Submitted by Caryn Mears, Kennewick, Washington
Idea posted September 15, 2011
I like to have a contest with the students. Once you get your students to have confidence and sing out, then you can tone them down and have them use a better singing voice. Some examples:
- I have Row One see if they can sing it louder than me, then I move on to Row Two, etc.
- I divide the students by boys and girls or divide them right down the middle, and I say, "This side versus this side."
- I have them see if they can hear me singing. If they can hear me, then I win! As they develop some self confidence, I let them win.
I never ask these kids to sing alone unless they truly want to. These students (more often than not) turn into hams if you get out a microphone. Some get silly in front of the opposite sex, etc. However, if you get out two or three microphones and have them sing together, some students will actually sing. Have them take turns doing phrases.
One exercise that I got from the MusicK8.com Mailing List is an activity where the students sing the numbers of the scale, such as:
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
- 1, 5, 4, 5, 3, 5, 2, 5
- 1, 5, 4, 5, 3, 2, 1
They love this activity and try to see who can sing it the fastest!
I have a fish (stuffed, but real looking) in my room. His name is Pitch, partially because he is pitch black and partially because he swims up and down as the pitch of our voices goes up and down. I initially show the students that our voices can start in the middle, but when Pitch swims up, our voices slide up. When Pitch swims down, our voices go down. Once they get the hang of it, then I let a student do this exercise, and they "swim" Pitch around the room while we watch and have our voices slide up and down!
Also,
Voccata #1 (from Music K-8, Vol. 14, No. 3)
Voccata #2 (Gloria) (from Music K-8, Vol. 15, No. 2)
Voccata #3 (from Music K-8, Vol. 16, No. 5)
Voccata #4 (from Music K-8, Vol. 22, No. 1)
are wonderful exercises that help the older kids hear patterns.