Voice lessons for the lil one

[Sea Sothebys]

I think my daughter is gifted... :wub:okay, I am sure we all think our 'chillens' are gifted. She has a really pretty voice and she is very expressive.
She is 7.
Does anyone know the best way to help her develop her voice? I have been thinking about piano lessons, guitar or simply voice lessons. Any advise from SoWallers?

[NoHall]

Most serious vocal instructors I know would discourage putting her in formal voice lessons until she is 17. Her voice is developing. You do not want her to push it beyond its limits--she can develop permanent serious problems, like vocal nodes. People do it, but often do as much harm as good.

Putting her in piano lessons would probably be the wisest thing you could do. She will learn to read music, which will help her to develop her voice her own way, naturally. She will also develop an ear, which will help her down the road with harmonization, intonation, etc. Guitar is good, but doesn't offer the same sort of opportunities--I recommend it as a second instrument. (Besides, if she decides to pursue music in college, she will be required to take piano. That's not a funn thing when you're a college freshman...) Encourage her to be involved in school choirs, community theatre, church choirs, etc.

If you want to find a vocal instructor down the road, put in a call to the nearest college with a music program and they should be able to direct you to someone nearby.

Singin' Chicken--? Do you have anything to add to this?

[Kase626]

I would also love to pursue vocal training... bring on the info!

[NoHall]

You have my permission--you're 18!

[barefootguy]

My daughter is also 7, loves to sing and has a great voice.
She's got a guitar and a keyboard to mess around with, but it's mostly me that plays them. We haven't tried music lessons yet. She went to the week long music camp last summer at Village Baptist, had a great time, learned all the songs, but didn't sing at all during the performance. She wants to be part of the worship band at our church, but again is too shy to sing for anyone.

At home she sings (and talks) nonstop. So we just encourage the singing, and supply her with good music to learn. I set up the ghetto blaster in her room, hand her one of my old microphones and let her go to town. She does concerts for all her stuffed animals.


I think my daughter is gifted... :wub:okay, I am sure we all think our 'chillens' are gifted. She has a really pretty voice and she is very expressive.
She is 7.
Does anyone know the best way to help her develop her voice? I have been thinking about piano lessons, guitar or simply voice lessons. Any advise from SoWallers?

[HYDROSTAN]

I think my daughter is gifted... :wub:okay, I am sure we all think our 'chillens' are gifted. She has a really pretty voice and she is very expressive.
She is 7.
Does anyone know the best way to help her develop her voice? I have been thinking about piano lessons, guitar or simply voice lessons. Any advise from SoWallers?

Talk to THE STEENOS, Bob and Lisa. They play gigs around. Bob is a great guitar teacher and Lisa maybe would be interested in teaching piano.
If you are interested pm me and I'll give you thier number.

[Kase626]

You have my permission--you're 18!


Yay!!! :clap:Thank you!:wub:

[seacrestkristi]

It's so fuNN being the singer on Xbox 360 rock band game too. I bet your gull would :wub: it. So would your entire family probably. Anyone tried it? Boy I've been makin' up some words for years. :roll: It shows the real words and you sing along and you get a score after each phrase. :biggrin: It even has some freestyle parts to sing for extra points. I know you were talkin' serious training but in the meantime this is family fuNN!

[Johnrudy]

I agree with nohall about delaying the formal voice lessons because of the wear and tear.

As a parent of a musician, I would suggest piano lessons. It's a strong foundation for any music background. My son has not had any piano instruction in spite of all the musical instruction he's had but now that he's faced with college music programs he's looking into for music performance, he still needs piano lessons.

It will help your daughter tremendously.

Good luck and enjoy!!

[Perpetual Im.]

I' m not a musician or an expert, but I spent my freshman year in college as a music major (voice major with piano minor). I agree that piano lessons are the way to go. I started piano lessons at age 6 and never had formal voice lessons until college (at 17). The piano training was absolutely essential for all of my required courses, and the lack of formal voice lessons was not a problem. The music theory, sight reading, etc. you learn while taking piano lessons carries right over into singing and learning to play other instruments. FYI, music theory was the toughest "math" course I ever took in college, including those required for my science degrees. Even if she doesn't study music later, learning to play the piano will provide her with a great skill and hobby for her whole life. Good luck!

[NoHall]

My daughter is also 7, loves to sing and has a great voice.
She's got a guitar and a keyboard to mess around with, but it's mostly me that plays them. We haven't tried music lessons yet. She went to the week long music camp last summer at Village Baptist, had a great time, learned all the songs, but didn't sing at all during the performance. She wants to be part of the worship band at our church, but again is too shy to sing for anyone.

At home she sings (and talks) nonstop. So we just encourage the singing, and supply her with good music to learn. I set up the ghetto blaster in her room, hand her one of my old microphones and let her go to town. She does concerts for all her stuffed animals.

That's okay, you know. Not all great musicians are performers. Composers, theorists, teachers, and even educated audience members are valuable parts of the music community. This is what I'm having to pound into my students' heads right now--even if they put down their instruments at the end of the semester and never touch it again, what they learn as musicians will stay with them for the rest of their lives. They'll never even listen to the radio the same way again.

I had a batch of 7th graders this morning who had to figure out how many beats were in a measure and the values of rhythms. We had to figure out stuff like 1/4 = 1/16 + 1/16 + 1/8. They were able to convert the 4ths and 8ths to 16ths and do the math, but then they were looking at me funny. I said, "What? Have you not converted fractions before?" They all shook their heads. I laughed and said, "I told you this was useful..."

[barefootguy]

Yeah, I'm just excited to see her enjoying music. I'll make sure she has instruments to experiment with, and if she every gets serious about wanting to play something, we'll go from there. Her home performances are mostly just copying me. She sees me performing, watches old videos of my past bands, and talks about her and I doing shows. Maybe someday she'll ask me to play guitar for her in her first band.

[singinchicken]

Singin' Chicken--? Do you have anything to add to this?

I agree with NoHall about holding off until her voice develops. All of my vocal training has been since I've been singing in the A Capella choruses I have been a member of since '98. Barbershoppers are a strange breed, and the techniques we use are far different from what school and Church choir instructors will teach. I may not be the best resource in that respect.

Piano lessons are great. The only formal training I have had is music theory which I had when I was playing bass on a regular basis. Piano lessons will cover that.

[Sea Sothebys]

This was so helpful. I really had no idea about the vocal strain possibility, and that it would be a bad idea at this age. I think piano lessons are a great idea. And I will check into the posted suggestions. Thank you so much!:clap:

[WaterCourseWay]

I'm going to offer a different opinion... I started singing in school chorus and church choirs in 4th grade, also took piano and played flute and violin for a few years each. I started taking private voice lessons my sophomore year of high school, and continued throughout college. I wish I'd had the opportunity to take them earlier. I did have the advantage of growing up with a father who was a music teacher so I learned to read music and develop my ear at a young age, but his area of expertise was instrumental, not vocal, so he wasn't able to teach me technique. I absolutely agree with the others that getting her started now with piano lessons is the best thing you can do for her.

However, if she is serious about singing, if she is truly talented and has the desire to do it, I think the earlier she learns to use her voice correctly, the better. It's very easy and all too common for child singers to utilize poor technique for a big sound, and do permanent damage to their vocal cords. I had to spend years unlearning many bad habits I had taught myself before I was able to develop my voice properly.

Of course, it all depends on the teachers available in your area, if they have the background and training to truly understand the special requirements of a child's voice and development...

Just my $.02...