Professional Inquiry Project

Lanieca Falkenberg
Mentality of Singing in a Middle School Chorus

During my first three weeks teaching at Gilbert Paterson, I have noticed an

interesting tendency in my students of which has me intrigued. Starting the first week of
classes, we had been holding Select Choir auditions every day at lunch, Cinderella
auditions after school, as well I also did vocal range testing with every student in my
choir classes. Within my six, seven, eight choir classes, I have one hundred students,
and we have seen almost one hundred more students with the other auditions. As we
did these auditions, we sing a scale going up, and then a scale going down.
As students begin to start singing higher, many of them start singing quietly, they
shy off, they start laughing because it is an immediate reaction to nervousness, or they
plain out stop. They begin to tell me I cannot sing high, I am not a soprano, My voice
will crack, when really I know they can sing higher. They hear for themselves that they
are going higher in the scale. They have been told that we are testing their range to see
how high they can sing, and this makes them nervous. They begin to think about how
high they are, and convince themselves it is too high for their voice. As we test the
lower range, the same response occurred. Students saying it is too low for their voices,
and that singing low is something they cannot do.
Moving into choral class, I arranged my students into soprano and alto sections
after hearing each one of their voices. A few students were shocked because they were
in a different section this year than they were last. It freaked them out, to the extent
where I had a student come tell me after class that she needed to be alto because she
cannot sing high. However, in the song we were singing the alto and soprano line were
almost identical.
I started to hand out music the first week, and in one particular piece there is a
high F. In warm ups, my students have been able to hit the F with ease, and go even
higher. However when they saw it written down on a piece of paper, many of them
made faces and shied away as we were learning the piece. They can do it with ease;
however, they think they cannot because they think of a high F as too high.
I want my students to be trained to sing well, but also have the confidence and
knowledge that they can sing well. Singing in a choir involves every part of the body.
Our body is our instrument. Not only is our body our instrument, but I believe that our
brain is such a huge part in that. What we think we can do, determines what we can do.
I want to help my students have the mentality that they can grow in their singing, and it
is not limited to what they did last year or what they think they can do.
For my Professional Inquiry Project I have a few main questions to help me learn
how to do this:
 1. Can the use of rote singing in a middle school choir help students back
away from the mentality of too high or too low? Without music, they cannot see
where they are singing. Can this help them when they are sight-reading within
traditional pieces?
This will be accomplished by:
Repeat after me rote songs
Rote songs that have the range of the piece we are singing
Altos singing higher parts, Sopranos singing lower parts, within the
rote songs
During pieces, have sopranos sing alto line, and altos sing soprano
line
2. How can warm-ups help the student recognize their chest voice, head
voice, and feel more comfortable with their break?
This will be accomplished by:
Variety of warm ups that help the students transition from chest voice
to head voice, and vice versa.
Variety of warm ups using just their chest voice, and just their head
voice
3. How does the physiological aspect of music affect the way we sing?
Research music psychology
What effect does singing have on students confidence?
Why is singing a natural antidepressant?
4. How does constant positive reinforcement affect the student's view on
sight reading/rote singing?
This will be accomplished by:
Being very aware of when the students are sight singing. What is the
result of the first round of sight singing, vs. third or fourth time through
the piece?
Constant positive affirmation to the students when they are trying
something new

In conclusion, the basis of my project is to research why middle school students have a
mentality of can and cannot from Grade 6 to Grade 8 within their singing voices. I
want to be able to help boost their confidence, through my research of music
psychology. I want my students to love all aspects of music, including auditioning,
learning new parts, and pushing themselves to new levels of musicality.

Journal Entries
October 4th 2017
During my Grade 8 class, we did a regular warm up, singing What, Shall I Say
today going up and down on an arpeggio. The students kept singing higher and higher
and I told them to use their hands to gesture as they sang say because it is the
highest note in the arpeggio. Mr. Leavitt was playing the piano, and he pointed out that
the note the students reached in this particular warm up, was about 5 notes higher than
their highest note in a piece we are singing, Danny Boy.
In Danny Boy, there is a section that hits a high F, and most often, the students
shy away, or tense up. They see on the paper that the note looks high to them.
However, during this particular warm up the students reach five notes higher. I told them
that during their warm up they were able to reach much higher than when running
through the piece. One student replied by saying, Thats mind blowing! We discussed
them being able to sing more than they think they can and that they need to just
believe.
When doing our warm up, we started on a middle C, an area in the voice that the
students feel very comfortable. By doing the warm up multiple times in a row, they felt
confident with what they were singing. As we went up the scale, the students were
unaware of how high they were singing, or where in the scale they were singing. They
kept going higher and higher, essentially until I told them to stop. As we did this, the
students were able to reach far higher than they can when reading a score.

In Grade 7 class today, we went over a particular section in a piece called

Ahrirang. This is a section where each section enters at a different time, and it is tricky
for the students to get the timing right. The students were able to sing the line together
as a class, but then once split up into sections they were not able to get the first three or
four measures.
In warm up today, we sang Belle Mama, which is a simple round. The students
were taught this song by rote, and when split up into sections they each felt confident.
They sang the song in three parts, and succeeded in their notes, and in their timing.
When we continued with the piece after warm up, the students did not succeed. Yet in
our warm up by rote, there is three different parts and in the Ahrirang piece, there is
only two different parts. I believe it is because with the Ahrirang piece they see all the
notes on the paper; they get confused, thus resulting in an unsuccessful run through.
We went over this section multiple times, we had the piano play the alto part while I
sang with them, we tried taking it two measures at a time, and we tried clapping it out
slowly. However, when the parts were all put together, sopranos were still shying off. It
is interesting because with the Belle Mama song we sang it once through, and
immediately split into three parts.
I had the students put their music down on their laps, and just look and listen at
me while they sang. We treated the section they were working on, as if it were like the
warmup we did at the beginning of the class. The students succeeded with their timing
and their notes by doing it this way. Once they mastered it without their music, they
were able to pick up their music again and continue with reading.

October 5th 2017

During Grade 6 class today, it was interesting to notice just how willing and
perceptive the younger singers were when asked to sight read, or learn a new piece of
music. Grade Sixs have not fully been accustomed to alto and soprano yet. In
Elementary school most often, they sing Part 1, Part II and switch between the two. In
elementary school, they do not necessarily have alto or soprano, and so in their heads
they think they can sing most anything. The older grades have this perception of high
and low, or male and female voices. This plays a factor in their mentality of where they
can sing. With my Grade 6, class I would love them to keep that mentality that they can
sing whatever part as long as they are trying.
Later in this same class, a boy in this Grade 6 class asked if he could sing
soprano because he thought he was more skilled at singing high. They are so willing to
sing rote songs, and when I do teach them by rote, they almost immediately get the
song. They sing it loud and proud too.

October 10th 2017

A student in Grade 8 class asked if she could switch to alto. She felt comfortable
singing soprano, but was put in the alto section in select choir. She asked if she could
practise alto within class choir too. The mindset of yes I can do this, I am up for a
challenge in class choir. She was told she could do something different from what she
usually does, and then she took the challenge upon herself to try it within class.
Within the same class, a Grade 8 student asked if she could switch to soprano
from alto. She is a strong singer, and very capable of singing alto but asked to switch
because it is easier for her to sing soprano. She has been singing soprano up until
Grade 8, and when asked to switch it threw her off because she did not want to stray
away from where she felt most comfortable.

October 12th 2017

In class today we really focused on different warm ups, and how each warm up
helped us to recognize if we were singing high or low, or if we were singing in our
chest voice or head voice. We sang a major scale slowly going up, and going down
focusing on where we heard a change in the sound. The students pointed out where
they felt there was a changed feeling within their voices, and we slowly went through the
notes in that area of the scale. As students became more familiarized with the feeling,
we sang faster and kept going upwards in the scale. Then we repeated this, except
going downward. As we sang through this warm up multiple times, students felt more
comfortable with the switch from chest voice to head voice.

October 16th 2017

In my Grade 8 class today, we focused on reaching a higher note than we
usually do, without the students knowing it at first. We sang an arpeggio style warm up,
consistently going up the scale. I would stop every two or three tones up, and have the
students focus on something new. Whether that be focusing on the text, then the
breathing, then the shape of the vowel, then adding hand gestures. Each time as the
students focused on something new, their attention from the notes lessened. They did
not realize how high we were going, leading them to successfully singing much higher
than they have before.
We then tried this exercise of focusing on something new each time we sang the
warm-up, this time going down the scale. It was amazing to see just how many
sopranos were able to confidently sing notes lower than they have before.

October 18th 2017

In Grade 7 class today, I handed out a new piece, Bilingual Butterfly. I had
asked my students to try and sight read through the piece, with the help of the piano
playing and my singing. As soon as the downbeat occurred, and the students were
supposed to sing, I heard maybe two voices out of forty-two. I kept conducting for six or
seven more measures, however no more voices were joining us. I stopped, and I had a
very good conversation with my students about what it means to sight-read. It means
that we can make mistakes, it means that we try our best. It means that we listen to
each other, and have confidence in ourselves that we can sing a piece we have never
done before.
After having this conversation, we tried singing through the piece again, still sight
singing. The second time through, I had all of my students singing, and they even
successfully made it through the piece. The positive affirmation that they could succeed
as long as they tried really helped them to at least try. I was then able to see what
section in particular needed more work. I was also able to assess my students on their
ability to sight read a brand new piece.

October 24th 2017

Today I taught my students a new warm up piece called the Taco Song. I
taught this song by rote, and had my students repeat after me. This piece has a low F in
it, which I can barely even hit, but my students were able to hit it because I taught it by
rote. They did not see the sheet music, for if they did I am sure my sopranos would not
even try. I showed them that I was trying to sing it, and they heard me singing in my
lower range. They know I am a soprano, and so if I was able to hit all the notes, so
could they. All of my students including my sopranos sang it and succeeded! When I
told them after learning the piece, that it was a low F, I had a few sopranos say they
cannot sing lower than an A or G. However, I then told them they could sing more than
they thought they could, because they just succeeded in singing this particular note.

November 7th 2017

In class today I introduced a piece of music called Peace, Peace. In this
particular piece, all sections sing together through the first section, and then they repeat
this section with another harmony added in. On the sheet of music Part II which is
normally altos, actually sing higher than the sopranos. I had my students sight read the
piece of music, and because altos are used to singing the second line of music, they
sight read through this section without any questioning.
I had both my sopranos and altos singing the repeat together, on the same line of
music. I wanted to show them that they could all sing both parts. We then split into our
sections, singing each individual part. I pointed out to the altos that their specific line,
was actually melodically higher than the sopranos, however they were still singing it with
ease. Just because they are titled soprano, or alto does not mean that they cannot
interchange one with another and have voice crossing at this age in their singing.

November 13th 2017

Today I gave my students a new seating plan, with a new arrangement of
sections. Compared to the first week of class, my students were much more willing to
move, and to sing the part they were given. As we ran through some of our new
Christmas music, students were much more adapt to the section they were in, even
though they were beside new people.

Returning to the questions I had at the beginning of my practicum, and the

results I have seen in class, my questions can be answered as following:

1. Can the use of rote singing in a middle school choir help students back
away from the mentality of too high or too low? Without music, they cannot see
where or what they are singing. Can this help them when they are sight-reading
within traditional pieces?
The use of rote singing in a middle school chorus is essential, and should be
used frequently. Students were willing to repeat after me, because this is a technique
that they have been using since Elementary School. The rote songs that are used in a
middle school chorus can be more complicated than what is used in Elementary school,
but must still be used. The task of repeat after me seems much less daunting to
students, than reading a sheet of music, hearing the piano play the notes, and singing
the notes themselves correctly.
While learning our pieces, we still had the traditional sheet music, but if a trouble
spot occurred then rote singing was a reliable resource. As long as the teacher knows
the lines confidently, and can sing them for the students, the students will be able to
succeed no matter how difficult the section may be. I am a singer, so the best way for
me to demonstrate a line for my students was simply to sing it for them. I did have to
make sure that I knew each song in totality, however this way I could put the music
down, sing a line for my students and have them repeat after me.
Something else that worked well for students was having all sopranos sing the
alto line, and all altos sing the soprano line when learning a new piece. This showed to
the students that each person was capable of singing each part. There was not any part
that was too high or too low for anyone to sing, because each one of us was singing
both parts. It showed to them that everyone was capable of every part in the piece.
Another method I tried was during our warm ups. I tried a variety of rounds,
splitting the students up into different groups, and having each group enter at a different
time. This helped students stray away from the typical alto, soprano entrance. It
helped students

2. How can warm-ups help the student recognize their chest voice, head
voice, and feel more comfortable with their break?
To have students feel comfortable with their break, and the transition between
head voice and chest voice, they first must recognize that it is natural at their age for
this to be happening. Within the first few days of class in September, I demonstrated for
my students the difference between my chest voice, and my head voice. I wanted them
to know what this was, and how they could learn to use it. Many of my students in choir
class are not musicians, and so I took any opportunity I could to teach them any aspect
of music theory, music technique, and how our bodies work as we are singing.
As we tried different warm-ups, I would stop when I heard my students switching
from chest voice to their head voice, so that they were aware of what was happening.
We would repeat the same section over again, so that they would be aware and could
focus on hearing that change. As we went through different sections in our pieces I
would teach them where it was necessary to use their chest voice, and where it was
necessary to use their head voice.

3. How does the physiological aspect of music affect the way we sing?
I ask this question because so much of what we do in singing is mental. I have
learned in my own studies of vocal performance, that my own self-confidence plays a
major role in my performance. I wanted to know how vocal performance in a choir
affects students at a young age, and why our brains tend to do what they do when we
sing.
Professor Pamela Burnard of Arts, Creativities and Education at the University of
Cambridge says The more positive opportunities primary children have to experience
their voice as their own unique kinesthetic, tactile instrument and as a mental and
physical manifestation of self, the greater the chance that continued positive attitudes to
singing will be found in secondary school and, beyond that, into their adult lives.
Performance itself has a particular cultural tradition and there are diverse ways of
performing songs.1
Professor Pamela Burnard shows up that students need to have as many
positive performing opportunities as possible. If this happens, they have a greater
chance of continuing with music education. This is shown to be true in any subject.
Every time I run through a section of music with my choir, I try to tell them at least one
thing that they did well. Yes, we may have some major trouble spots, and need to work
through it multiple times. However, starting with the positive puts them in a mindset that
they are capable to do what I am asking of them next.
A third argument in favor of musics primacy in human (and proto-human)
evolution is that music evolved because it promoted cognitive development. Music may
be the activity that prepared our pre-human ancestors for speech communication and
for the very cognitive, representational flexibility necessary to become humans.
Musical activity involves nearly every region of the brain that we know about, and
nearly every neural subsystem. At a deeper level, the emotions we experience in
response to music involve structures deep in the primitive, reptilian regions of the
cerebellar vermis, and the amygdala-the heart of emotional processing in the cortex.2
Music is part of our very being. It is programmed into our brains, and every single
person responds to a different type of music. This is why I found it so important to
introduce different pieces of music to my students, and to teach in a variety of ways.
One of my goals this semester was to incorporate a variety of teaching methods in my
choral classroom. The reason I wanted to do this is because I know each of my
students learn in a different way, and the way they each perceive music is different.
Every day at the beginning of class, I ask my students a question of the day. One
particular day I asked the students which piece in our repertoire was their favorite. With
almost 100 students in my grade 6, 7, and 8 classes, each student had a favorite piece.
This was a type of formative assessment for me, showing me that each student enjoyed
at least one, if not more pieces in my class.

1
Burnard, P., & Murphy, R. (2017). Teaching Music Creatively (2nd ed.). Retrieved November 12, 2017, from
https://books.google.ca/books?id=liMlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=how does rote singing help us become more confident
singers&source=bl&ots=2S4jg35Vdc&sig=qL6RcsLaD9UDfHQ7stkEWDBBBeA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiUrsn0ipnXAhUWwW
MKHTR5Bw4Q6AEIRjAG#v=onepage&q=how%20does%20rote%20singing%20help%20us%20become%20more%20confident%20
singers&f=false
2
Levitin, Daniel J. This is your brain on music. New York, Penguin Group, 2007.
 4. How does constant positive reinforcement affect the student's view on
sight reading/rote singing?
I believe that positive reinforcement in a music classroom is one of the most
powerful tools we can use. Singing is something that is so personal, and so individual.
Unlike any other instrument, when we sing, our body produces the sound. It is who we
are as an individual that creates the music needed in a choral setting. If something goes
wrong with a band instrument, and the sound produced is not the sound wanted, the
blame can go on the instrument. However when we sing, if the sound produced is not
the sound produces, we cannot blame it on anything other than our self. Since singing is
such a personal act, I found that positive words to my students was the way to increase
their confidence and their singing ability.
Every single day I tried to tell my students something they did well. Not only does
this work in a music classroom, but any kind of subject. So much of singing comes from
what we think, and so if my students thought they could do something, then most likely
they could succeed.

With just over a month left in my practicum until Christmas break, I am interested
to see how much further my students will go in terms of their confidence in singing. I
hope that as I continue to work with rote singing and different choral techniques within
our warm ups and repertoire, that my students confidence will increase. It has been
interesting to see just how far they have come within two months. Students have
changed their perspective on singing and their abilities in almost three short months.
The change has been slow and steady, but I have seen a change. Within the first few
weeks of classes, my students were shy, hesitant to sing, and weary of new music. Now
my students are excited when they receive new pieces of music, they are up for a
challenge.