The Human Voice Lesson for Kids

Introduction

Singing is an invaluable skill and something most children love to learn about. Teaching children to sing while they are young can foster a lifelong interest and love of music. Singing lessons not only help your child “carry a tune” or help them prepare for an audition, but it also builds confidence and discipline which can help them in everyday life.
Singing is absolutely a technical skill so it is best to provide professional help in developing your child’s voice. Paired with a little bit of guidance, the warmups and techniques below are great reminders:

The basics: Posture, and relaxed and open breathing.
The first thing you have to do before starting any singing practice is to get your instrument, your body, in the proper position. Posture is important. Think of it like a flute – how good would it sound if it was bent? How good would a violin sound if the string was not at the proper tension. The body is the same way. A teacher will help with getting the proper posture, and help your child to relax. Breathing properly is the next step – proper body awareness, expanded rib cage, open throat, and more are all needed. There should no incorrect tension in the vocal mechanism.

Practice breathing
It is in the overall interest of children to practice proper breathing when singing. The teacher will demonstrate ome breathing exercise for them to understand how to regulate breath whenever they sing.

• Get them to breathe in through their nose and mouth (opening nasal cavity) that elicits
the “cold air in” concept. Then breath out “warm air”, all the while keeping the throat open
and out of the way for proper resonance.
• Encourage your child to begin directing air into their belly instead of their chest.
Encourage them to place their hands on their bellies and ask them to direct air to their
stomach, so it moves. The shoulders should never rise and fall. It is best to practice this lying
down, but you can do it sitting too!
• Get the children to count when they breathe. Let them inhale for the count of 4 and
exhale (perhaps on an “s”) for the count of 4 to 24.

Warm up using a range that is comfortable
Range extension is a natural occurrence from proper technique and practice. The trick is not to push it too soon. Warm up on something like “la” or “loo” with exercises given to you by the teacher is the best way to improve.

Demonstrate tone and pitch through singing
Exposure to singing and music helps a child’s ear and ability to match pitch. If you have a nice singing voice (and ven if you don’t) feel free to sing around your child! Not only have they always felt comforted by your voice, but you can also sing to demonstrate confidence. First, sing songs that you know they love. You can sing your child lullabies each night and sing throughout the day as well.

But, even if you are not a good singer, you can always play to the child songs done by those singers that you enjoy as well. You can ask the voice teacher for suggestions of people with amazing technique to support the proper vocal ideal when you are at home. We recommend popular singers like Julie Andrews, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbara Streisand, and Frank Sinatra. We also strongly recommend listening to classical singers like Luciano Pavarotti and
Fritz Wunderlich, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli.

Teach children about their Larynx
When you breathe in deeply, you just filled your lungs with air, and as you breathe out, the stored air travels back up across your windpipe (the trachea), which is your throat air passageway. The larynx is a box-shaped area located at the top of your windpipe. It is popularly called the voice box because it secures the part of the body that allows us to speak. In other words, the larynx is the foundation or source of your voice. Your larynx is that small bump that is on your throat’s front and is below your chin. The trick is to not focus on it too much, but also don’t ignore it so it gets too high and causes tension!

Your vocal cords
Inside of the larynx are two very thin, stretched out bands of muscles known as the vocal cords. Whenever you breathe in, these cords open to allow air passage through the larynx, going into the trachea and progressing down to the lungs. The vocal cords close when you breathe out and want to talk. The air from the lungs that are trying to pass over the closed vocal cords starts to vibrate, which create sound.

Just hum a bit of your best melody and touch your larynx. Are you feeling the vibration? Your vocal cords are like having a built-in instrument because just as you use your fingers to move the strings of your guitar to produce sound, so also you make your vocal cords to move to generate words.

Final thought
Cadenza Music Academy is fully committed to teaching and providing the best techniques in singing and piano for kids of all ages. We make it possible to bring the best experience in musical and singing opportunities into the lives of children. This will help you set them up for a lifetime of excellent brain functionality and incredible abilities that will last for the rest of their lives.

Sign up your child for music lessons at Cadenza Music Academy today!