How meowing promotes the head voice

Passionata - Music lessons make the difference

I really like this song. It reminds me of the day I realised I could sing," said Sya* when we had finished the sunset song. I asked the second-grader to tell me more.

Sya told us how, as a little girl, she sat on the tram with headphones and sang along to a song on her mother's mobile phone. Her mother looked at her in amazement and said: «You have a beautiful voice». Sya talked about the feeling that the compliment triggered in her and the happiness of being able to sing anytime and anywhere.

Voice training must be approached carefully and playfully. It would be bad to judge the voice.

The other children joined in the discussion, describing how they sing in bed or in the forest. Mehran wondered why he couldn't remember the first time he had sung. He was probably still small, because he felt he had been singing all his life.

Listening experiences in infancy are important

There were three children in the group who took longer to use their singing voice, also known as their head voice or edge voice. With our speaking voice, we don't get very high. We have to change registers. We do this, for example, when we meow like a little kitten.

If you try this out right now, you will notice that you use the resonance chamber in your head when the little kitten says «meow» and that you can feel the voice in your chest when the dangerous tiger says «hello».

If you don't manage the kitten, you'll be like the children who are labelled as false singers or hummers at school. The reason why someone can't use their head voice is usually a simple one: lack of practice and too little stimulation and listening experience in infancy.

Children hear and use their head voice when listening to CDs with children's songs, a bedtime song, a song to comfort them, but also during role play or Punch and Judy shows. The more automatic the change, the easier it is to sing.

Finding your head voice is like doing a handstand for the first time.

In basic musical training, we train the head voice with a variety of voice training exercises: riding a vocal lift, firing a rocket or imitating a small animal. Posture, breathing technique and active ear training are also important.

Before each lesson, I greet my pupils at the door with a little solmisation to sing along to instead of a handshake. So-Mi-So-Mi, for example, would be a simple two-note melody. This is the call and response we use when we call «cuckoo».

When I greet the children, I can hear how quickly they find their head voice and whether their intonation (hitting the right notes) improves. After just a few weeks, the children want bigger challenges. They beg for «a difficult melody please» and I am doubly pleased when this request comes from a child who sings very softly and is supposedly inhibited.

Head voice opens up new possibilities

Voice training must be approached carefully and playfully. The worst thing would be to judge the voice. Too many people believe for decades that they can't sing after a careless remark from a teacher. If a child is chronically hoarse, I would advise the parents to have a medical examination to see whether nodules on the vocal folds are the cause.

When a child finds their head voice, they notice the difference immediately. The beaming look I get at the door after the greeting melody makes the morning golden. The longer I teach, the more I celebrate this moment with the child.

It's like doing a handstand for the first time. Finding the head voice opens up a wide range of expressive possibilities. Not only singing, but the children can now also imitate an aeroplane flying past, an annoying fly or Mickey Mouse.

That morning, when Sya reported on her first singing experience, Jacob, who had not known how to use his head voice for a long time, also came forward. The second-grader described how he had only been able to hit the right note since the spring holidays and admitted that he used to be ashamed to sing. The children listened to his story with rapt attention. Something else was new, he continued and grinned: «I can now mimic my sister and tease her much better!»

*Thenames of the children have been changed by the editors.