Month: August 2019

Songbooks for Young Singers

Finding appropriate music for young singers can be challenging if you don’t know where to look!  Here are some of my favorite song books that I use with my young voice students. 

**This post contains affiliate links, which means that I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through a link on my site.  

Kids’ Musical Theatre Collection: Volumes 1 and 2  – This is a nice beginning-level book for young singers, with an assortment of kid-friendly songs from movies and Broadway musicals (ages 5 – 12).  Songs are in easily accessible keys that fit comfortably in most young voices, and the piano arrangements are simpler in this book than in some others.  Volume 1 and Volume 2 are sold separately, as well as in the complete edition.  

Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology: Children’s Edition – This is a great collection of kid-appropriate songs from Broadway musicals, for approximately ages 8 – 14. Some of the song arrangements and piano accompaniments are more challenging than in the other kids’ anthologies.  It includes a mix of songs from classic and contemporary musicals, and includes plot notes for each show.  Songs include: What If (The Addams Family), Maybe (Annie), You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile (Annie), Electricity (Billy Elliot), When I Get My Name in Lights (The Boy from Oz), I Know Things Now (Into the Woods), Getting to Know You (The King and I), I Whistle a Happy Tune (The King and I), Naughty (Matilda: The Musical), Quiet (Matilda: The Musical), Castle on a Cloud (Les Miserables), Gary Indiana (The Music Man), Where is Love (Oliver), The Girl I Mean to Be (The Secret Garden), It’s Possible (Seussical the Musical), I Know It’s Today (Shrek the Musical), Dites-Moi (from South Pacific), and more.  

Broadway Presents! Kids’ Musical Theatre Anthology – Songs include: All I Do is Dream of You (from Singin’ in the Rain ), Alone in the Universe (Seussical: The Musical), Be Kind to Your Parents (Fanny), Big Blue World (Finding Nemo: The Musical), Consider Yourself (Oliver), Different (Honk!), The Girl I Mean to Be (The Secret Garden), Good Morning (Singin’ in the Rain), Green Eggs and Ham (Seussical: The Musical), Heart (Damn Yankees), I Gotta Crow (Peter Pan), I Just Can’t Wait to Be King (The Lion King), I Want It Now (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), It’s Possible (Seussical: The Musical), Johnny One Note (Babes in Arms), Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid), Pure Imagination ( Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Shy (Once Upon a Mattress), Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Mary Poppins), When I Get My Name in Lights (The Boy From Oz), Wouldn’t It Be Loverly (My Fair Lady) .  Available with downloadable accompaniment tracks.  

Disney Solos for Kids, Volume 1 – contains 10 classic Disney songs: Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins), A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella), Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat (The Aristocats), God Help the Outcasts (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), It’s a Small World (Disneyland, Walt Disney World), The Lord Is Good to Me (Melody Time), Reflection (Mulan), The Second Star to the Right (Peter Pan), Winnie the Pooh (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh).  Additional volumes are also available: More Disney Solos for Kids, and Still More Disney Solos for Kids.    

25 Folk Song Solos for Children – contains easy arrangements of kid-appropriate folk songs: All the Pretty Little Horses,  Animal Fair,  Annabel Lee, The Ash Grove, Bill Grogan’s Goat, Cradle Song, Every Night When the Sun Goes In, Father’s Whiskers, The Generous Fiddler, How Can I Keep from Singing, Hush, Little Baby, The Lark in the Morn, Little Brown Dog, The Mermaid, My White Horse, On Mondays I Never Go to Work, Poor Lonesome Cowboy, The Red River Valley, Scarborough Fair, Shenandoah, Simple Gifts, The Streets of Laredo, Sweet the Evening Air of May, Tell Me Why, The Water Is Wide.  The book comes with downloadable accompaniment tracks for students to practice with.  

36 Solos for Young Singers – traditional and folk songs with limited ranges that are well-suited to young voices (ages 6 – 12).  Featuring songs from a variety of countries and composers, including: April Fool, The Blue Bells of Scotland, Country Gardens, Cuckoo, Dandelions Gold and Green, The Desperado, MacNamara’s Band, Old King Cole, The Quest, Red River Valley, Sidewalks of New York, Sweet and Low, Toyland, and more.  The book comes with downloadable accompaniment tracks for students to practice with.  

36 More Solos for Young Singers – is a second volume of traditional and folk songs for young voices.  This is great for students who are working on developing the middle range of their voices.  

Art Songs for Children – contains 13 songs songs for young classical singers (ages 5-12), including: Come to the Fair, Cradle Song, Simple Gifts, A Twilight Fancy, The Water Is Wide, and more.  

Daffodils, Violets, and Snowflakes: High voice / Daffodils, Violets, and Snowflakes: Low voice – Contains 24 classical songs appropriate for young singers ages 10 to mid-teens, in suitable keys for developing voices.    

Some books are published in different versions for different voice types– often containing the same songs but in higher or lower keys.  Singers should decide with the help of a teacher which range is best for them.  

Piano Books for Beginners

For piano students of all ages, I generally use the Piano Adventures series. There are many piano methods out there, and I’ve used others before, but this one has worked the best for most students, and there is a wide variety of supplemental music available at each level as well. I also sometimes use the Alfred’s Premier series and may suggest this or another series if I am teaching a pair of siblings and would prefer them to have different books.

For Young Beginners (ages 4-6)

My First Piano Adventure: Book A – This book is great for the youngest beginners (4 to 5 years old). It includes kid-friendly songs and activities, and is designed to be developmentally appropriate for young students. This book is entirely pre-reading, meaning that students focus on learning technique, finger numbers, the music alphabet, rhythms, and playing loudly and softly– all before learning to read notes on the staff. The companion Writing Book reinforces concepts and skills from the lesson book with fun activities and songs. After this book, students move on to My First Piano Adventure: book B.

My First Piano Adventure: Book B – The second book in this series, but I often start 5- to 7-year-olds in this book. It introduces note reading in an easy-to-follow way, and encourages students not to rely on finger numbers but to learn the notes instead. Students learn to read notes moving by step in the Treble and Bass Clefs, and the C 5-Finger Scale is introduced. The companion Writing Book reinforces concepts and skills from the lesson book with fun music theory activities and songs. After this book, some students will continue to the 3rd book in the My First Piano Adventure set (book C), while others will be ready to move directly into Piano Adventures: Level One.

My First Piano Adventure: Book C – The 3rd and last book in the young beginners series. I often skip this book with students 5 and older, but this is a great review for students who need a bit more practice before moving on to the books for older kids. The companion Writing Book is recommended as well. Students learn a few new notes in the Bass and Treble Clefs, and learn to read skips on the staff.

For Kids (ages 7-12)

In this series, each level contains several books. There are four main books in each level: Lesson (where new concepts are introduced), Technique and Artistry (exercises for developing good hand position and expressive playing), Performance (longer pieces that are fun and great for recitals), and Theory (workbook and practice of concepts). There are additional books available as well of more “fun” repertoire. This comprehensive approach helps to train well-rounded musicians.

Piano Adventures: Primer Level – This is a good beginning book for slightly older kids. It begins with pre-reading work– learning finger numbers and rhythms first, then the music alphabet, and then beginning note reading about half way through. Once note reading is introduced, it moves pretty quickly, so it’s important that students have established good practice habits by that point in order to not get frustrated.

Piano Adventures: Level 1 – Although it is called level 1, this book assumes that students already know basic rhythms and note reading. Students who have some previous piano or other music experience may be able to start in this book, but beginners should complete either the Primer level or some of the My First Piano Adventure books first.

After Level 1, students may continue to levels 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4, and 5. Students are ready to begin playing some sonatinas and early-intermediate piano pieces around level 2B or 3, and a good selection of supplemental books is available for each level as well (Popular Songs, Kid Songs, Jazz and Blues, Rock, Hymns, and more).

For Older Beginners (ages 12-17)

Accelerated Piano Adventures: Book 1 – This series is designed for older beginners.  It moves more quickly than the regular Piano Adventures, so it’s important that students are committed to practicing regularly in order to make progress.  

For Adult Beginners

Adult Piano Adventures: Complete Book 1 – This is an all-in-one method (rather than multiple books) designed for adults, and includes classical themes as well as popular songs.  It moves more quickly and includes more chord-based playing than the kids’ books.  

 

3 Common Myths About Singing

There is a lot of misinformation out there about singing and voice technique.  A lot of these problematic ideas are leftover from the days before technology enabled us to understand how the voice actually works. I especially don’t like seeing ill-informed “voice teachers” profit from teaching incorrect and potentially dangerous techniques to unsuspecting singers. I acknowledge that there are many different styles and approaches to singing, but some things are objectively true no matter the genre.  I believe in empowering singers with accurate knowledge about how to train and care for their voice.  

 

Myth #1 – Singing from the Diaphragm is Helpful

I hear singers talking about this all the time.  Yes, the diaphragm is important for breathing, but most of the time when it’s talked about in regards to singing, it is not accurately described.  

So first, let’s talk about the diaphragm:  It’s a layer of muscle located at the bottom of your rib cage and is shaped like an upside-down bowl.  When you breathe in, it flattens downward, which pulls air into your lungs. This happens automatically, whether or not you are aware of it.  We can’t really feel the diaphragm, because it is deep inside the body where we don’t have nerve endings.  

When the diaphragm moves downward, it pushes on the internal organs in the abdomen.  In order to get a good, deep breath, it’s helpful to relax the abdominal muscles– this allows the external organs to move out of the way so that the diaphragm has maximum range of motion. If the abdominal muscles are tense, it’s hard to get a complete breath.  This is where thinking about the diaphragm is useful: for inhaling deeply.  

Once you’ve started singing, the diaphragm isn’t active.  There are other muscles involved in breathing, all around the ribs and torso.  In order to have good breath control and to sing longer notes and phrases, singers train those muscles to release the air slowly.  Keeping some of the inhaling muscles active during exhaling (or singing) is part of healthy breath support, but trying to focus on the diaphragm often does more harm than good.  

Here are some videos that show more about the diaphragm:

3D View of Diaphragm – https://youtu.be/hp-gCvW8PRY

More about breathing – https://youtu.be/TQ24-WCsYN4

What’s so bad about “singing from the diaphragm?”  

Most of the time if I ask students what kinds of things they’ve heard before about the diaphragm, most of it is wildly inaccurate.  There are a couple of common ways it gets misunderstood:

Many singers think that this means they should squeeze the sound out forcefully, using the abdominal muscles.  This is problematic because singing with too much air pressure can lead to vocal fatigue or even vocal damage. Too much air pressure means the vocal folds have to open and close more forcefully, increasing the chances of injury.  

Many singers confuse the diaphragm with the abdominal muscles, and think that they move at the same time.  The diaphragm is actually deeper inside the body and higher up than the abdominals, although squeezing the abdominals can indirectly press on the diaphragm.  I have found it much more helpful to focus on strengthening my core muscles, and many of my students have benefited from core exercise as well.  

I’d also like to mention that there are different schools of breathing, and I’m not here to recommend one over another, especially to singers who are not my students.  Diverse bodies and genres benefit from different methods and I think that everyone should do what works best for them. Abdominal breathing can be really helpful for some singers, but thoracic breathing works better for others.  A knowledgeable voice teacher can help you develop a technique that works for you and is stylistically appropriate.  

Myth #2 – Singing From the Throat is Bad

There’s a particular sound that is often described (even by voice teachers), as “throaty.”  Or, “stuck in the throat,” etc. You probably know what I mean. This sound is caused by muscle tension, and an experienced teacher can hear which muscle is likely the issue based on the specific sound (if it’s not clearly visible by watching the singer).  Sometimes teaching with imagery is helpful for this, and I might encourage a student to “send the sound forward” or something like that. Often a student with this issue is trying to control the sound, so focusing too much on individual muscles can make them tense up more.  

If the “throatiness” is happening more on a particular vowel, where is the tension?  Lip trills and rolled R’s can relax the tongue and jaw. Switching to a brighter vowel like “ee” might also help by moving the tongue forward. 

 

Myth #3 – You Can “Place” Your Voice

A lot of teachers talk about placement of the voice.  This is an idea that’s leftover from before we understood physics and how sound waves work.  In short, the sound waves produced by your vocal folds are shaped into the sound that we hear by the way that they bounce around through the vocal tract and out the singer’s mouth.  Adjusting the shape of the vocal tract (aka the mouth and throat) changes the sound— vowels are a simple example of this, but there are more subtle adjustments happening as well. 

So, what is placement all about?  Basically, if the vocal tract is amplifying the sound waves just right, singers might feel a vibration or other sensation in the nose or cheekbones.  With a modern understanding of acoustics, we can see that this sensation is the RESULT of good technique, not the technique itself.  

I will sometimes tell students to “send” or “aim the sound” toward the front teeth or cheekbones if I’m noticing tension, but don’t ever talk about “placing” the sound or singing from anywhere other than the vocal folds.  Sometimes this kind of imagery might help, but other times it might just lead to more confusion. Where should I place this note? What about that one? What if I place it wrong? This is much less productive than just addressing the underlying tension.