Singing for childen, not as simple as it really sounds<\/p>\n
By Ida Indawati Khouw<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Julie Andrews once said in the Sound of Music
\nthat \"When you read you begin with A, B, C. When you sing, you
\nbegin with do, re, mi, ...\"<\/p>\n
A simple seven-note scale, but apparently not all children can
\nsing it. Aida Swenson Simanjuntak, conductor for the Paduan Suara
\nAnak Indonesia (PSAI, the Indonesian Children's Choir), admitted
\nthat it was difficult to select children who could really sing to
\njoin her choir.<\/p>\n
Imagine this! 320 children joined the selection in March --
\nthey had to sing Balonku Ada Lima (Five balloons), composed by
\nPak Kasur -- and only 15 of them qualified, meaning only 4.7
\npercent were admitted.<\/p>\n
\"The 15 children qualified, as they could sing according to
\nthe melody, while their expression and good vocalization were
\nstill so poor,\" she said, adding that the children had no self-
\nconfidence while singing and had no \"music in their heart\".<\/p>\n
No wonder Aida was shocked and disappointed, as she had hoped
\nto be able to improve the children's musical talent.<\/p>\n
\"We adults can teach children all over the world to sing
\nproperly.\"<\/p>\n
The wrong teaching method in music at schools -- where most
\nteachers don't understand music at all -- has been the root cause
\nof students' poor skills in music.<\/p>\n
Things are just getting worse, with pathetic children's
\nprograms on TV where, as Aida put it, \"they simply duplicate the
\nadult singers' style.\"<\/p>\n
The graduate of the Westminster Choir College in Princeton,
\nNew Jersey, believed that children's musical appreciation could
\nbe improved if they were taught properly, and she has proved it.<\/p>\n
Aida started to teach children to sing \"correctly\" for three
\nmonths and they managed to sing together as a proper choir
\nshould.<\/p>\n
\"Can you imagine they can sing I Have a Dream (made popular
\nagain by the music group Westlife) with full expression, and
\nother songs. We started introducing music commensurate with their
\nabilities and will do so through games.<\/p>\n
\"I always allow children to choose their own best singing
\ntechnique. It's much easier when they have already decided how to
\nsing by themselves,\" said Aida, who was accompanied by her
\nfather, Alfred Simanjuntak, the prominent songwriter and composer
\nof Bangun Pemudi Pemuda, a national song, during the interview.<\/p>\n
It is exhausting though, as Aida didn't only have to teach
\nsinging but also English pronunciation, which was very difficult
\nfor the children.<\/p>\n
But her work has paid off as she created a local choir with an
\ninternational reputation through performing in, among others
\nplaces, the Philippines, the United States, Japan and Poland.<\/p>\n
The choir is now aiming to sing more folk songs in their
\ninternational tours.<\/p>\n
\"It's good to start (singing the folk songs) from the
\nchildren's earliest stages. We (Indonesians) have our own timbre
\nwhich is different from other nations'. Even if we try really
\nhard, it's difficult to sing like Italians for instance; thus, we
\nshould be ourselves,\" said Alfred.<\/p>\n
Members of the choir, founded in 1992, showed their ability in
\nsinging folk songs at the International Federation of Choral
\nMusic in Singapore last month, together with 18 other choirs in
\nAsia and Pacific. Indonesia's choir sang folk songs from North
\nSumatra, Java, Bali, South Sulawesi, Aceh and Maluku.<\/p>\n
Both Alfred and Aida believe that there should be a
\nredefinition of what constitutes a good choral sound.<\/p>\n
\"So far our standard is to use the bel canto technique, in
\nwhich people should always sing with a round voice, like choirs
\nfrom western countries do. But that technique is not appropriate
\nfor folk songs,\" Aida said, adding that singing folk songs
\nrequired that local languages or dialects appropriate to the
\nsongs had sometimes to be learnt.<\/p>\n
\"When singing folk songs, children become the natives who sing
\nthe songs in their daily lives. Singing Akkarena from South
\nSulawesi, which is usually sang when people are fishing, children
\nmust do as the natives do.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/singing-for-childen-not-as-simple-as-it-really-sounds-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}