180 DAYS, BUT SO LITTLE TIME

Well, it has finally come, the new school year. Summer vacation is now behind us and we have some 180 days of instruction ahead of us...or is there…

In the world of music education, when we begin to breakdown how much time we receive with our students, we realize that it is not that much. When you work in an elementary school you have to teach your whole curriculum in 38 hours or less. WOW! That is only a day and a half. Once you get into middle and high school, the times become a little better. Most have 180 hours or less. That breaks down into seven and a half days. Not much time to prepare all of the music for all of your concerts and also teach theory to the students. However, despite the lack of time with our singers, we always find a way and somehow manage to get all the work done.

On top of the time crunch we are all dealing with budget cuts. Last year our state went through a great deal of pain as we watched teachers lose their jobs and programs being cut. But did you know that we were not alone? Did you know that over in England, music teachers were facing the same challenges and frustrations? The battles that we were waging are the same battles being waged all over the world. But because of your perseverance, music was saved in many of our school systems.

This summer Chorus America added a new resource to their arsenal of Arts Advocacy materials and I would like to share that with you. Below you will find the link.

http://www.chorusamerica.org/choiradvocacyguide/free/

I also am proud to announce the return of the ICC’s INNOVATIONS program. This is a program that is free to all area schools. Please visit the ICC webpage and look under FOR TEACHERS for more information.

Here is to a great year of work, done in only a few hours!!

Have you seen it??

Have you seen it?
Alright, maybe I am showing how young I am, but I have become one of the millions that is now watching the new Fox show Glee. If you have not seen it, tune in and you will be entertained. It is about a Spanish teacher, a former glee club singer, who organizes a glee club in the school where he is currently teaching. Each episode is filled with the troubles of high school and being in the glee club. However, I am not writing to get you to watch the show. I am writing because when I watch it I see energy and a passion that at times I don’t see in my own music class and sometimes choirs.
So where does it come from? Is it the music? Is it the movement? Is it the teacher and the singers?
I think that it is a combination of all of them. A few years ago in one of the teaching journals, there was an article written about popular music and how too often we as teachers don’t use it because it is “not classical.” However, it is part of our culture and if you look hard enough, there is some wonderful material in them!
I think that sometimes we see where we want to end, instead of where we need to begin. Not in technical teaching, but in interest. You would never take a person who has only listened to punk rock all of their lives and sit him down to listen to a Bach Cantata. No, instead you would find something that would be a step in the classical direction and appeal to that person.
So why do we pick music that singers would not sing outside of choir? Why not begin with things they enjoy and then work them into a new world of music.
Now let’s look at the issue of movement. So, should we all become a show choir or glee club? No! However, we need to teach our singers how to use their body to show expression and to feel the music. When you watch a small child listens to a piece of music, or better, sing a song. He or she moves. Not choreographed movement, but their body is not riggid and their head does not bob back and forth. Instead you see the music in them. Why not our choirs? Why not help them keep that natural feeling of music. Instead out society takes it out. Go watch people at a pop, rock, or country singer’s concert. The audience is not seated listening. Instead they are moving and feeling the music. So how to we get our singers to feel the msuic?
And then there is the teacher and the singers. Last night I was talking with the choir and I said we do what we do to share our love and our passion. We do this to perform! Otherwise, why work so hard for so many hours. Yes, the learning is great, but the thrill of singing in front of the audience is… well…”priceless!” So, we need to keep that alive in ourselves and our students.
After reading this, I see I have posed more questions than answers, but that is why we are here! To share our thoughts and ideas!
Here’s to a new conversation.
P.S. Go watch Glee season two and we will see you at the IMEA convention!

Boy Singers’ Vocal Change: A Positive Approach by Marijo Standafer

In the world of children’s choirs, and particularly in that of boy choirs, there are unfortunate stories told of boys whose voices have suddenly begun the process of changing and so are not allowed to continue singing in their choir. Imagine hearing, “So sorry, you are no longer able to sing in this choir. You may sing again, in a mixed-voice choir, after your voice has stopped changing!” The first time their voice “breaks,” boy singers have been known to hear sad comments such as this from their directors.

Sometimes voice changes can be very sudden.

Our fourteen-year-old son, Jonathan, is beginning his sixth year singing with the Los Robles Children’s Choir in Thousand Oaks, California, under the direction of Donna Young. Jonathan tremendously enjoys singing in his high soprano voice. Recently, we have noticed that he is able to sing a bit lower. Although his voice has not started to deepen in a major way, as his brother’s did at this same age, we realize that this change is just around the corner. Any time now, Jonathan’s voice may “break” or “crack.”

These unpleasant-sounding words, “breaking” and “cracking,” are ways of expressing the unpredictable sounds that indicate a voice is beginning to deepen. What causes a boy's voice to “break” and begin to change? As a boy enters adolescence, his muscles develop, his chest gets broader; and along with these and other physical changes, his voice begins to get deeper. The larynx, typically called the voice box, lengthens. As this happens, the voice 'breaks” on its way to becoming deeper. Sometimes it happens very quickly, perhaps even overnight. Amusingly to others, but embarrassingly to the boy, he may have times when his voice is higher one moment and then lower even just a minute later! The speed of the overall change relates to the speed with which the larynx grows. Each boy’s deepening voice eventually settles down into its unique range. Until this occurs, there are ways to help boy singer stay calm about the situation, to be encouraged, and to keep a creative perspective during this time, rather than view the change as an end to his singing.

In his educational video, The Boy’s Changing Voice; Take the High Road, Mr. Henry Leck encourages and instructs both boys whose voices are changing and their directors. Mr. Leck is an internationally-recognized choral director, and an associate professor and Director of Choral Activities at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is widely known as a specialist in choral techniques, the child’s voice, and the boy’s changing voice. As the founder and Artistic Director of the well-known Indianapolis Children's Choir, he oversees 1,700 children and youth in 17 choirs. While singing under his baton in Canterbury and London, England, during the summer of 2003, Jonathan and his sister found Mr. Leck to be a very personable and knowledgeable instructor and this comes through in his informative video.
In The Boy’s Changing Voice, Mr. Leck explains a little of the history of boys’ choral singing. Some of the very first recorded choral singing was the unison Gregorian chant. Eventually, harmony began to be written using thirds and fifths. During the Renaissance and the Golden Age of Choral singing, composers started using higher notes in church music. Since girls were forbidden to sing in church choirs, boys naturally sang the high soprano notes while the men sang the alto, tenor, and bass notes. The great composers of that day wrote for combined men and boys choirs, and many sang in boy choirs as well. Jacobus Gallus (1550–1591) and Franz Schubert (1797–1828) were choristers with the famous Vienna Boys’ Choir, officially founded in 1498. Brothers Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Michael Haydn (1737 - 1806) were members of the choir of Vienna’s St. Stephen's Cathedral. For the most part, choirs provided a good education for the boys who joined, regardless of their families’ station in life. Yet at that time, if a boy’s voice “cracked,” he was asked to leave the choir. Joseph Haydn, serving as one of the Cathedral’s principal soloists, had extensive training as a singer; yet when his voice changed, he was dismissed. Stories are told of Michael Haydn also being booted from the choir when his voice first started to change. The 1960’s Walt Disney movie, Almost Angels, centers on the lives of the boys who sing in the Vienna Boys’ Choir. In this enjoyable story about choral music, friendship, and loyalty, the talented head chorister, Peter, is devastated because his voice is beginning to “break.” Peter and Tony have become best friends and they try to prolong Peter’s ability to perform with the choir, which eventually leads to another boy in the choir “covering” for the lip-synching Peter. Almost Angels gives a glimpse into this difficult time in a boy singer’s life. At the first indication of their voices changing, many boys -- even today -- think that their choir singing days must abruptly end because of the continued belief that boys should simply rest their voices during the change.

Mr. Leck believes however, that a boy should keep singing through the change; that his high voice is actually the foundation for his new, lower voice. A boy who stops singing altogether during the change may lose the ability to manage his voice. Leck advocates a boy using his high voice while his voice is changing, and continuing to do descending exercises down across the register break. He encourages boys to keep singing through the transition, because in addition to allowing the voice to continue developing while the new voice is settling in, it may even have the positive result of a singing voice without a break. In his mind, there are few reasons not to sing while the voice is changing.

Henry Leck does point out though, that continuing to sing in a high voice when the voice is changing can create unique challenges and frustrations, and so gives other tips on how to manage during this transition period. A boy may be psychologically uncomfortable regarding the unpredictability of his singing at this time. Mr. Leck suggests that it may put him at ease to vocalize with an older male singing instructor. It is very important to be open about the situation, keeping excellent communication between singer and director. This allows for an environment where both singer and director are aware that each other knows what is going on, and a unique plan for the particular boy can be designed. Tiring quickly when only the high voice is used for long periods is a reality, so continuing to monitor a boy’s comfortable singing range and allowing him to rest when needed is most important. It is even desirable to allow him not to sing certain notes or parts of a song. This flexible approach, unheard of only a short time ago, is truly welcome to those who want to continue singing, even as their voice changes.
The Boy’s Changing Voice taught us what to anticipate as Jonathan’s voice changes and how to approach and handle the change in practical, positive ways. It is a valuable resource for adolescent boys who are going through, or are about to go through, their vocal change, and who want to enjoy singing for as long as possible in their treble voice. It includes excellent warm-ups and vocal exercises, ranges and guidelines for voice classification, technical data, informative interviews with young singers, and enjoyable solo and choral performances. It gives insight into the world of the adolescent male singer through historical, physical, and social aspects of the voice maturation process. For Jonathan, it certainly has been an encouraging resource.

NOTE: The Boy’s Changing Voice; Take the High Road can be purchased through Hal Leonard, Product # HL08742094; and is recommended for choral directors, studio voice teachers, as well as singers. -- M.S.