Learning to sing with a beautiful tone

Great Wall Mini-Singers, grades K through 3
There are 15 enthusiastic children in this group. We start the class by doing kung fu exercises to prepare the body for singing. The children told me that the exercises I normally do for all choir students are the same they do for kung fu class. What a small world. After we do some more vocal exercises to warm up the vocal chords, we will sing their favorite songs from the booklet. In addition to singing “Small World” and “Winnie the Pooh” we also sing “Mo Li Hua”. The half an hour goes by quickly. They are having fun and learning to sing with a beautiful tone.

Great Wall Master Singers, grades 4 though 8
We have 20 young men and women in this group. They are eager to learn and have fun singing songs from the musical “Sound of Music” and “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. We also spend time working on producing a beautiful sound by standing and sitting properly and by breathing properly. The children are learning to sing in harmony with each other, a difficult task. It takes a good ear to be able to sing ones own part while hearing another melody being sung at the same time. We don’t have this skill mastered yet, but they are willing to work at it. We look forward to singing for you at the final program on August 22.

Barbara K. Sterbank Horswell
Vocal Music Instructor