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Singing

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Children love to sing, in and out of school, along with the radio or television, in church, or on the bus. They come to school already knowing a whole range of songs from many different sources. Singing is an important social activity that brings people together and often lifts their spirits. Singing should hold a very important place in our school music programmes and enhance other parts of the curriculum as well.

If you can accompany the children's singing with guitar, ukulele or piano, that's great. If not, the children don't need to miss out on a varied, worthwhile, and joyful singing programme. Celebrate the fact that there's a wonderful selection of recorded material to support you, and push that play button or download with style! iTunes and YouTube are valuable resources if you are searching for a specific song.

Through singing, children can develop many important music skills and directly experience elements of music, such as pitch, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and tone colour. Singing can also provide opportunities for children to practise basic Māori language and be prepared for special occasions, for example, welcoming and farewelling guests to the school.

Singing develops skills and understandings across each of the four music strands in The Arts learning area of the NZ Curriculum . As children come to appreciate singing within their own community or from other cultures, they are Understanding Music in Context ; as they explore the elements of music through song, they are Developing Practical Knowledge ; as they make up simple songs and chants, they are Developing Ideas and as they perform for others and discuss and evaluate their own and others' singing performances, they are Communicating and Interpreting .

In your music programme, you need to make the most of these important junior years, when children are so responsive, and provide both planned and spontaneous singing opportunities. To enjoy singing with others is an important outcome of singing at school.

Learning Experiences

  • Foster an understanding of pitch differences by relating to body movement. Get the children to sing low notes touching their toes and gradually stretching up high and raising the pitch as they go.
  • Use the slide outside in the playground to reinforce pitch awareness-up, up, up the ladder, down, down, down the slide.
  • Have simple sung conversations with the children. "Hello Christopher" using the soh-me interval. What did you have for breakfast? Extend this by singing the roll at the beginning of the day: "Kia ora, Tahu" and Tahu can reply: "Kia ora, Ms Campbell".
  • Learn echo songs, which give children the opportunity to hear and echo an in-tune singing model. For example " E Toru Nga Mea " or Copycat Rap.
  • Use important sporting and cultural events to discuss the use of songs for particular purposes, for example, the Olympic Games, World Cup events or important visitors to the country or your school. Learn appropriate Māori and Pacific Island songs for welcoming and farewelling visitors and guests, for example Tena Koutou for welcomes and Kua Mutu Rā ngā Mihi e for farewells.
  • Use every song as an opportunity for reinforcing the elements of music- pat the beat on your knees... clap the rhythm of the words... are these notes low or high notes?.. let's try singing it all in a high voice... which verse should we sing softly?... what effect does that have on the meaning of the words?...if we sung it loudly how would it change the song?...is this a fast tempo or a slow tempo?...do we use a different quality of voice for a lullaby and a pirate song?...and so on.
  • Provide opportunities for children to hear live performances of singing-invite the choirs, chorales or glee clubs from your local intermediate or secondary school. Have the children well prepared with things to listen for and good questions to ask.

Teaching Approaches

Teaching a song
  • Get to know the song well first, so that you can teach it with confidence.
  • Warm up the children's voices before they sing (See Games and Starters suggested for the singing units in this resource.)
  • Introduce the song in a motivating way that sets the scene for singing. For example, when introducing a song about pirates; "This is a very lively song about pirates. Who can talk like a pirate? What sorts of things do pirates in stories say? Who can walk like a pirate?
  • Let the children hear the song several times. While listening, they could:
    • pat their knees in time to the beat;
    • move expressively;
    • focus on features of the words or the accompaniment.
  • Let them sing along with the chorus or with the whole song if it's not too difficult. If they find some of the words tricky, the children might just hum along for the first couple of times.
  • The children will need to listen carefully to how the song begins and practise coming in at the right time. If you are accompanying them on a guitar or keyboard, you will need to either play an introduction or give a clear starting note and set the speed (tempo) of the song by counting in.
  • Praise what they do well and then ask them to share their ideas on how they could improve next time.
  • Encourage them to think of ways that they could enhance the performance of the song (for example, by adding instruments, body percussion, actions, or dance movements).
  • Make the song and words available for the children to practise and enjoy before school and at lunchtimes.
Singing Māori songs
  • When learning songs in Māori, children need to be able to pronounce the words correctly and understand their meaning and the purpose of the song.
  • Waiata-ā- ringa are songs with actions. Some have been written for children to practise basic Māori language, for example, Pakeke Mai.
  • Other waiata-ā-ringa and waiata have a particular social purpose (such as welcoming or farewelling) that the children need to understand so that they can perform the songs appropriately.
  • There are many simple waiata that have been written for children to enjoy and that are appropriate for everyday classroom singing, for example, songs by Hirini Melbourne .
Singing soh and me
  • The words soh and me represent two pitches that are a minor third apart, for example, G (soh) and E (me) or F (soh) and D (me). These two notes occur in children's rhymes in many cultures and are easy for children to sing or chant which is why they are referred to as the playground chant. "I'm the King of the Castle" is an example of such a chant.
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