This is a very thorough book on the subject
of teaching children to sing. It begins with a
comprehensive history and philosophy of vocal pedagogy for children,
centering on a discussion about the “song approach” versus teaching vocal
technique. The author maintains that vocal training is lacking because
most music students are taught via the song approach, which emphasizes
expression over technique.
The physiological aspects of the voice and
breathing mechanisms are covered as well as how the physical aspects
relate to the more psychological processes, such as pitch matching, tonal
memory, and voice and breath coordination. This leads to a break
down of vocal ranges and discussion as to how specific vocal registers of
children should be approached. It is pointed out that properly
trained voices in children can achieve a higher quality of sound.
A discussion on the
changing voices of adolescent children as well as vocal health rounds out
the first portion of the book and several overviews of approaches to
handling the changing male and female voice are given. Obviously this is
a topic far too complex to be comprehensively covered in one chapter;
however the author provides a good basis from which further research could
be conducted.
Part two of this book is where the real meat
resides. This section is entitled “Vocal Technique for Young
Singers” and outlines a specific vocal technique curriculum. There
is a very detailed list of scope and sequence for each age level (grades
1-12) which utilizes ninety exercises related to vocal development in the
areas of respiration, phonation, resonant tone production, diction and
expression. The exercises in each of these areas are then spelled
out in detail, complete with photos of children performing them.
I read this book in
my first semester at Queens College for MUS 642 (Teaching Choral Music)
and at that point I had not yet started a choral program at my school.
This book proved to be an excellent guide with which to begin. In fact, I
feel that in the two years I’ve been directing a chorus, some of the
original ideas I got from this book, like specific breathing and vocal
exercises, have been lost along the way and I’d like to re-incorporate
them into my routine.
I still use many of the
posture and stretching exercises. Normally I have the kids start with a
physical warm-up and will have two students lead the group with a specific
set of exercises. Unfortunately, I’ve found that while they enjoy being
selected to lead the group, when the activity is student-led, the other
students are not as apt to take it seriously, so I’ve started to
demonstrate warm-ups myself.
I’ve encountered references
to this book in many places online and in discussions with colleagues. It
seems to be very well respected in the world of choral music education.
In fact, when researching Kenneth H. Phillips online, I found that he is
affiliated with and/or published by many music educator organizations
around the world.
However, in spring of 2004 I
took MUS 666 (Vocal Pedagogy) and that professor did not have respect for
this book. He presented alternative ideas and methods that actually were
more in line with the methods my principal voice teacher taught me over 20
years ago. As a result, I modified a lot of the things I had taken from
Kenneth Phillips and used a more organic (for lack of a better word)
approach to having my kids sing. The techniques used in my past voice
lessons and the vocal ped course at QC are much simpler than those
presented in the book. However, I’m beginning to think that a
juxtaposition of all three methods may be the best direction to take. In
a couple weeks I will be focusing the majority of my attention on working
with my performance groups to prepare for our final concert. Touching
base with this book has given me a fresh perspective with which to
revitalize my singers and get my chorus back on track. Due to my focus
being put on other projects, I feel my chorus has received the short end
of the stick and I have not been as prepared this year as I was last year.
Overall this book is a “must
have” for new choral teachers. Although it can be cumbersome and dry to
read straight through, it is a great reference book. I particularly like
the detailed outline of exercises complete with photos. I’m quite sure it
is a book that I will be coming back to again and again.
