One of the really great things about voice lessons in Denver with Lessons in Your Home is the ability to find your perfect match in a teacher. Finding the right teacher for your voice lessons in Denver can be tricky, especially if you’re looking for someone to teach your young child. There’s no reason to think that young kids won’t benefit from voice lessons, and they can be fun, too! But it can often be hard to find a traditional teacher willing to take on a young student when teachers are often used to teaching groups or older children or adults. All it takes is someone willing to take on a creative challenge. Young children make great students, and here are some of our favorite ways to incorporate age-appropriate techniques and exercises into voice lessons in Denver.
1. Songs with Small Pitch Ranges
The goal with young musicians is always creative play versus a more traditional or academic voice study. So this first exercise should be easy for both teacher and student. Choose songs that you could imagine being sung by children on a playground. Think along the lines of “Shoo Fly,” “She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain,” “I’m a Little Teapot,” or “London Bridge is Falling Down.”
2. Movement
One of the best ways to foster creative play and keep children engaged is to move one or more parts of their body to a beat. You could ask them to clap, stomp a foot, slap their knee, or use blocks or sticks.
3. Follow the Leader
Whether it’s with claps, stomps, or some other beat pattern, go first with a pattern you want your student to imitate, and have them repeat it back to you. Take turns being the leader by asking them to create a beat that you mimic. Increase speed, number of beats, and difficulty as the child begins to master each exercise.
4. Vocal Imagination
Find resources to help you explore what different vocal exercises sound like. Ask your student to make a shape with their mouths, hands, or body – OR ask your student to draw a shape. Then, ask how they think that shape would sound in their voice. Would it sound low, high, loud, or soft?
5. Rehearse Nursery Rhymes
Many children might already know some nursery rhymes by memory, which Denver voice teachers can use to their advantage. Practice a nursery rhyme acapella until the child has it down perfectly. Then, use instruments or your own voice to layer on melodies. You can create endless exercises by changing up a traditional nursery rhyme with young students.
6. Rondo Form Concert
Piggy-backing off of the previous exercise, once you have your melody down, you can combine ideas to create a performance piece. Give your students the freedom to decide how many times you should sing your melody and what you should do after that.
7. Create Finger Musicals
Songs with accompanying finger motions can make great tools for young kids to learn melodies, rhythms, and syncopation. You could even teach enough of these songs and motions to create a concert! In addition to learning the motions for songs like “Here is the Church, Here is the Steeple,” you could challenge your students to create hand motions for other nursery rhymes or playground-type songs.
8. Compose with Children’s Books
There are several well-known and repetitive children’s books like “Are you My Mother” or “Click Clack Moo.” Work with your student to compose a melody for the repetitive parts, and instead of reading the book, you can sing along.
9. Sol-Fa Card Games
Make your own, download, or purchase a set of sol-fa cards to practice pitches. You can use these cards to create all sorts of games for your student. You can put them all face down on a table or floor and have them turn over one card at a time, singing the pitch that’s written on the card. You could also arrange the cards face-up in a random order and practice singing the pitches in the random order.
The important part of teaching young singers is to focus on creative ways to play with vocal exercises. Don’t focus on teaching and comprehension; those will come with the play!
If you and your family are interested in voice lessons, contact us today! Our teachers come right to your home for every lesson, plus we offer virtual music lessons, too. Our online music lessons are taught by local music teachers with live lessons tailored to your family!
