Have you tried using Kazoos?  It was a suggestion that was given to me to use on singers who are less confident.  It gives them something to "hide behind" and might actually help them produce more sound.

Dear Carl,

 

I cannot imagine how frustrating that must be.

 

To get students to experiment at middle school level, start with the science of the voice and the physiology of voice change.  Scott McCoy, Your Voice: An Inside View (2004, Inside View Press) is a multi-media way to get started with endoscope pictures of the vocal chords in action.  Patrick Freer, Success for Adolescent Singers (2005, Choral Excellence, Inc.) is a multiple DVD set that takes his work with random middle school students and how voice change works and how to get good sounds in a short amount of time.  His repertoire list at the end of the last disc is a great starting point for changing voices music that is relevant to young teens.  He would no doubt tell you to follow the work of John Cooksey as well as Lynn Gackle, the latter having pioneered the exploration of the female adolescent voice change.

 

It may be that you have students who will just not perform or have issues related to nervousness or fear of public presentation.  It could be that said fears only apply because they are sure they cannot sing and will not embarass themselves accordingly.  If they understand the science of it, and you bring other YouTube or multi-media models of middle school students singing, perhaps these in combination will break the ice for you.

 

Best to you.

Michael Wu

 

 

 

 

Have you thought about taking your students to hear a successful Middle School Choir or bringing them to a High School CHoir Concert? They need to hear good choirs and hopefully that will give them encouragement.

Also, if you have a strong high school program, have some of the students come over for a period or two to sing with your Middle School Choir. They will serve as examples.

Good Luck!

Carl,

 

Sometimes singers are on the quiet side because they feel that the environment is unsafe. They may perceive their director to be too perfectionistic (constantly finding mistakes, working on "perfection" rather than process toward a shared goal), or too harsh (sarcastic, shaming, punishing, strict rather than firm...). The flip side is the choir in which the singers fear the judgments and/or comments of their peers. Both of these situations can be successfully addressed by a director.

 

So, if the singers are silent because they don't feel safe, I would suggest you consider creating a Safe and Supportive environment ... and do a few activities which will help them commit more wholeheartedly (and wholevoicedly :-). And even if it appears that the atmosphere is totally and completely safe right now, the kids might have some Inner Critic issues which would be addressed by the activities I'm thinking about.

 

Here's a link to an extensive post about all of this (includes the activities):

 

http://www.menc.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4142  (look for my response)

 

And here are some past ChoralNet threads which might help:

 

 

All my best,

 

Tom