Timm 1

Accessing and Developing the Head Voice in Children's Choirs

Katie Timm
E-533, Dr. Brent Gault
May 1, 2015
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Part I: Literature Review

Introduction

This paper will explore the development of the upper register (head voice) in children's

choirs. Most children do not instinctively utilize the upper register when singing. As a result,

many music programs overlook this element of vocal technique; they instead focus on the

“natural” speaking range of students and repertoire based on popular songs and styles. However,

it is imperative that directors find and use tools to develop the head voice. In addition to

encouraging a (life-long) healthy vocal technique, singing in the head voice positively impacts

intonation, blend, and range extension.

Pitch names used in this paper will be: C0-B0 (octave below middle C), C1-B1 (octave of

middle C) and C2-C3 (octave above middle C).

Review of Literature

Older approaches to choral music education (influenced by the boy choir tradition) strongly

advocated the sole use of the upper register. While these (often extensive) methods contain

valuable exercises and principles, modern research rejects the use of the upper register alone.

Instead, it recommends children recognize three different registers (low, middle, and high), and

are able to sing in the chest, head, and mixed voices when appropriate. Modern research also

addresses the influence of popular music and belting techniques. Children's skewed perception of

“healthy” vocal technique influences their initial attempts at singing and even their speaking

pitches – the former becomes forced, and the latter becomes monotone and unnaturally low. This

paper will survey both historic (dating from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries)

and modern resources.

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T. Maskell Hardy in How to Train Children's Voices emphasizes descending scales and

vocal modeling to strengthen the head voice1. Students should sing descending, five-note patterns

beginning in F major (C2) and moving down through C major (G1). Shorter descending patterns

can be used for blend – at the end of a four-note vocalise (d-t-l-s), the director may hold the last

note and listen for individuals using the chest voice and sticking out. The director should

continuously assess individual singers. Ascending scales should only be used after students can

successfully perform descending ones smoothly; when ascending scales are used, the top note

should be held longer. The director should model a thin, clear tone (in his or her own head voice,

if possible) and implore students to think of a flute. Students should remember to let the voice

reverberate in the throat or chest.

Both Hardy and Francis E. Howard (The Child-Voice in Singing) encourage children to sing

softly2. Howard, like Hardy, implements exercises based on descending scales, shown in

Example 1. Singers should perform these exercises with a “continuous tone,” and not breathe and

re-enter at a louder dynamic than the group. Eventually, children should memorize these patterns

so that they can better focus on vocal production. Howard also restricts the range in which

children sing (setting a lower limit at E1). He emphasizes mouth shape when developing the

head voice – the director should remind students to keep their mouths open, their tongues

extended at the floor of the mouth, and their tongues against the teeth for vowel sounds. Unlike

Hardy, Howard does not believe the director should model vocal quality. Female singers – while

possessing similar vocal range to a child – have a richer tone quality that students may imitate

1 T. Maskell Hardy, How to train children's voices. Specially written for school teachers and
conductors of ladies' choirs, 5th ed. (London: J. Curwen, 1910), 20-26.
2 Francis E. Howard, The child-voice in singing, treated from a physiological and a practical
standpoint, and especially adapted to schools and boy choirs (London: Novello, 1898), 46-
69.
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using the chest voice.

Emilie Curtis (Children's Voices, 1895), laments that many pieces for children's voices are

written for the alto range when most children are sopranos3. She advocates three principles

similar to Howard and Hardy: exercises should begin at the top and work down; directors should

encourage relaxation of the mouth and throat; and directors should choose repertoire that

explores a higher range (including F2 and G2). Unlike Howard, Curtis believes that children

should imagine the tone originating from deep in the throat, stretching the throat like a yawn. In

contrast, attempts to send the tone through the top of the head will result in a nasal sound. If

resonance is an issue, students should aim the tone toward the front teeth.

The chapter on phonation in Ken Phillips book Teaching Kids to Sing (1992) contains the

most extensive contemporary discussion on children's vocal registers4. Phillips believes children

possess three vocal registers: lower, mixed (middle), and high. His book warns that students limit

their range capabilites if they are only trained in the upper or lower registers (contrary to older

sources). Working on the different registers is possible at all ages, and should be continued into

adolescence.

After an overview of laryngeal physiology, Phillips introduces his three divisions of

phonation training: lower adjustment (chest voice), higher adjustment (head voice), and

adjustment coordination (smooth transitions between the two and blending the registers). He

orders the divisions in this way so that students first learn to distinguish between the two extreme

registers, and then learn how to blend them. Example 2 shows an outline of Phillips' exercises.

In developing the lower adjustment, Phillips emphasizes the importance of using a healthy

3 Emilie Christina Curtis. Children's voices; how harmed and how helped (New York: John
Church, 1895), 16-19.
4 Kenneth H. Phillips, Teaching Kids to Sing (New York: Schirmer Books, 1992), 222-251
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speaking voice. His initial exercises in every division of phonation training utilize animal

sounds; in the lower adjustment, students imitate a cow, and directors should listen for a clear,

buzzing sound that is not too low. The proceeding vocalises similarly focus on the timbre of the

chest voice and its forward (not dark or woofy) placement. Breathing and dramatic speaking

exercises help energize and brighten the sound.

In discussing the upper register, Phillips focuses on strengthening the head voice so it can

achieve expressive capabilities (dynamic contrasts, and eventually vibrato). After exploring the

head voice with higher animal sounds (for example, owls or puppy whimpers), Phillips lists a

series of vocalises that use short or light attacks on [u], including marcato thrusts (a note is

attacked in the upper register and descends like a sigh) and imitating laughing. The remainder of

the exercises focus on imitating sounds: an engine turning over, a coyote, or the sounds of a

storm. Since children do not sing instinctively in the upper register, Phillips' approach seems to

center on children imitating familiar, external sounds.

Phillips argues that the coordination of the lower and upper adjustment is important because

the most difficult range for these adjustments falls between C1 and C2 (the range in which most

children's choir repertoire falls). Children's flexibility allow them to carry the chest voice very

high, which should not be permitted. This flexibility, however, also enables a much wider range

than often realized.

The first few exercises for adjustment coordination involve animal sounds that obviously

differentiate between the two registers (for example, a horse, birds or dogs of different sizes, and

goats). This training also division contains vocal glissandi (including some utilizing lip trills) that

aid in smooth transitions between registers and through the passagio. Glissandi should be
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performed ascending and descending.

Elizabeth Willis, in her article “Vocal Registers in Children”, focuses on changing registers

in children; she approaches training children to sing in a way that equips them to transition

through adolescence and voice changes5. She recommends directors continually teach basics of

vocal production, especially posture, low breath support, forward resonance, and diction. Posture

is important for all singers because it aids breath support and the activity of the vocal folds;

diction is more important for boys because articulation helps promotes a clear sound. In her

article, Willis also devises an interesting exercise that helps students imitate the motion of the

vocal folds with their hands. The gentle movement of the vocal folds in the upper register

contrasts the closed position of the vocal folds in the heavy register. Another way of exploring

the protagonist/antagonist characteristic of the vocal fold muscles is to have children arm-

wrestle.

Various method books and educational series contain sections of exercises for utilizing the

head voice. Doreen Rao's Choral Music Experience (Vol. 5) lists four exercises for register

coordination6:

1. Students should sing [ni], [ne], [na], [no], [nu] on a single pitch and focus on a blend and

intonation, as tuning is often a problem for children with register difficulties.

2. Students should sing [u] on a descending s-m-d pattern. The pattern should be sung in

middle and lower register; students can focus on bringing the head voice down. The director

should remind students to keep the mouth and throat open and to maintain healthy singing

5 Elizabeth Willis,“Vocal Registration in Young Voices: A Balancing Act,” in Perspectives on

Teaching Singing: Australian Vocal Pedagogues Sing Their Stories (Bowen Hills: Australian
Academic Press, 2010): 141-154.
6 Doreen Rao, The Young Singing Voice, Vol. 5 of The Choral Music Experience: Education
Through Artistry (New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1987), 22-23.
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posture.

3. Students should sing [na] on an ascending octave leap and a slow, descending arpeggios;

students should expand the exercise by singing it on all vowels (modifying for [ni] and [ne]). The

director could direct students to put their hands on their cheeks to keep the mouth relaxed.

4. Students should sing the text “No-ah, no-ah, no-ah's...ark” on an ascending octave using

alternating thirds (see Example 3).

Barbara Brinson and Steven Denmore's Choral Music: Methods and Materials includes

exercises both to help beginners find their head voice and to help more experienced singers carry

their head voice to the lower range7. Initial, exploratory exercises compare to those previously

listed: sighing patterns, sighs on [u], and imitating sounds like a tiny, thin witch laughing or an

owl. Their exercises for blending registers include singing the syllable “blow” on a descending

five-note scale, decreasing the dynamic as the pitches descend. This exercise should be sung

faster until singers become familiar with it; it can also expand to begin with short reiterations of

the highest pitch before descending (on the vowel alone). Once students learn this exercise, the

vowels [i], [e], [a], [o], [u] should be added to the repeated notes at the beginning ([u] begins the

descent).

Several periodical articles on vocal technique contain useful vocalises for developing the

head voice. Angela Broeker's “Exercising the Young Voice: What I Know for Sure” laments that

most students the author encounters have only experienced vocalizing in the lower register8.

Often, they transpose a melody down when they can't sing in their head voice, or intone on a

single pitch in their chest voice. The article states that these problems are not an aural problem,

7 Barbara Brinson and Steven Denmorest, Choral Music Methods and Materials: Developing
Successful Choral Programs (Grades 5 to 12), 2nd ed. (Boston: Schirmer, 2014), 152-155.
8 Angela Broeker, “Exercising the Young Voice”, Orff Echo 41, no. 3 (Spring 2008): 9-12.
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but a vocal production problem. Like other authors, she uses vocal glissandi on [u], ascending a

descending a perfect fifth. Kinesthetic motions should accompany this vocalise: relaxed hand

motions could include tossing a Frisbee, rolling a bowling ball, or throwing a boomerang.

Although Welborne Young's article “Engaging the Head Voice” is directed towards adult

community choirs, many of the problems he describes also afflict children9. Directors of

children's choirs could successfully incorporate three of his exercises into their rehearsals. Young

begins by discussing the need for consistency in the inhalation, suspension, and phonation

phases. He encourages focus on inhaling the shape of the proceeding vowel sound. In order to

eliminate the suspension phase (which causes tension and often a hard, glottal onset) Young

suggests Exercise 1 of Example 4, which begins with an aspirate onset and includes the

commonly used descending pattern. Young additionally utilizes this descending contour in

Exercise 2 (Ex. 4); the exercise may be modified using the vowels [u] and [o]. Finally, similar to

Phillips, Young recommends practicing register transitions. Exercise 4 may be difficult for

younger singers, but worthwhile: here, students sing bright vowel in the lower register (which

they will be tempted to sing in their chest voice), and quickly move to an open [a] in their upper

register. Students must learn how to incorporate the head voice on bright, low sounds to make

register transitions effortless.

Finally, Alice McGraw's doctoral dissertation “An Assessment of the Effectiveness of

Vocalises in Training Elementary School Children to Sing in the Head Voice” catalogs her work

teaching multiple groups of second-grade students the same repertoire, some of which were

trained with vocalises that encouraged head voice and some of which were not10.

9 Young, Welborne,“Engaging the Head Voice: Simple Exercises for Community Choirs”,
Journal of the Conductors Guild 22 (Winter/Fall 2001): 66-69.
10 McGraw, Alice Gwendolyn Blair,“An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Vocalises to Train
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McGraw examined historic and contemporary training methods and used these as the basis

for developing her own vocalises. She confirmed general principles of other writers: vocalises

should emphasize register contrasts; vocalises should transition between speech and singing

(including vocal exploration and upper register speech games, like Phillips' farm animals); the

director should emphasize descending patterns over ascending ones; and the director should

model as much as possible. Additional criteria for the selection of vocalises included:

1. Exercises should start at D2, where students are most likely to use the pure head voice.

2. Vocalises should take place on nonsense syllables before moving to repertoire-based

exercises; [u] is preferred because it lifts the soft pallet, and can be paired with consonants like n,

d, k, or l.

3. The use of humming and yodelling promotes a clear, articulate tone (McGraw had her

students hum fragments of the repertoire).

4. The director should favor patterns based on descending minor thirds (McGraw had

students imitate the sound a Cuckoo bird makes).

Example 5 includes some of McGraw's exercises.

McGraw also lists criteria for selecting repertoire. Directors should always choose

repertoire that is not beyond their students' technical abilities, but that works on areas of vocal

technique and demands they use their head voice. Repertoire should include a limited number of

melodic patterns, and these patterns should be based on descending scales (particularly ones

where students have to learn to transition between registers, G1 – D2). Repertoire should feature

a limited range from G1 – D2. Finally, Repertoire should contain soft dynamics, sustained tones,

Elementary School Children to Sing Using the Head Voice,” DMA diss., University of
Georgia, 1997.
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and light accompaniments.

Conclusions

The review of the literature revealed that training children to sing in the upper register

necessary for the development of successful vocal technique. Most sources agreed that directors

should build register exercises on a foundation of breathing (and mouth shape) and posture. A

number of similarities between approaches should be applied to the warm-up and repertoire

selection processes:

1. Directors should incorporate the imitation of sounds, whether it be speech-like sounds

(i.e. animal noises, sirens, yodeling, or witches laughing) or students responding to vocal

modeling.

2. Directors should design vocalises based primarily on descending patterns, using the

closed vowel [u]. These exercises should begin above C2. Directors should encourage students to

use physical motions to illustrate the contour of their sound.

3. Exercises should always encourage singers to bring the head voice “down” - this can

include manipulations of dynamics (soft singing), insistence on blend in the lower range, and

exercises like vocal glissandi that smooth out register transitions.

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Appendix

Example 111

Example 212

11 Francis E. Howard, The child-voice in singing, treated from a physiological and a practical
standpoint, and especially adapted to schools and boy choirs (London: Novello, 1898), 66.
12 Kenneth H. Phillips, Teaching Kids to Sing (New York: Schirmer Books, 1992), 234-235.
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Example 313

Example 414

13 Doreen Rao, The Young Singing Voice, Vol. 5 of The Choral Music Experience: Education
Through Artistry (New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1987), 23.
14 Young, Welborne,“Engaging the Head Voice: Simple Exercises for Community Choirs,”
Journal of the Conductors Guild 22 (Winter/Fall 2001): 67-68.
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Example 515

15 McGraw, Alice Gwendolyn Blair,“An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Vocalises to Train

Elementary School Children to Sing Using the Head Voice,” DMA diss., University of
Georgia, 1997, Appendix C.
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Bibliography

Brinson, Barbara and Steven Denmorest. Choral Music Methods and Materials: Developing
Successful Choral Programs (Grades 5 to 12). 2nd ed. Boston: Schirmer, 2014.

Broeker, Angela. “Exercising the Young Voice.” Orff Echo 41, no. 3 (Spring 2008): 9-12.

Curtis, Emilie Christina. Children's voices; how harmed and how helped. New York: John
Church, 1895.

Hardy, T. Maskell. How to train children's voices. Specially written for school teachers and
conductors of ladies' choirs. 5th ed. London: J. Curwen, 1910.

Howard, Francis E. The child-voice in singing, treated from a physiological and a practical
standpoint, and especially adapted to schools and boy choirs. London: Novello, 1898.

McGraw, Alice Gwendolyn Blair. “An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Vocalises to Train
Elementary School Children to Sing Using the Head Voice.” DMA diss., University of
Georgia, 1997.

Phillips, Kenneth H. Teaching Kids to Sing. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992.

Rao, Doreen. The Young Singing Voice. Vol. 5 of The Choral Music Experience: Education
Through Artistry. New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1987.

Willis, Elizabeth. “Vocal Registration in Young Voices: A Balancing Act.” In Perspectives on

Teaching Singing: Australian Vocal Pedagogues Sing Their Stories, 141-154. Bowen Hills:
Australian Academic Press, 2010.

Young, Welborne. “Engaging the Head Voice: Simple Exercises for Community Choirs.”
Journal of the Conductors Guild 22 (Winter/Fall 2001): 66-69.
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Part II: Observations

Observation 1

IUCC First Voices

Alyssa Hunsucker and Megan Armstrong, directors
Thursday, April 9; 4:30-5:20pm
First Presbyterian Church, Bloomington

The rehearsal took place in a classroom. Desks and tables were pushed to the outside of

the room to allow a large, open space for the students (directors had chairs, a music stand, and a

white board). Piano was against one wall, with accompanist facing the wall.

Procedures

Students began with the singing of a familiar song (one they often sang to close

rehearsals and that was on the concert program). The song repeated the melody three times – the

second time, it was only in the accompaniment. During this second repetition, students were

instructed to mirror the stretching of the director. Students were asked questions about the song

after it was sung (i.e. How many times did we sing this melody? What did we do when the piano

played the melody?); the director used this follow-up procedure after most songs in the rehearsal.

The warm-up initiated with “finding the magic C” – students reached into their pocket,

held and listened inwardly to their C (C2), and “let it out” on [u] when the directors' and the

students' hands opened. The piano only played the pitch at the beginning of the exercise.

Directors moved among the students to listen and assess who was matching pitch. Vowel shape

was reinforced by hand gestures.

The second vocal warm-up was a descending five note scale on [u]. The warm-up went

up through B major (F#2-B1) and down through F major (C2-F1).

Directors used a game combined with an echo song as the third warm-up (“Won't you let
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the birdie out?”). Students formed a circle (holding hands) with one person standing in the

middle. The person in the middle sang a number of melodic patterns based on minor thirds (E

minor). The game encouraged creativity, as students sometimes came up with their own words or

phrases to sing.

The rehearsal continued with students reviewing concert songs. They began with “Uno,

Dos, e Tres”. Students first sung a part they knew, and the director encouraged good vocal tone

by praising a student who sang well and asking others to model her. New, unfamiliar parts of the

repertoire were taught by rote – first words, then notes and rhythms.

The rehearsal continued with another game with a song called “Head and Shoulders

Baby, 1, 2, 3” (jazz influenced). Actions and clapping accompanied different words of the song.

The first part of the text varied, and the students performed different actions based on this new

text (i.e. turn around, find a partner, touch the floor). Students were responsible for singing the

second part of the text, which remained unvaried (“baby, 1, 2, 3”). The director encouraged

creativity when she asked the students what new action the group should do next.

After the game, the directors talking to the group about concert etiquette. The group had a

discussion about the differences between rehearsal and the concert. The group also talked a lot

about watching the conductor in a rehearsal; the director brought out a stuffed animal and had it

act as the “audience” who would observe whether or not the students followed all of these

instructions. The director spent some time lining up the students in the order they would stand at

the concert. She gave each row (front, middle, and back) a unique dance/hand motion they could

do to remember their location.

The group continued by working on two concert pieces. The directors had added a spoken
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rhyme in between verses of a familiar song for the concert. Students kept a steady beat and the

teacher taught the words by rote. The director left out random words for the students to supply to

aid memorization. This culminated in the director saying half of the rhyme and the choir

responding with the other half. They switched roles after this was solidified. The directors spent

a lot of rehearsal working out transitions between verses and the introduction with the

accompanist.

The rehearsal ended with a combination of a game and a concert piece, “Shoo Fly”. The

concert piece was in the form ABA. The director assigned students actions in the A sections, but

students had to find a partner with which to do a group action in the B section. Eventually, this

partner action was replaced with the action to be performed in the concert.

Impressions of Instruction

The directors did an excellent job of engaging the children through variety and

encouraging creativity within the learning process. There were clear vocal technique goals in

many exercises (i.e. singing in the head voice, solo singing, or improvising). I also liked the way

that the directors taught memorization, and how many activities were followed up with questions

to assess students' understanding of the concepts.

I think the directors should have had a clearer idea of the form, meter, and tempo of the

repertoire itself. The directors wasted some time because they were partially learning the song

with the children instead of having a clear understanding of it and a clear means of executing

their rehearsal plan.

Pedagogical Implications

Many of the initial phonation exercises focus on the head voice. The students started in
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the upper register (C2), and used descending scales on a [u] vowel, bringing the head voice down

into the lower register The directors did not give the children an opportunity to both match pitch

and use the chest voice, as the beginning exercises were quite high. The extensive use of minor

thirds for echo songs also promoted the use of the head voice. The directors made an effort to

model good vocal production themselves and to single out students who were exhibiting good

vocal technique.

Observation 2

Columbus Children's Choir

Mrs. Ruth Dwyer, Director; area music teacher Nick Kohne (Mrs. Dwyer is ill and can't stand for
long periods of time) helped out.
4th-9th Grade (SSA choir)
6:00-7:15pm, Monday, April 13
North High School, Columbus, IN

The rehearsal takes place in choir room of Northside Middle School in Columbus. The

piano is at the front of the room, angled toward director and choir. Chairs are set up in a semi-

circle on “risers” (built into the floor). There is also a whiteboard in the front of the classroom.

Mrs. Dwyer explained to us before the rehearsal that the students in this group were 4th –

9th graders. She pairs up singers at the beginning of the year (older students mentor younger

ones). The students in the class arrive with a variety of learning levels, including one student

with Asbergers.

Procedures

• Warm-up
◦ Raising hands quietly to signify rehearsal is starting
◦ Silent stretching; precedent clearly set, no instructions needed.
◦ Breathing in through nose, sizzling. Bring arms over head for inhalation – opening up
body.
◦ Rising to the challenge – sizzling for up to 22 counts
◦ Find unison “C” out of thin air. Descending 5 note scale, C2-F1 on various vowels.
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◦ Fixing breathy quality in [a] – imagery of spinning sound

◦ Ascending and descending 5 note scale – encouraging range extensions, flexibility.
◦ Used actions: bending down for opening pattern, arms over head for top note
◦ Tuning exercises – thirds and fifths. Modifying vowel for better tuning.
◦ Ascending and descending scale on whole notes, half notes. Solfege syllables with
hands.
◦ 3 part canon on scale
◦ Fixing vowel shapes of solfege syllables.
◦ Two part hand signs: “sight-singing”. Unison first, then parts. Only leaps were octave
and so-do.
◦ Constant verbal feedback. Always something more to think about.

• Dance into the Day – runthrough to see what choir remembers.

◦ Very quickly paced. More like a church choir rehearsal than a school setting.
◦ Hand gesture used to show wordy dipthongs versus pure vowels.
◦ Director explored lots of variation within vowel sounds – bright, dark, middle (eh).
◦ Some singing of the director with parts that need work – piercing, direct tone when
modeling.
◦ Varying standing and sitting.
◦ Beginning to memorize the parts (refrain) that they know already by simply not using
the music.
◦ Assumptions of musical literacy – studying the score to answer questions about the
melody.

• Great Day (spiritual/Gospel song)

◦ Reviewing of parts. Taught mostly by rote.
◦ Male director modeling in head voice/upper register as well.
◦ Again, primary focus is on vowel shapes.
◦ Issues of balance also addressed.

• We Shall Overcome
◦ Placement of consonants: watch director.
◦ Hand to show mouth shape and consonant placement.
◦ Students asked to take responsibility for inaccuracy.
◦ Very little silence during rehearsal – constant feedback.
◦ Breaking phrases into units and putting them back together.
◦ Showing your neighbor where something is – sharing scores.
◦ Having everyone learn every part – active reading: kids are instructed not to make
assumptions about repetitions being exactly the same.
◦ Asking kids to self-assess: what do we need to fix?
◦ Partner song – learning two melodies that go together – can tell that kids like this
song a lot.
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• This Land is Your Land

◦ Focus on blend in the soprano voice – don't stick out
◦ Use of modeling
◦ Pointing out good examples of students showing joy in a song
◦ Very congenial manner of rehearsing – students aren't afraid to admit when they've
made a mistake.

• If My Voice Had Wings

◦ Rearranging voices for blend.
◦ Can tell students are attached to meaningful texts.
◦ Homework given for next week – entrusting students with responsibility.

Impressions of Instruction

Mrs. Dwyer held her students to a very high standard, and they responded well to this

dynamic. I could tell her students were eager to learn, impress, and improve. This was especially

clear when students had an emotional attachment to the music.

I found it interesting to observe a choir made up of various age groups. The director

assumed a certain amount of musical literacy and leadership from the older kids. She taught

melodies and harmony by rote, and the piano was used often. It reminded me more of a (very

effective) church choir or adult rehearsal than other children's choir rehearsals I observed.

I appreciated that the warm-up sequence was clearly routine. It enabled students to work

on very fine points of tuning and vowel shapes, and they were able to progress to singing with

solfege very well. The pay-offs of breathing and blending warm-up exercises were obvious when

the choir worked on repertoire.

The primary focus of this rehearsal was vowel shapes and blending, not just correct notes

and rhythms. It reminded me to build in expressive and vocal production elements throughout

the learning process, not just at the end when it is time to “refine” a piece for performance.

Pedagogical Implications
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This choir clearly had been trained to use the head voice; the exercises focused on

refining the upper register instead of accessing it. Initial phonation was in the upper register

(C2), and the warm-up began with descending scalar patterns. Clearly the vowel modification

(opening [a], rounding [i]) was designed to combat the breathy quality of the head voice. Both

the directors (even the male director) modeled in a resonant head voice. The focus on blending

also encouraged students to sing softly and lightly in order not to stand out.

Observation 3

ICC Preparatory Choir

Andrew Himelick, Director
Grades 1-3
6:00-7:00pm; Thursday, April 30
Zionsville West Middle School Music Room

Set-up: Rehearsal takes place in a general music classroom. 16 chairs set up in 2 rows in front of
a white-board (with staff) and keyboard.

• Director explains the goals of the choir to us before the rehearsal: ICC preparatory choir
prepares them to be in a performing group
1/2 time – choral skills, running through repertoire for concert this Saturday
• 1/2 time – general music skills, games

Procedures:

• Warm-up: director held hands up in the air, signaling time to be quiet (students mimicked
and stopped visiting). Stretching by mirroring, also done without instruction.
◦ Students held arms up in the air, exhaled as they brought them down in front of them
by hissing (similar to observation 2). The second time this exercise was done, they
pulsed their hiss.
◦ Students blew out ten candles on their fingers; panted like a dog.
◦ Students found C2 on their own and sang it on [u]
◦ Warm-up continued with descending 5-note scales on different vowels – students
knew the pattern and could answer questions about which vowels came next.
▪ Director used constant movement in the accompaniment pattern to encourage air
flow, continuous sound.
◦ Students sang ascending and descending five-note scales on scooby-doo-bi-doo-bi...
This exercise was used for range extension.
◦ “ugly ee” exercise – five note descending scale on the ugliest [i] they can find, then
 Timm 22

the most beautiful one – fun competition for the students

• Concert order/logistics announcements/bowing practice

◦ timing – saying “thank you very much, up” in a defined tempo when students were
bowing. Students practiced saying, whispering, thinking this saying while bowing.
◦ Mr. Himelick is good about entertaining all students' questions and make them feel
their questions deserve attention.

• Repertoire: students mostly just did run-throughs since their concert is on Sunday.
◦ Ladybug (Brahms)
◦ My Balloon (Jeffrey Bell - 1994)
◦ Erie Canal
▪ director reminded students about quiet singing, not shouting – helps keep them in
head voice
▪ can tell kids are attached to the jazzy style of this song – know the words very
well.
▪ Memorization was the hardest part of learning the repertoire for this group – both
the words and the musical form
▪ director adds another dimension to text by explaining a barge, a canal, geography
(rivers vs. canals)
◦ This Land is Your Land
• Director encouraged a variety of sitting and standing

• General Music Instruction

◦ Reading rhythms
▪ beat-function rhythm syllables: ta di for 2/4; ta ki da for 6/8
▪ “motor” -- which beat/big beat you keep on yourself – sometimes students lose
this, but mostly they stay together
▪ memorization practice – memorizing one rhythm while reading the next one:
canon with themselves. Also working on reading ahead.
▪ Farm animal noises on different patterns (i.e. mooing like a cow on a dotted
quarter note).
◦ Games: Our Old Sow, Alabama Gal. Use of folk songs – when demonstrating these,
director sang in falsetto.

Impressions of Instruction

This rehearsal would successfully prepare students for a more rigorous, demanding,

performing group. The students worked on repertoire, general music skills, and musical games

(which helped to break up a long rehearsal). I could tell the students were confident in vocal
 Timm 23

production, matching pitch, and reading rhythms. The variety of approaches to learning helped

keep their attention through the process.

Students comfortably shared thoughts and questions, which created an open, creative, and

communicative environment. However, the director did not monitor talking amongst students,

and as a result students in the back row often fidgeted or visited with each other without any

repercussions. Classroom management may have improved the efficiency of the rehearsal.

Pedagogical Implications

This rehearsal addressed singing in the head voice numerous times. The warm-up utilized

descending patterns. Many exercises used the [u] vowel, both in ascending and descending

scales. Range extension exercises encouraged students to sing above their normal tessitura (even

if students were not entirely successful at creating a beautiful vocal tone at this register extreme).

The director encouraged students to sing softly instead of shout, especially on lower notes in

“My Balloon.”
 Timm 24

Part III: Pedagogical Applications

Exercise 1
• Instructional Goals
◦ Students will explore various registers (emphasizing the upper register) and begin to
differentiate between them by imitating bird sounds and a witch laughing.

• Procedures
◦ Students will echo the director performing various bird sounds, from highest to low:
▪ owl (short descending sigh figures on [u])
▪ cuck-oo (descending minor third)
▪ crow ([ka]
◦ Students will then echo the director laughing like a witch (high, narrow sound).
◦ The students will be directed to act like one of the birds they imitated. Students could
move around the room making flying motions.
◦ Every time the director makes the sound of the witch laughing, students will join in
laughing. The director will point to one of the names/pictures of the different birds
and students will “magically” turn into the next bird. Procedure can be repeated
multiple times.

• Assessment
◦ Director will ask students questions about the character of the different birds: Was the
crow or the owl higher? Which bird sounded the most like it was singing?
◦ Director could have students repeat the cuck-oo sound to evaluate whether they had
accessed their head voice through the exercise. Director could also have students
perform a descending five-note scale beginning on D2 and listen for intonation and
vocal quality.

Exercise 2
• Instructional Goals
◦ Students will self-assess the differences between singing “as normal” and singing
incorporating their head voice. Students will become familiar with tools used to
strengthen the upper register.

• Procedures
◦ Students will be recorded singing a familiar song like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”
(G1-E2). They will not have done many warm-ups before singing.
◦ Students will then go through a series of repertoire-based exercises to exercise and
strengthen their head voice. For “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” these might include:
▪ Sing the entire melody on [nu] or humming it softly.
▪ Vocal glissandi on a hum down and up a perfect fifth (G1-D2). Students could be
instructed to think of the space for the higher note while singing the lower note.
▪ Sing descending four note scales of the piece (so-fa-mi-re) with a decrescendo.
 Timm 25

▪ Practice breathing in the vowel sounds or breathing with an open throat

(yawning).
▪ Putting index fingers at the sides of the mouth or hands on the cheeks to keep all
vowels tall.
◦ Students will then be instructed to use the tools they've learned and sing the song
again (recorded).
◦ After listening to the two performances, the director could ask students questions:
Where did we sound like we were one singer instead of many? What did the high
notes sound like on the recordings? Was there a big difference in the sound of the low
and high notes? Director could also have different descriptive words on the board (i.e.
floaty, heavy, strained, clear) and ask students to circle which ones they think applied
to each recording.

• Assessment
◦ Directors could assess whether warm-ups were effective by the degree of difference
between the two performances.
◦ Director could assess the ability of students to aurally perceive the difference in
registers by the clarity and preciseness of their verbal answers and self-assessment.

Exercise 3

• Instructional Goal
◦ Students will practice smoothing out transition breaks (from upper to middle register),
strengthening the expressive capabilities of the head voice, and intonation.

• Procedures
◦ Students will be taught the following exercise; pitches could be taught by solfege,
then with the addition of the hum, glissando, and [u]. Students will then be asked to
incorporate dynamics.

◦ Students should pretend to tie two helium balloons to their hands. Hands should float
up above their heads gradually during the first measure. They should float tentatively
around their diaphragm as the dynamic increases in the second measure. In the third
measure, the balloons should float above their heads again.
◦ Once students can do this exercise successfully, it can be done ascending by half
 Timm 26

steps. If successful, students should turn to face each other. In the last measure,
students should listen and see if they can 1. match their [i] mouth shape to their
neighbor's and 2. fit their sound into their neighbor's.

• Assessment
◦ Director should listen and evaluate the evenness of students' melody through m. 3 and
their blend in m. 3. Director should also evaluate if students show great strain or
frustration in dynamic contrasts or the initial high note.