Music Oriented Learning
Tone Matching Games: (Vocal)
Matching a pitch that is sung by the teacher.
There are many ways to practice
matching pitches. Very often, the younger child is shy when singing
alone in front of their teacher. You'll get faster results if you use a
hand puppet. A puppet is less threatening and creates a friendly
atmosphere. Basically, the falling minor third is the best interval to
begin with for a beginning singer. If the child is having a hard time
matching the pitches given at first, then in order to let the child hear
what "matching is", it helps to change your
voice to match the child's pitch. Then as the child begins to hear the
matched pitches more easily, it is simpler to lead the child to sing
higher and lower notes.
Example: Now let's talk about involving body motions. Ask the child to show
you how one would play a drum.
The child responds with the appropriate motion.
You say, "That's right! When you are playing a drum, you can see what
your hands are doing, you can feel the drumsticks and the vibrations as
you play the drum, right? Well then, what does our voice look like when
we use it to make music?"
The child, most likely, won't know how to respond.
You say, "Our voice is an instrument too, even though it's hidden on
the inside and we can't see how it works. I've got a game we can play
that will help us to understand how our pitches move on the staff, when
we sing. I call this game, the detective game. Do you know what a
detective is?"
Play the echo game. Say to the child, "Match these
sounds".
Teacher sings: So - Mi, So - Mi.
The student responds:
Teacher sings another melodic pattern and so on.
"Every time I sing SO, you touch your head, and when I sing MI, touch
your shoulders."
The younger students will enjoy this way of having a
motion to represent what the voice is doing.
- Working with the Experienced Singer
Training students to focus
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