the radar or give a student who is not matching pitch a meaningless "good job" and move on to the next thing in your lesson. Unfortunately, I believe that this is where much of the "I can't sing" mentality comes from. When people say they "can't sing," many times they actually are referring to struggling with pitch matching. Taking the time to truly TEACH singing and pitch matching requires thoughtfulness, dedication, and a commitment to EVERY child in your room. Tanya, Christopher, and Aileen have all discussed fabulous ideas for helping your students sing, so today I am going to try to stick to strategies for pitch matching.

Pathways to Matching Pitch

1. Establish a supportive environment with high expectations.

Singing can be very personal and make people feel very vulnerable. It is important, especially if you are working with older beginners, to take steps to create a supportive community for kids to learn to sing. Provide many opportunities for group singing, frequent positive feedback and always celebrate progress and courage. Make sure that your students understand that singing is a skill that requires effort and practice to achieve. Ultimately, my goal is that students not only can sing, but that they want to sing. Creating an environment where students feel comfortable, supported and encouraged to sing is a huge piece of the pitch-matching puzzle.

2. Help your students build a "pitch vocabulary"

Building what I call a "pitch vocabulary" goes far beyond just teaching solfege. Generally speaking, a pitch vocabulary is your singers' vocal range. However, when working with your kids, it is important to guide them through their exploration of range and add to their "vocabulary" of sounds. Aileen wrote a great post about singing and including vocal exploration a few weeks ago (you can read it here), so I am not going to steal her post by diving too much into vocal exploration. However, as you approach pitch matching remember that your singers may not know what it feels like to create very low or very high sounds. They speak in a very limited range, so it is incredibly important to give students an opportunity to see what their voice can do, especially in their higher range.

Using vocal roller coasters and things like John Feierabend's Pitch Exploration Pathways are great tools to help your children do this in the classroom.

Many people use these with K-1 (appropriately, so), but don't be afraid to use them with your older kids if you have older beginners, students new to you, or simply have older students who need help matching pitch. I have done them with 5th grade, and they get a kick out of seeing how high and low their voices can go. You can also modify these to create vocal warm-ups for your classes or choirs. I have a set of cards I created using vowels that I use regularly with my 4th and 5th grade choir. They have to sing the shape of the card on the vowel shown. It is a quick and easy way to explore range and work on vowels at the same time!

3. Use visual models

One of the greatest challenges that comes with teaching singing is the fact that singing is largely based on feeling. When you are working with a student who is not matching pitch, one tool that can be incredibly helpful is to provide them with a visual. I have several ways I do this...

• Pitch Matching Mountain
• I often make the analogy of a mountain to my singers (we are in Colorado, after all!). When a singer is too low in pitch, I will say something like, "I am at the top of the mountain, but you are here (show them on the mountain). Can you climb up the mountain with me?" Then I will progressively have them sing a serious of echoes moving higher and higher up the mountain. I love this visual because it draws in another key aspect to good singing: breath and energy. Often, students singing too-low simply need to give their sound more energy. I especially see this with my older students. The idea of climbing a mountain is a perfect visual, because students understand that it takes more effort to climb up the mountain when you are hiking. 

• Bulls-Eye!
• This is a variation of Pitch Matching Mountain that I use with my older kids. I used it a lot when I taught middle school choir, too! The idea is the same, except the correct pitch is the center target and then you can use the surrounding area to show where a singer is. To make this even more fun, you can laminate it and use Nerf Sticky-Darts. They love it. :) 

• Body Symbols
• I have a set of motions I use with my K-2 students for pitch matching. As students are singing, I can give them feedback about where their voice is while the class is singing using these body symbols. You can also have the students give you feedback by singing with them and asking them to show you what you're voice is doing. 
• Hands on Head= singing too high
• Hands on Hips= singing too low
• Hands Crossed on Shoulders= juuuust right (it helps if you say this one with a cool-dude tone) 
• Just Draw It. 
• Visualizing pitch for your students can be as simple as a dot on your white board or holding your two hands up to show where your student is and where you want their voice to be. Don't feel like you have to take a huge amount of your time to create incredible pitch matching activities. Instead, just build it into your everyday practices. 

4. Use Student Models and Encourage Solo Singing. 

Let's be honest- it is very easy for your non-confident singers to "blend in" to the class or hide behind the stronger singers in the class. I often see classes where 30-40% of the students do 100% of the singing. One of the most effect strategies I have found for building student participation and confidence in singing is to use solos. This may seem counter-intuitive, but when you approach it correctly, I think you will see positive results. When you use student models and soloist, here are a few things to keep in mind...

• Give positive feedback. Students are motivated to volunteer for solos when they see you providing positive feedback to other singers, and your soloists will gain confidence when you can give them a boost. Make sure your feedback is accurate, but always find something that you can celebrate in your soloists. 
• Celebrate growth, not perfection. This is HUGE for your kids that are still not feeling confident. When they see you celebrating the progress another student makes, they become more comfortable exploring their voice. It also re-establishes your goals of good singing and pitch matching to all your students
• Encourage students to try again. I know that I am always nervous the first time I present something to my peers or in front of others. Giving students a chance to try again will help them feel more confident and secure singing in front of others. 

Many times, it takes singing alone for a non-pitch-matcher to hear themselves clearly and understand what they need to change. By building a culture in your classroom where solo singing is practiced, celebrating, and encouraged, you will be giving your "stars" opportunities to shine and your struggling students opportunities to grow. 

5. Don't Give Up!!

We don't expect students to read on their first day of instruction, shoot three pointers on their first day of basketball, or color inside the lines the first time they pick up a crayon. Learning to sing and match pitch is a skill that takes practice, time, and effort to achieve. In my classroom, we make a BIG deal when a student begins to consistently match pitch (clapping, cheering and high fives are all involved). Make sure your students know that you not only want them to match pitch, but that they can and that you will support them along the way if they keep practicing. With a few tricks, some patience, and a little bit of care I truly believe we can create a culture of people who no longer say, "I can't sing," but instead jump at a chance to sing together. 

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