Teaching Children How to Sing
Many voice teachers avoid teaching children out of fear of hurting their voices or disappointment that they won't sound like adults. If done in the right way, however, singing lessons can be crucial in training a child's ear and vocal technique. Children not exposed to singing can grow up tone deaf, and children who sing but were never taught proper technique often develop hard-to-break bad habits that can even lead to vocal damage. It is important that the following steps be taken so that the child will learn actual vocal technique (as opposed to just learning songs) while doing nothing to damage their vocal instrument. Parents interested in enrolling their children in voice lessons should find a voice teacher who has experience teaching children and who uses these methods.
1. Begin each lesson with some simple stretches and posture exercises.
2. Work on simple breathing technique.
3. Introduce vocal registers.
4. Work on scales, intervals and vowels.
5. Work on focused tone and resonance.
6. Begin learning songs.
7. Give as many performance opportunities.