Step-by-step explanation:
I. A Child’s Voice
One common mistake that adults make when singing with children is that they tend to “pitch” the songs, (or sing them in a key), that is comfortable for themselves, but unfortunately, out of a comfortable singing range for the children. Adults sing in much lower range than children, therefore pitching a song too low causes children to be unsuccessful at reaching some of the lower notes.
Pitching a song in the wrong range can have significant negative consequences on a child’s musical self-esteem. An incorrect key can take away the child’s ability to sing the song well or sing the song at all. Singing in a key that is out of a child’s range would be analogous to an art teacher giving a creative assignment to students and then placing all of the art materials up on a shelf out of reach for most of them. While a few might be tall enough, most won’t be. After a while, they will give up trying to reach the material altogether. Similarly, these are the students who start to believe that they can’t sing at all, and give up on music.
Good Singing
Although we are used to hearing and singing pop music, a child’s voice is not yet ready to sing songs either with such a wide vocal range or with the sophisticated vocal stylings or timbre that he or she might try to imitate from pop singers. As children’s voices are very light, they should not be pushed out of their vocal ranges too soon. Using a clear, clean, straight head voice rather than chest voice will help to avoid this, and will strengthen a child’s vocal musculature for a lifetime of excellent singing.
One good habit to help children sing well is to ask them sing in their head voice rather than their chest voice. Although most songs children hear are pop songs that are placed in the chest, a child’s voice is not yet developed, and should not be belting out or pushing from the lower range or chest voice. Head voice requires placing the sound higher up in the “vocal mask” or the face, as if singing from the eyes. Chest voice feels like the sound is emanating from the chest, which tends to create a lot of tension in the throat, particularly in younger singers. The head voice is lighter, more tension-free, and more natural and therefore more beautiful sounding.
Children’s Vocal Ranges
Below are the general ranges of a child’s voice.
