Singing rather than reciting

[thinkfirst]

I attended a music training from one of the leaders of the General Board in SLC. It was amazing. The one technique that was so valuable was that you should always sing the words to the song you are learning rather than reciting them.

For example the music leader should not do this, "Say the words with me, then we will sing them."

He/She should do this: "We learned this song last week. I will sing it to you to and if you remember any of it, sing along with me." Then sing. Get into the habit of always singing the words even if its just one line.

It has to do with the pathway to the brain. Lyrics combined with the music are stored in a different part of the brain than just words, so its not useful to have the children recite the words without the music. Always combine.

[elizabeth]

That's an interesting thought -- goes along with the Right brain - Left brain concept. The music is creative (R brain) and the words logical (L brain). It's always a good idea to combine these in teaching because each of us learn differently. In school when I was growing up, all teaching was Left brain and children that had the Right brain dominent really suffered. That's why it's so great to include pictures and/or visual props while teaching the words -- or create visual pictures with words -- like story telling.

[pmillerbbkz]

Michael Ballam did some tapes along these lines a few years back called "Music and the Mind" and "More Music and the Mind." Very interesting stuff - not sure if they are available today on CD.

[avsfan]

Jan 25, 2009 23:54:21 GMT -5 thinkfirst said:

I attended a music training from one of the leaders of the General Board in SLC. It was amazing. The one technique that was so valuable was that you should always sing the words to the song you are learning rather than reciting them.

For example the music leader should not do this, "Say the words with me, then we will sing them."

He/She should do this: "We learned this song last week. I will sing it to you to and if you remember any of it, sing along with me." Then sing. Get into the habit of always singing the words even if its just one line.

It has to do with the pathway to the brain. Lyrics combined with the music are stored in a different part of the brain than just words, so its not useful to have the children recite the words without the music. Always combine.

Thanks for sharing! I agree, although I don't do it near enough. Maybe 1/2 the time. I'll try to be better at it, now knowing that it really makes a difference.

[avsfan]

So, this topic has been on my mind lately (ever since the thread!)

I realize they should sing with me, but I want them to listen to me sing it FIRST. when they just try to join along, it creates more of an illegible? sound. So I remembered back to when I did "Repeat Parakeet." The kids loved that, and were SO quiet to see what the bird would say first, and then they were great at repeating it. But for every song, I don't want to pull out the Parakeet.

I began thinking of ways I could say "I'll sing first, then you sing next" (instead of "I will sing it to you to and if you remember any of it, sing along with me." because in my ward it's just too noisy).

I'm going to take pictures: 1 of me, 1 of the primary, 1 of boys, 1 of girls. I'm basically going to make signs out of them; probably make them about 5x7 size. I'll border them with colors (blue for boy, etc) and maybe have a title at the top, but the picture will be the focus. Laminate, and stick a paint-stirring stick on the back.

Then, whenever we are learning new phrases over and over again, this gives me 6 opportunities to repeat it. I hold up MY face, and they listen to me. Then girls repeat when I hold up their picture. Then MY face, then boys. MY face, then all of them. I can shuffle the order. I'm really excited about this, as I think they will really like to see their faces as part of my props, and will know to be quiet when it's my face. It kind of turns it into a game!

[Shelia White]

;D I love the idea about taking a picture of the primary kids and using that for who is going to be singing. Maybe evan add a picture of just the teachers. Thanks for all of you sharing your ideas.