What Every Instrumental Teacher Already Knows About Singing!
In my seventh year of K-12 teaching, I assumed the role of band director and became the sole music teacher for my very small district’s fifth through twelfth grades (and I did so for the fol- lowing six years!). While I did have some back- ground in instrumental music and even though I did complete courses for an area music education major (meaning I took everything from instrument repair to vocal pedagogy), I was overwhelmed with teaching beginning band and beyond. I knew I was a competent musician, but the thought of all those fingerings, embouchures, giant scores and intonation problems really sent me into a panic. When I finally caught my breath, I decided to treat my instrumentalists as if they were vocalists and everything I had previously learned in my under- graduate career became clear and focused. At a spring band festival during my inaugural year as a band director, one of my judges told me that my bands sounded “chorusy” and sounded as though “they were singing through their instruments”. This is when I realized how much I already knew about teaching instrumental music.
This short article is dedicated to those who have come to choral music by way of extensive and sometimes exclusive experiences in the instru- mental realm. My epiphanies were the result of looking at teaching instrumental music through the processes and lenses of the four phases of tone production: respiration, phonation, resonance and articulation. As you read through each section, it is my hope than those who are “faced” with teach- ing vocal music will soon realize how similar ap- proaches can make your teaching more effective and yes, more rewarding. This is not an all-en- compassing comparison but an introductory look at certain aspects of each of the phases of tone pro- duction.
Respiration Breathing is the vital foundation of singing and playing wind instruments. As with playing an in- strument, singing requires low, torso-centric in- take and retention of air. The instructor watches for students with tall posture, sitting on the edges of their seats. The choral director also instructs
Chuck Norris
students about the counter-productivity of raising shoulders on intake of air and hales torso expan- sion and retention of said expansion as the air is leaving the body via the larynx, throat and mouth. The trick for kids is too learn the motion of breath- ing, to feel the expansion of the ribcage and to maintain expansion as a phrase is sung.
After beginning the warm up with relaxation exer- cises (head rolls, shoulder rolls, shaking out arms and legs), the students can focus on air intake via a slow sip (as through a straw) and gradually release the air through steady hissing for various counts (inhale for four, hiss for four/eight/sixteen, etc.). The same process can be repeated with pursed lips (no hissing resistance) and finally verbal counting, which engages the vocal cords. While students are hissing, blowing through pursed lips, count- ing, they might put their hands on their ribcages with fingers pointing forward and thumbs back- ward. In this stance students can attempt to main- tain the expansion as the air leaves the lungs. This keeps the focus in the torso area and away from the shoulders.
Phonation Phonation occurs when air passing through the tra- chea creates a vacuum of sorts in the larynx, caus- ing the vocal cords to adduct (come together). A similar thing happens the minute the bow hits the string, the stick hits the membrane, the air meets the mouthpiece, reed, tone hole, etc. While we can observe and hear the fundamental sound from a head joint or mouthpiece (minus the bodies of the instruments), we cannot do the same because we cannot (legally) remove the head from the neck. Just as beginning wind players work with their mouthpieces, reeds and head joints, the choral instructor must focus on the fundamental sounds voices can make.
Assuming students have good posture and basic breathing technique in hand, they can attempt long descending sirens (glissandos) on forward ee vowels. The ee vowel is particularly helpful for adolescent females, who undergo voice changes (less obvious than boys) that cause the vocal folds
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Choral
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