Getting serious with rehearsals at Panaga school in Brunei. Leading the way also with getting other local schools involved. Thanks guys and well done - can't wait to hear your recordings!
Helping all types of schools join the VATW Project - Free supply of mini MP3/video players
Not yet registered to join in this year's project? Don't let your students miss out on being part of the most exciting global music project you will find. Click here to register
There are some schools with whom VATW has contact that lack some basic facilities that we sometimes take for granted e.g. some way to playback and listen to music. VATW has acquired 200 mini MP3/video players to help these schools. We are currently arranging for batches of these to be sent to schools in Africa preloaded with this year's 'Lighting Up The Flame' choir parts and teaching videos. If you are working with schools you think have this sort of need or would like to reach out to a schools like this to help them join the VATW family - please get in contact with us and we will arrange to ship some MP3/video players to you. Exciting!
There are some schools with whom VATW has contact that lack some basic facilities that we sometimes take for granted e.g. some way to playback and listen to music. VATW has acquired 200 mini MP3/video players to help these schools. We are currently arranging for batches of these to be sent to schools in Africa preloaded with this year's 'Lighting Up The Flame' choir parts and teaching videos. If you are working with schools you think have this sort of need or would like to reach out to a schools like this to help them join the VATW family - please get in contact with us and we will arrange to ship some MP3/video players to you. Exciting!
Getting the best out of your students' singing - teaching tips
Not yet registered for this year's project? Don't let your students miss out on the most exciting global music project you will find! Click here to registerÂ
1. It's important to look at the Voices Around The World - Lighting Up The Flame project instructions. There are many valuable tips for choir work illustrated in this short document - provided by successful choir teachers. Click here to go to the resources page to download these instructions.
2. Get your students to learn the lyrics asap. Experienced choir teachers will always tell you that a dependency on lyric sheets is a limiting factor for any choir. You cannot properly teach the song dynamics when youngsters are struggling with lyrics they do no know properly - the brain has too much on which to focus. Your students voices will also be slightly muted if they are looking down or have their mouths hidden behind the lyric sheet. Power teaching point - learn the lyrics fast - ban any lyric sheets asap!
3. Vocal warm ups like sports warm ups are essential - don't skip these. You will see some of these illustrated in our instructions booklet  - click here
4. Give your rehearsals some variety. We all know that keeping the music enjoyable is vital. Going through one particular phrase in the song for the 20th time is probably going to kill off even your most ardent choir person. It is interesting how, with students, you can literally hear 'sad' or 'happy' in the recording of their voices. If possible get your students to make the most of technology and practice with the choir resources either on their phones, computers or tablets outside of main rehearsal time. If possible let your students organise practices of their own. Use the karaoke videos we have provided - let your choir have a chance to look at the images in the accompanying videos - how many star sports people can they identify? Use follow my leader techniques for tricky parts of the song. Call and response - divide your choir into partners and work in fours - 1 partner group sings one line of the song and the other partner group sings the next etc. Use breakout groups for choir part rehearsals - use older talented students to lead the breakout group rehearsals working with the recorded choir parts of the song. Bring them back together for full rehearsal and spot any tricky areas so that they can go back and focus on certain sections in their breakout groups.
5. Watch out for note slides - i.e sliding up to a note rather than pitching it first time! This is often connected with breathing properly.
6. Diction and word endings. Be sure that word endings like 's' and 't' are just audible but not exaggerated - this makes a big difference. Vocal mouth/diction exercises are very good to include as part of this: Betty bought a bit of butter, but she found the butter bitter, so Betty bought a bit of better butter to make the bitter butter better. There are loads of tongue twisters like this that make for excellent warm-up and again bring variety to the rehearsal. For more tongue twisters and information around this, have a look at writeoutloud.com
7. Getting everyone singing in synch with the mp3 choir part versions is absolutely crucial for the VATW project. Lighting up the flame has very rhythmic lyrics that are quite clearly punctuated. A goof idea here is to get students listening to the bass line in the recordings and making sure they are singing in rhythm with this.
If you have some good tips/ideas that you find work well yourself that you would like to share with colleagues please feel free to add them in the comments below this post. We wish you happy singing times with your superstar choir!
1. It's important to look at the Voices Around The World - Lighting Up The Flame project instructions. There are many valuable tips for choir work illustrated in this short document - provided by successful choir teachers. Click here to go to the resources page to download these instructions.
2. Get your students to learn the lyrics asap. Experienced choir teachers will always tell you that a dependency on lyric sheets is a limiting factor for any choir. You cannot properly teach the song dynamics when youngsters are struggling with lyrics they do no know properly - the brain has too much on which to focus. Your students voices will also be slightly muted if they are looking down or have their mouths hidden behind the lyric sheet. Power teaching point - learn the lyrics fast - ban any lyric sheets asap!
3. Vocal warm ups like sports warm ups are essential - don't skip these. You will see some of these illustrated in our instructions booklet  - click here
4. Give your rehearsals some variety. We all know that keeping the music enjoyable is vital. Going through one particular phrase in the song for the 20th time is probably going to kill off even your most ardent choir person. It is interesting how, with students, you can literally hear 'sad' or 'happy' in the recording of their voices. If possible get your students to make the most of technology and practice with the choir resources either on their phones, computers or tablets outside of main rehearsal time. If possible let your students organise practices of their own. Use the karaoke videos we have provided - let your choir have a chance to look at the images in the accompanying videos - how many star sports people can they identify? Use follow my leader techniques for tricky parts of the song. Call and response - divide your choir into partners and work in fours - 1 partner group sings one line of the song and the other partner group sings the next etc. Use breakout groups for choir part rehearsals - use older talented students to lead the breakout group rehearsals working with the recorded choir parts of the song. Bring them back together for full rehearsal and spot any tricky areas so that they can go back and focus on certain sections in their breakout groups.
5. Watch out for note slides - i.e sliding up to a note rather than pitching it first time! This is often connected with breathing properly.
6. Diction and word endings. Be sure that word endings like 's' and 't' are just audible but not exaggerated - this makes a big difference. Vocal mouth/diction exercises are very good to include as part of this: Betty bought a bit of butter, but she found the butter bitter, so Betty bought a bit of better butter to make the bitter butter better. There are loads of tongue twisters like this that make for excellent warm-up and again bring variety to the rehearsal. For more tongue twisters and information around this, have a look at writeoutloud.com
7. Getting everyone singing in synch with the mp3 choir part versions is absolutely crucial for the VATW project. Lighting up the flame has very rhythmic lyrics that are quite clearly punctuated. A goof idea here is to get students listening to the bass line in the recordings and making sure they are singing in rhythm with this.
If you have some good tips/ideas that you find work well yourself that you would like to share with colleagues please feel free to add them in the comments below this post. We wish you happy singing times with your superstar choir!
Baleares International College Superstars get in on the Lighting Up The Flame action!
It's great to hear about so many schools getting busy with the singing rehearsal! We are getting samples of singing coming in that are very impressive. Amazing how quickly some youngsters can learn a new song. We have had tales of groups of young students at break time organising their own rehearsal around an IPAD showing the VATW karaoke videos! We have a church choir group in Botswana, who are busy arranging their own harmonies to go with the song. Do let us know how you are getting on if you have the time and feel free to upload any pictures/comments here.Full concentration by BIC students!
Free Music Lesson Input 'So you want to be a pop music composer!'
Hi All
This is a reminder that it is very important to register for this year's Voices Around The World Project 'Lighting Up The Flame' to be sure your students will be included. We are providing a free lesson video, showing your students how to be pop music composers, for all those who register.Â
Click here to register and get your free video at the same time!
The lesson is suitable for age groups 8-18 years. At Voices Around The World, we are passionate about keeping music creativity alive in schools! The fact that you are getting your students involved in the singing an Olympic inspired song is brilliant, but how about taking them to the next step up - composing their own Olympic song. This 25 minute video is a great piece of light hearted input to get your students motivated with song writing.Â
This is a reminder that it is very important to register for this year's Voices Around The World Project 'Lighting Up The Flame' to be sure your students will be included. We are providing a free lesson video, showing your students how to be pop music composers, for all those who register.Â
Click here to register and get your free video at the same time!
The lesson is suitable for age groups 8-18 years. At Voices Around The World, we are passionate about keeping music creativity alive in schools! The fact that you are getting your students involved in the singing an Olympic inspired song is brilliant, but how about taking them to the next step up - composing their own Olympic song. This 25 minute video is a great piece of light hearted input to get your students motivated with song writing.Â
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