Breaking Voices And Aural Tests, Exam on 20th March Options

[Clari Nicki1]

Hi... I have a male pupil who is 12 and has his Gr 3 on the 20th March. He came for his lesson today and I was doing aural tests and he couldn't pitch his notes.He was serching for the octave below, or scaling the heights and squeaking. He has had full marks in his Gr 1 and 2 aural tests and has never had a problem before. I asked "Is your voice breaking?" "Yes" came the reply.... "It's just started". He was really struggling..... when he has never before. He just couldn't sing back.... he was doing better whistling...... so any advice? I'm not too sure what to do as I'm a fairly new teacher and have teach mainly girls. Can I help him?

[Lucid]

I'm afraid I don't yet have any first hand experience of this and I don't know what you can do when the voice is changing - I'm sure many singing teachers would know though. But they are allowed to whistle back in the exam so you might be better off working on that if it's something he can be more comfortable with.

Lucid (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[sbhoa]

Maybe he would have a little more control humming?
Possibly the best you can do in the end is to let the examiner know and just tell him to do his best.
If everything else is secure enough it won't have a big impact on his overall marks.
He should get some credit for a prompt response and correct rhythm even if the pitching is a bit wayward.

[Teigr]

Give him plenty of practice at whistling the tests between now and the exam, so he's got the option of doing it that way in the exam.

Make sure the examiner knows.
I had a really great examiner last term who took the time to work out what my range was that day (it had been all over the place for weeks, so I never knew quite what it was going to be) and transposed my tests into the very limited range where I had fairly reliable pitch. He'd started off with a note (middle D) that I just couldn't get the right octave for, then tried a few others to work out what I could get and what would set me yo-yoing between octaves, then aimed the tests in the safe zone (I think he took it down by a perfect 5th to tenor G).
He also offered me the option of whistling or playing back on my instrument, but I've always sung the tests before and hadn't thought to practice doing them the other ways.

T.

[maggiemay]

In practical terms it's quite a tricky time for him, as his voice will be totally unpredictable, (as you have probably already found ). If he does try to sing it must be done very gently.

Be matter of fact if he produces bass notes one day and treble ones the next, and remind him that awkward though it is for him, it is entirely normal. Above all don't let him worry about it. It's a very small part of the overall exam.

If he's doing better whistling he might prefer to stick to that. The examiner will be used of course to meeting boys with changing voices and should be sympathetic, helping him find a way round it.

[barry-clari]

I think there's something in the exam regulations that says that boys with breaking voices are allowed to whistle - when I did my grade 4 clarinet exam many moons ago, I whistled through all the singing tests in the aural.

[Teigr]

For the echo test, you can sing, hum, whistle or play it on your instrument.
For the sight-singing you can do any of those apart from playing your instrument.

As far as I can tell, they don't really care how you produce the notes - all they're interested in is which notes you produce.

T.

[Maizie]

I think there's something in the exam regulations that says that boys with breaking voices are allowed to whistle - when I did my grade 4 clarinet exam many moons ago, I whistled through all the singing tests in the aural.

Boys with changing voices may whistle or hum an octave lower.
Anyone is allowed to hum as an alternative to singing; you still make the sound in the same way but some people (e.g. me) feel happier humming than singing.


The exact words from the aural regs:

For any test which requires a ‘sung’ response, pitch rather than vocal quality is the object. The examiner will keep within the vocal compass of the candidate, who may sing ‘lah’ or any vowel sound or may hum. Boys with changing voices may whistle or may hum an octave lower.

[sbhoa]

I think there's something in the exam regulations that says that boys with breaking voices are allowed to whistle - when I did my grade 4 clarinet exam many moons ago, I whistled through all the singing tests in the aural.

Boys with changing voices may whistle or hum an octave lower.
Anyone is allowed to hum as an alternative to singing; you still make the sound in the same way but some people (e.g. me) feel happier humming than singing.


The exact words from the aural regs:

For any test which requires a ‘sung’ response, pitch rather than vocal quality is the object. The examiner will keep within the vocal compass of the candidate, who may sing ‘lah’ or any vowel sound or may hum. Boys with changing voices may whistle or may hum an octave lower.

It's still a new skill to learn in a very short space of time in this instance.

[jod]

I would suggest humming. Its much easier to control a changing voice that way. Whistling is hard work, and although you're allowed to play things back on your instrument, this is not an easy option.

Get him to practise humming first, its the easiest option. You tend not to get the violent swings between treble voice and new male voice. Advise the examiner as respose tests closer to middle C will be easier to reproduce.

[sbhoa]

I would suggest humming. Its much easier to control a changing voice that way. Whistling is hard work, and although you're allowed to play things back on your instrument, this is not an easy option.

Get him to practise humming first, its the easiest option. You tend not to get the violent swings between treble voice and new male voice. Advise the examiner as respose tests closer to middle C will be easier to reproduce.

You can't play back at grade 3.

[jod]

I would suggest humming. Its much easier to control a changing voice that way. Whistling is hard work, and although you're allowed to play things back on your instrument, this is not an easy option.

Get him to practise humming first, its the easiest option. You tend not to get the violent swings between treble voice and new male voice. Advise the examiner as respose tests closer to middle C will be easier to reproduce.

You can't play back at grade 3.

Well that rules probably the hardest option out. Humming is probably the best solution anyway, and that's coming from a singing teacher!

[possom]

I have a pupil taking grade 6 this term. His voice has broken but he is now stuck inbetween pitches. He can't sing the written pitch and if we transpose it down an octave he can't reach the lower notes!!! We have been focusing on the rhythms and pitching notes within the key if a note is outside his range although he will be mentioning that his voice is quite unpredictable at the moment in the exam.

[Teigr]

I have a pupil taking grade 6 this term. His voice has broken but he is now stuck inbetween pitches. He can't sing the written pitch and if we transpose it down an octave he can't reach the lower notes!!! We have been focusing on the rhythms and pitching notes within the key if a note is outside his range although he will be mentioning that his voice is quite unpredictable at the moment in the exam.

The examiner might be willing/able to transpose into a key that's within his range.
I was given a sight-reading test where the first note was written as D next to middle C (treble clef). I struggled to pitch that D reliably, but starting on the D below was going to make other parts of the test too low. (The test had notes above and below D in it and those Ds were the extremes of my useable range.)
The examiner checked that I didn't have perfect pitch and then started the test on what I think was the G in the middle of those two Ds.

It might help if he can work out his useable range on the day, so he can just tell the examiner what it is, but I didn't know mine and the examiner just tried a few notes to see which I could match without going off into different octaves, then set the test in the appropriate range.

T.

[jenny]

I would suggest humming. Its much easier to control a changing voice that way. Whistling is hard work, and although you're allowed to play things back on your instrument, this is not an easy option.

Get him to practise humming first, its the easiest option. You tend not to get the violent swings between treble voice and new male voice. Advise the examiner as respose tests closer to middle C will be easier to reproduce.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I have quite a few students who don't want to sing to 'la', but will happily hum.