Marthea, I have found that the biggest challenge in teaching any group is to devise ways to keep all the participants involved all of the time. And it is good to start with things that are fun and interesting, and slowly add the more technical things as you go along. I like to get people singing right away. Then they have a reason to want to work on breathing. (With my first teacher, I worked on nothing but breathing exercises for 6 weeks! Don't know how I was motivated to stick with it! Today's students probably would not be.)
When I teach any kind of voice class, I always have the students give feedback on other students' performances. Sometimes I even let them coach each other. It's amazing how good they are, after a time of learning. The younger the students, the less detailed I want to be about the mechanics of singing. Just the basics at first, and details can come later.
|\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair of Music Dept., Rhodes College | 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112, 901-843-3782, dclark@r... () http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/faculty/dclark.html
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