Many mothers I have come across
blatantly ask, if their child is old enough to receive singing lessons. I often take a few steps backwards before
answering that question, because every person with a voice is designed and
structured genetically different of course. My response is, “ We can work on
diction, articulation, breathing technique and sustaining proper posture, but
gaining a higher range or stretching the tessitura is not recommended for
children under the age of 12." Being that a child’s voice begins to change once puberty
begins and that’s usually by the age of 11
or 12 years old. So there shouldn’t be
any strenuous training or exercises towards the voice because their voice will
change and need to be trained differently as the child grows and matures.
I currently teach a female child
who is 11 years old. After listening to the
type of voice she has, it would not be conducive to train her vigorously
because she wouldn’t know how to apply the technique, especially when I ask her to sing a
little stronger and give more of a forte dynamic. Her voice is not built to
give a mature sound yet. Teaching children a song is one thing but training
them how to sing with proper technique to create a certain ambience for an
audience will be a task.
I
never received vocal training as a child. I have been singing since my Mother
put the microphone in my hand at the age of 2. Being in
choirs, vocal ensembles, oratorical speaking competitions, acting classes,
plays, and talent shows, I have watched my own voice change since the age of EIGHT. When I was 10 years old I remember standing in front of the
dancing guru, Debbie Allen auditioning for a show. I sang “The Battle Hymn of
Republic” and it was stated, I sounded like an older woman singing and that my
voice was powerful and huge to be so young. I received the compliment, but didn’t
understand what it meant, since I was a kid.
So that is said to express this, that a child’s voice can sound a certain way like mine did but should not be intensely trained or should I state, “tamed” until there is a
conscious conveyance in the training.
A
vocalist should be engaged mentally, physically and emotionally when singing or
speaking. This carries over into acting or speaking oratorically as well. It
has been proven that most singers do not come into their true voice that will
be apart of them for the rest of their life, until the age of 30.
RECOMMENDATION: Let your child be apart of a school or church choir where they are
singing mostly in unison (all together on the same note or pitch), but none of
the songs should be sung past c2 on the keyboard. Your child should be able to
sing in a NATURAL WAY without
pushing or shouting. This will help your child to understand the importance of
taking care of their voice and not damaging the vocal chords at an early age.
Some other BLOGS to
consider on this topic that I used as resources .
