When Wee Ones Sing (Part I)

On Monday, March 16, I had the opportunity to observe the Cantabile ensemble at the Community Music School. Cantabile is comprised of approximately 30 young ladies and gents between the ages of seven and nine. The ensemble is taught by Kyle Zeuch and his MSU intern, Dana. The group meets one time per week for approximately 45 minutes.

One of the first things that I noticed upon entering the rehearsal space was the notation on the whiteboard in the front of the classroom. As an individual whose elementary music making experiences consisted of a great deal of rote song teaching and some lyric sheets, the prominent presence of notation perplexed me (more on this later). The next thing I noticed was the classroom set-up. The room was divided in half, with the front half of the classroom devoted to rehearsal space, and the back half devoted to seating for observers (parents, sibling, babysitters, etc…). The thing I thought was most effective, however, was the absence of chairs for the children. I think this was effective because it allowed Kyle to keep the students standing and singing with good posture. The students were positioned in three-ish rows, facing the white board. I think it is particularly important to point out that the children faced away from the seating area, which helped them to maintain their focus for the duration of the rehearsal.

During my time in the field, I remember spending a great deal of time attempting to cultivate a pure, unadulterated singing voice in my young students. My predecessor had focused a great deal on “projecting” the voice (somewhat akin to a pitched shout), so I was unsure what to expect in this observation.  I was absolutely blown away by the quality of this ensemble’s sound. Not only were the voices pure and clear, but they were blending in a way that had me smiling ear to ear for the entirety of the observation. There was one student, however, who would occasionally slip out of “choir voice” and into “Broadway voice”; however at no point did it sound forced or inauthentic—she just had a bigger voice than most of her peers. I was also very impressed with the children’s pitch accuracy. With the exception of a few students who struggle singing above La during certain vocal exercises, the majority of the students were on pitch and in tune. I think this has something to do with the way that Kyle attacks the music in this setting.

Throughout the rehearsal there was a huge reliance on the use of solfege. As I mentioned, there was an enormous white board with a good deal of notation stationed at the front of the rehearsal space. During rehearsal, it became apparent that the notation was actually four unfamiliar phrases, one from each musical selection addressed in class, that the students would be expected to “read” on solfege. Kyle would run through his sight reading protocol, having the students learn these phrases on solfege, and then he would have them read the phrase from their sheet music. As someone who believes that solfege can do wonders for intonation, I thought that this was an extremely effective teaching technique.

So what’s the take-away?

(1)    Reading is possible, even with those students who are just starting to sing.

(2)    There is power in numbers: 30 children singing together with beautiful voices = stunning.

(3)    Everything has a place and everything in its place. A classroom management mantra.