Is there a singing tecaher in the house?

[IntergalacticWalrus]

I am going to start singing lessons with my friend's DDs later. What sor of things do you recommend I should start with them? They are 7 and 14.

I haven't taught singing before (I'm a v experienced cello tecaher though) but I know a bit about it. However, I have been asked to do thins because my friend's DDs are a bit nervous, and want to be taught by someone who they know etc etc etc.

Now come here, I want to pick your brains, is there anything I should do with them or is there anything I need to avoid like the plague? I don;t want my pupils to end up with strained vocal chords

Sorry if I am rambling. It's a combination of a)madness and b)2 year olds.

I used to have singing lessons - a long time ago....

we used to do things like scales and this thing where we had to imagine a candle on the other side of the room and sing one long continuous note to try and blow the candle out - sounds wierd but I think it's supposed to help with your breathing.

Thanks!

Actually, the candle exercise sounds like quite a good one

To be perfectly honest individual singing lessons are quite a specialist thing. You need o tbe able to hear what is not quite right and know how to correct it in a way that a child will understand. Young girls in particular are fond of trying to copy pop singers and often have a quite nasal sound.

I wouldn;t really reccomend individual lessons for a 7 year old, they are too young really and it is hard on their vocal development. If they are nervous it will be hard to get them singing solo though the 14 year old is about the right age to start lessons.Group lessons are much more appropriate for younger children both for confidence and to prevent boredom with excercises. Too much technique can be off putting.

My husband is an experienced teacher who specialises in young voices and their development and he won't take on pupils under the age of around 12.

You do have to be very careful with young voices, absolutely no belting. Both boys and girls are still developing until the late twenties, the vocal chords have not calcified.

I would highly recommend the Voiceworks series, they contain excercises, vocal warm ups and games and appropriate repertoire, also the Chicken Tikka collection of warm ups.

Get yourself a copy of Vaccai so they can manage the intervals. (Probably more suited to the 14 year old, than the 7 year old, though).

also, for the younger one especially. ask them what music they like and if possible teach them something that they are interested in learning

At 7 I wouldn't worry about doing too much 'technique' - just let them sing songs they know, and maybe get them to think about the song, have ideas about what the song's about etc.