Music Notebook #7 - Finding your voice - Carrefour francophone de Sudbury

Finding your voice

In this Music Notebook, we focus on voice development during a child’s first year of life. We take advantage of the change of season to continue expanding our musical repertoire with a few songs and nursery rhymes about fall and harvest time. Finally, we suggest three new activities for sharing musical moments with the family, based on the theme of using your voice.

How does a child find their voice?

From birth, babies use a very simple form of vocal expression: crying. Crying can mean many things: “I’m hungry,” “I’m in pain,” “I’m tired,” etc. Why a baby is crying at any given moment can sometimes be a real mystery for new parents to figure out.

In addition to crying, which remains an important means of communication, babies gradually add a second element to their toolbox during the first three months of life: vocalization. This way of exploring the potential of their voice is much closer to singing than to speaking. Babies coo, cry, hum, chirp, and modulate their voices to vary the tone (which can sometimes sound like a fire engine siren, for example). At around four or five months, babies are naturally able to imitate the squeaking of a toy, the creaking of a door, and even a voice and its tone. The baby’s babbling becomes more complex, now including grunts, clicks of the tongue, guttural sounds, whistling sounds, and variations in intensity and duration, for example.

At around seven months, we can recognize the first babbling sounds that resemble speech in a baby’s singing voice. In the expression of their voice, we begin to recognize certain consonant and vowel sounds, even though they are not yet words.

It is only a little later that words and speech will take their place in the child’s voice, at different ages depending on the individual. As surprising as it may seem, a baby is able to repeat the melody of a song well before its lyrics.

The sing-song voice that adults often use when talking to infants is particularly effective in getting their attention. It adds a fun dimension to the interaction and connects with the baby’s sound world, as young children are more sensitive to the musicality of speech than to the words themselves.

Songs and rhymes about autumn and harvests

Listening to music and singing along are wonderful ways to have fun as a family. To mark the change of season, here are a few songs about fall, harvest season, and vegetables.

Feuilles d’automne (Colchiques dans les prés)

L’automne grelotte

Tous les légumes

J’habite une maison citrouille

À l’intérieur d’une citrouille

Mon petit lapin (s’est caché dans le jardin)

Les beaux légumes (poussent poussent poussent)

Je cache mes yeux

Dans mon pays d’Espagne

Petit escargot

Tête épaule genou et pieds

Éveil musical activities: Using your voice

As in previous issues of Music Notebooks, we offer ideas for activities that will allow you to enjoy musical moments with your family. In this issue, our Éveil musical suggestions guide you in exploring the rich potential of your speaking and singing voice, while inviting your child to do the same.

No need to sing every day or have basic musical knowledge—everyone should be able to enjoy these activities, which explore tone, register, and the resonance zones of your body.

Vary the tone and power of your voice
Try out the main tones you can adopt with your speaking and singing voice, one after the other. Also vary the power level of your voice. This exercise is particularly interesting to explore in a place where there is a lot of echo, such as a bathroom or stairwell.

Spoken voice:

Whisper
Speak softly
Speak normally (as you would in conversation)
Speak loudly
Shout

Singing voice

Sing softly (like when you sing a lullaby to put a child to sleep)
Sing normally
Sing with intensity and conviction (like a sports team cheer)
Sing at the top of your lungs (as if you were imitating an opera singer)

Explore your vocal range
If you have access to a piano or musical instrument, explore your entire vocal range. Sing a note that you are comfortable with, then go down the notes one by one until you reach the highest note you can produce. Then go back up note by note until you reach the lowest note you can reach. Invite your child to join their voice with yours.

Explore the resonance areas of your body
This activity is well suited to people who have little or no musical knowledge or who are not used to singing. To help you explore your vocal range, we invite you to use your visualization skills.

Sing while exploring the different parts of your body where you can make your voice resonate.

For a high-pitched voice, resonate your voice in the top of your head while singing the sound “i.”
For a low-pitched voice, resonate your voice in the pit of your stomach while singing the sound “ah”.
For a nasal voice, resonate your voice in your nose while singing the sound “gni.”
For a warm, full voice, resonate your voice in your chest while singing the sound “ou.”

Start by singing very softly and, as your voice warms up, increase the intensity without straining. Invite your child to do the same. To help them, place your hand on their head, nose, chest, or stomach and invite them to resonate their voice where your hand is.

You can even make a siren sound where, in a single breath, you resonate your voice from your head, then your nose, then your chest, and then your stomach.