Hello from in here in lurkdom!
There was a reference in an earlier post to the fact that so much school music for children is now pitched so low. It's true, of course, but the creative teachers do not assume that all songs must remain in those keys, thank goodness. I do remember, however, a workshop I attended a number of years back...one during which a quality composer of childrens' choir music was speaking and working with a local boys choir. He said that when he submits a song of his to a publisher, the first thing a publisher says to him is, "The song is good, but you'll have to lower the key! No one will buy it!" . But it is a catch-22. If there are no songs out there in higher keys, obviously no one will buy them.
There is a perception that writing for youngsters should be in speech register...but just think what speech register IS for young children! It is so high...I teach in a school which accomodates students from grades 1 through 12, and the singing and speaking and shouting I hear every day goes into the stratosphere. Now -- that doesn't mean that all these students sing well in that area, however. It depends so much upon the vocal examples they hear. I have observed a colleague who directs a childrens' choir, and he has trouble getting these voices to sing up high with a clear and un-pushed quality...but when I listen to his singing for them in his octave...and/or his uncomfortable falsetto (not like the easy smooth sound many men create)...I see that they do not have a good example to follow. Perhaps if they could imitate during singing the sounds they themselves create during play, that lovely tone would be utilized better and more often!
Sincerely,
Lynda Lacy, Soprano Vocal Music, Hilton Head Preparatory School Hilton Head Island, SC
"Let your voice serve the music, and not the other way around." - B. R. Henson
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