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
|
