ABSTRACT

Traditionally, singing has been considered a major component in the elementary music curriculum and a means by which all musical concepts can be taught in the primary grades. The issue of vocal development is a major concern to music educators and children`s singing ability has been the topic of research studies for several decades. Singing skill and related matters such as vocal range, vacal model, pitch discrimination, causes for inaccurate singing, and methods of instruction or techniques for remediation of inaccurate singers have been investigated and surveyed in numerous studies. Elementary music teachers are seeking more information regarding the children`s singing skill and the improvement of children`s singing, which is scientifically verified. A considerable amount of the related research in an experimental setting has been reviewed to analyze, summarize, and integrate the findings of the studies investigating children`s singing accuracy and the teaching of singing. The purpose of this paper is to provide some information on valuable research findings regarding the characteristic aspects of response in children`s singing and the factors affecting accuracy of children`s singing. The major discussions presented in this paper are as follows : (1) the requisite skills for accurate singing (2) vocal range and tessitura (3) the relationship between age and singing ability (4) the effect of gender on singing achievement (5) the effects of pitch discrimination and tonal memory on singing accuracy (6) factors affecting pitch accuracy such as voice quality of vocal model, individual and unison group singing, melodic and harmonic accompaniment, characteristcis of singing tasks (the pitch, length, intervals, and direction of melodic materials), and use of text, a neutral syllables or solfege (7) the effects of teaching techniques including reinforcements such as visual, verbal, and aural feedback, body movement, curwen`s hand signal, speech-to-song approach, and breath control instruction (8) suggestions for possible applications of research on singing to the elementary general music classroom. With the research findings summarized in this paper, the teachers can (theorize) gain some insight about the basic processes involved in successful singing and plan more effective programs of training for young children and remedial strategies for inaccurate singers. And also researchers can formulate more relevant hypotheses for investigation. As many in the profession agree that singing is a teachable skill and is a facet of music expression (a joyous experience for practically every child), basic singing skill should be attained by all children with adequate instruction.