mirko,
i have a number of students around 8 and 9 years old. in general, i have had the best results by getting them singing a lot and singing with them. we sing lots of upbeat songs with a lot of motion in them (we use the hal leonard musical theater collections for kids and teens). i don't go into a lot of explaination with them as they are more interested in doing rather than being explained at.
in singing with them, i have noticed that they all start picking up the way i do things without copying me. the loud unruly ones start showing signs of finesse, the quiet mumblers start singing louder without screaming and the little morbid ones start having fun with singing.
i think the most important thing to teach kids (or any student) is that singing is a blast. it takes a while to learn how to sing well. if the student doesn't enjoy singing, there is no reason for them to bother to stick it out.
one other advantage to using music that is upbeat, where the syllables change pretty much on every note: it keeps their voices flexible, which later on will prove to be key to singing sostenuto.
mike
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