Overcoming the Octave Displacement: Vocal Modeling Strategies for Male Elementary General Music Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to address the issue that children’s natural singing voices and pitch perception are in a treble range, and a male elementary general music teacher’s natural singing voice is an octave below. There are many strategies to overcome this significant but manageable obstacle in daily teaching, including monitoring of vocal health, use of instrumental accompaniment, encouragement of student vocal modeling, specific vocal exercises and cues, and cognitive strategies to help students discern between child and adult voices. Specific games, prompts, and rubrics are also included in this article to help guide any male elementary general music teacher to the most appropriate long-term vocal modeling solutions.