Is your little one an aspiring Broadway star? Or simply enjoys belting out to tunes whenever the radio is playing? Singing is a fundamental form of human expression and a joyful, deeply fulfilling activity that can do wonders towards enhancing your child’s well-being in the long term. It’s easy to fall under the misconception that singing is an innate talent that only a sliver of the population is blessed with, but ask anyone who has been to a singing class before, and they’ll tell you for a fact that singing is an art form that can be developed and mastered, as well as a life skill that pays dividends when cultivated in children from a young age.
Of course, the right kind of vocal coaching is imperative; and perhaps the most essential part of nurturing your kid into the next HK or international pop star is getting them to hit the correct pitch. If your little songbird has a well of untapped potential waiting to be explored, then you’ve come to the right place. Below, we’ve rounded up five simple tips to help train your child to sing in tune and develop a great voice!
1. Call and response
A tried-and-true mirroring exercise used in professional singing classes, call and response is an easy yet effective method for kids to build aural awareness and practice pitch matching. The idea is simple—sing a short melody and have your child echo it back to you or sing a different melody in response. You can conduct the exercise using popular songs with call-and-response structures or turn it into a game by having your child improvise and respond creatively to your “call.”
2. Create more space in the mouth
Being cognizant of the space in your mouth is crucial to guiding tone quality and adjusting your pitch. It is a lot easier to sing in tune when you allow enough space in your mouth. That’s why children’s singing classes sometimes utilize yawning as a warm-up exercise—it’s a way to get you used to the feeling of lowering your jaw and putting your tongue down, creating more space in the mouth for oral resonance. Moreover, doing so can also help singers improve their breathing techniques, relax their throat, and access their head voice—all of which are vital to hitting those notes accurately and precisely.
3. Engage the body
Believe it or not, the mouth and throat are not the only parts of your body that can affect how you hold a tune! Especially when it comes to vocal coaching for kids, encouraging children to tap into their gross motor skills when singing is a valuable technique employed by vocal experts in HK and internationally. Development in younger children is largely centered around motor function. Prompting them to engage the whole body can facilitate their musical development by way of fostering stronger brain connections associated with the voice, ear, and the rest of the body. Try this out by asking your child to follow simple, fun instructions like raising their hands when singing in a higher pitch and crouching down on the ground when transitioning to a lower pitch.
4. Practice scales with Solfège
Even if you’re no musician, you will likely be familiar with the Solfège syllables: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do. Developed by Italian music theorist Guido, Solfège is an aural framework for naming and teaching pitches, helping singers and music learners alike identify intervals between notes and recognize musical patterns. By teaching children to practice scales with Solfège, they can develop a heightened awareness of how pitches relate and a better grasp of their singing voice, ultimately making it easier to sing in tune.
5. Enroll your child in a kids’ singing class
It takes dedicated, persistent training to nurture your child into a proficient and confident singer. If your little one is showing interest in singing and you want to support them in honing their skill, your best bet is to sign them up for a children’s singing class, where they’ll be able to gain access to a world of singing techniques and learn from experienced professionals in the field.
Having coached some of Asia’s top musical talents since 2017, SeanyMac Studios is a leading destination for kids’ vocal coaching in HK. Adapting a distinguished 6-step approach to singing, the premier vocal lessons provider strives to harness the power of performance and unleash each child’s musical potential. Our pre-eminent kids singing classes are specially designed not only to develop young singers’ vocal techniques but also to boost confidence and own the stage with poise. Book a singing class for your child with SeanyMac Studios today!