O’Brien, James Patrick. Teaching Music. Singing in Unison. New York, 1983. Pages 55-71.

 

SUMMARIZE:

Ø       Introduction

·         Singing used to be only music taught in schools

·         Important still, especially in elementary, because:

-          Instrument everyone owns

-          Physical skill like walking and needs to not be neglected

-          Fun individually or in group

-          Social skill

·         Lots of ways to teach singing, but needs to teach correct singing, and differences from talking

·         Hearing songs/visual tools help pitch-matching

Ø       Criteria for Selecting Songs

·         Subject Matter

-          Grade level appropriate (1^st – animals, 5^th – cowboy, work songs)

·         Vocabulary

-          Needs to be fairly well-known words

-          One or two new words is good, but no more

·         Musical Interest

-          Should be singable

-          Easy enough for kids, but still fun

·         Musical Structure

-          Age level-appropriate

-          Range and Tessitura

·         G and E above middle C is a good starting range for elementary

-          Phrase Length

·         Younger kids need shorter phrases

·         Phrase length is function of tempo, though, so that will effect actual length

-          Conjunct and Disjunct Movement

·         Mostly use conjunct movement for kids, especially the younger ones

-          Syllabic and Melismatic Movement

·         Syllabic – one distinct pitch per syllable; best to use this, especially for younger kids

·         Melismatic – several pitches per syllable; okay for some older kids

-          Contour

·         More direct, straighter contours are better for younger kids

-          Key

·         Key doesn’t matter too much, just as to how easy accompaniment is

·         However, location of song in key can be useful (do-do, or sol-sol around do)

 

DISCUSS:

This article is interesting in that it discusses stuff that I have never really thought about.  As an instrumentalist, I have, honestly, really thought very little about anything related to singing.  And, while I don’t intend to teach general music (particularly elementary school level), I certainly am keeping that option open and, therefore, this is valuable information.  All of this information makes sense to me, but it’s good to understand it all like this.