Just like toddlers transitioning from crawling to walking, it is often a big leap, if not struggle, for lower primary singers to move from unison singing to part-singing. For singers whose ear training is not solid enough, this process can take a frustratingly long time and can be discouraging enough to stifle our young ones’ love of music. As choir directors, we have the important role of helping our young singers to smoothen this transition, and developing their aural skills necessary to hear a different voice part while singing their own part in tune.
In this workshop, Dr. Maria Theresa Vizconde-Roldan, founding conductor of the award-winning Hail Mary the Queen Children’s Choir and artistic director of the Young Voices of the Philippines, will share with us the essentials for teaching young choristers part-singing skills. She will demonstrate how she utilizes short call-and-response songs, rounds, partner songs, songs with ostinato patterns and songs with simple chord progressions to help her choir members lay a strong foundation for part-singing and have great fun while making this important transition.
