Simpedia

Victoria S., California

I found a way that seems to be working fairly well to get students to sing in class. I have added another topic to my checklist of songs, pedaling, etc. to teach them. I call it Instrument Balance. I start by asking them what they think balance means. They give examples of balance in general. Then I ask them what they think balance means in music. They usually think about balance between the hands. I affirm that and then tell them that balance between all the instruments is important. In fact, so important that we are going to spend some time on it today in class.

I ask them how they would feel if they paid for an expensive ticket to go to a concert of their favorite singer and the instruments were drowning out the singer. Of course, they don’t like that. I tell them, the audience would demand their money back and rightfully so.

Then I explain how important it is to have balance between the piano and the vocals each time they play, whether they are alone or with other musicians. I emphasize that they will be playing with other musicians a lot in life and musicians know how important balance is so they work toward that each time they perform.

I stand at the back of the room and tell one to play and the other(s) to sing. Then I cue them to adjust either the piano softer or the voice louder. Once I demonstrated first. I asked them to tell me if they thought I was in balance. I played Dreams Come True and sang barely audibly. They just laughed. Then I played Dreams softly and almost shouted the song. Everyone was surprised and got the point that either extreme is not going to work. Then I have them tell me when they think I’m singing in balance with the piano. As soon as they have made that distinction, and know that is what they are striving for, I have them sing.

I have a class of one mom and triplet 7 yo boys. I wish you could have been there to hear them sing together and go out of their way not to drown each other out as well. It was fabulous.

After I give them this training, when the next class rolls around and they might forget to sing or are singing too softly, I just say, “Balance, please,” and they get it. They don’t always like to sing, but they understand that it is not personal and they can’t use their ‘ugly voice’ as an excuse. If they do choose to say the words rather than sing, I praise them if the spoken voice is in balance.