Hello All,

I'm hoping the Viva Voice forum is the correct place to voice this thread!

I have a young 6 year old Piano pupil, a young boy. I have only been teaching him a few weeks, and he has had bad experiences witha previous teacher as mentioned in the teachers board. Since then I have been working on very small things to boost his confidence, like aural work, rhythm work, fun improvisatory stuff on the piano etc etc.

During some of his aural work today, I asked him to repeat a couple of passages I played on the Piano using his voice. I suspected before now that he has a good ear... but today he has proved he also has a lovely little voice! When I ask him to sing on his own he gets really shy but when I play the same notes underneath him on the Piano he gets them exactly right and in pitch. I asked his parents whether he sings in a choir, but he doesn't because the school accepts children into the choir 'by invitation only'. This seems such a shame as the voice is an instrument everyone is born with, and I feel like he has been denied the opportunity (or maybe I'm just taking it personally!). He will be 7 in May, and I was wondering if there are any children's choirs I could look into on behalf of his parents, so he can join and have a singalong? I know he is fairly young and ideally he should be able to sing in the school choir, but this isn't available to him so what is the best thing to do?

He lives in Forest Hill, SE London. Thanks!

church choir?

They tried that before, they said he was too young and to apply when he has had some lessons when he's a bit older.

There is a choir run by a friend/neighbour in the Tooting area which I think takes kids as young as that - would that be too far away?

Aww I hope he does manage to find somewhere to sing. I agree that it would be unfair for him to miss out on an oppertunity - is there no way that you can talk to the school choir about how good the boy is, so that they might consider inviting him? I haven't heard of a system like that before, so maybe I'm saying the wrong thing here!!

Good luck in the search!

It's not that near but also not that far...Bromley Youth Music Trust has a good Junior Choir for children aged Year 2-Year 5.

Oooh do they? I should really research on BYMT considering as I work for them! Duuuh....! Thanks Cyrilla!

And Rosie thanks for the suggestion of the choir in Tooting..... could you email or PM me some details please?

There's also the Bromley Boy Singers. I know a few members - I think if you google them you should find out more info.

The BYMT choir is good because it leads on to a separate Boys' Choir (run by my choir director) for Years 6-9, then a Senior and Chamber Choir for Y10-13.

The Senior Choir just got through to the finals of Choir of the Year!

This is going to be an annoying post, as I'm going to suggest a choir, and then say he's too young to join it!! However, if he is good, then he could keep it in mind for the future.

I run the (new) Lewisham Youth Choir, which is for students in years 5, 6 & 7 (so far) at any Lewisham schools. We rehearse weekly in Deptford. I do currently have one very talented year 4 student in the choir, so it might be an option from September for him (did I work that out right? Is he in year 3?)

It is, however, an auditioned choir. It's funded by Gifted & Talented, so part of the agreement is that, of course, we audition, and only take gifted and talented singers.

If there are any other singers in Lewisham who would be interested in the choir, then please let me know. We've got a load of new audition slots coming up at the beginning of this term.

There are no younger choirs run by Lewisham music service at the moment (in fact, there aren't any other choirs run by LMS at the moment), but there might be another local one. If I think of anything, I'll let you know.

Oh, but I'd still echo the praise for BYMT choirs from Cyrilla.

I was a member of the BYMT choirs for many years (and the predecessor of the choir!) - and now work for the trust as well.

Similarly, if anyone knows of any choirs for five year olds in the North London area please let me know. I currently teach a five year old who has a beautiful voice, as does her brother who is 8. Thank you.

There's the New London Children's Choir in Highgate - I think the youngest they take is 6-7, though.

Five is very young to be a choir member. Perhaps a music group for children of that age would suit him better. Group work with puppets and percussion instruments makes a good basic learning experience for young children before they begin formal lessons and join bands and choirs.

They could investigate the Kindergarten Course at the Guildhall? I teach on it and it's an excellent course. The children attend for one or two years and do 30 minutes of Kodály (basically singing) and 30 minutes of Dalcroze (basically movement). It can be seen as a stand-alone course although a lot of the children progress onto the String Training Programme at Y2.

Do PM me if you'd like more details.

Thanks for your replies. Will definetely have a think about the suggestions mentioned.