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I do believe almost everyone can sing. There are a few people who havevocal chord misformations or etc. that prevent pitch or good sound, butthat is rare.

The easiest time to teach a child to repeat pitches is while the child isstill an infant. When the baby coos while you rock, don't just coo back,try to 'coo' on the pitch the baby 'cooed on. The baby will usually notewhat you did, and in time, it can become a game. Don't push this. Itcan turn a child off quickly. Just give them food for thought for awhile.

My 5 yo dd and I did this and had loads of fun. When she 'sang' morethan one pitch, I mimicked it just as she 'sang' it. She realized fromthis that people could 'choose' their pitches, and learned to mimic otherpeople's pitches much like people learn to mimic other people's words andspeech patterns. Later, this became 'recitative' in our home. We don'tpractice 'talking' to each other in 'recitative' style as often as I wishwe did, but when we do, it is lots of fun, and I'm able to get somesinging skills, or comfort with singing across to my children. [if youdon't know what recitative is, do a search online - it is the part of anopera where one person seems to be 'talking' on pitch instead of 'pouringtheir heart out' in the most lovely lines of the opera]

Usually, when people don't know how to 'carry a melody', they just need

to learn how much energy is required to make 'musical' pitches and howmuch energy is required to change pitches, pitch by pitch.

First experiences for children who 'seem' to not be able to sing caninclude:

1) making bird calls together (lots of musical sounds involved here)2) playing fire truck (not just the fire engine, but the crying baby,the frantic mother, the captain of the firemen, and anything else you canthink of - but the fire engine is an exercise in hi and lowsounds.......which you don't point out to the children until they havebeen doing this for a while - instead, you just have them learning aboutfiremen informally)

3) When children singsong the traditional 'Mom-my', or 'John-ny' callwhile looking for each other in the house or outside, they are actually'singing' the interval of a minor third. 4) The childhood 'mean' chant'Na-na-na-na-na-na' uses the same minor third interval and one more.Changing the words of that 'melody' and singing "Who is wearing redtoday?" or "Who is being persistent today?" or "Who wants PBJ'stoday?", then teaching the child to chant/sing back "Bob is wearing redtoday" or "Sis was being persistent today!", or "We want PBJ's today" canbe helpful too.5) Mrs. Curwen's approach to solfege was very simple (Mrs. Curwen's TheChild Pianist was the method recommended by Miss Mason) - there might bebetter methods today, but it doesn't take a lot of training to work withlittle ones via the Curwen methods for solfege. If you can repeat a

pitch, then you are in business. If you can't repeat a pitch, then youneed to learn that skill prior to beginning with your own children. Hereare the basics of solfege and getting children to learn how much energyto use:

a) Mrs. Curwen encouraged the teacher to write the word 'do' (pronounceddough) on the bottom of a tall somewhat narrow card (fold a piece ofcomputer paper in half, and that will be just about right).b) Then play middle 'C' (if you dont' know how to find that, then ask aknowledgeable friend about this - but keep in mind that 'D' is between

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two black keys, thus only has one door, and the 'dog' is in the 'doghouse' which only has one door...... after you find the D closest to themiddle of the keyboard, then play the white note just to the left of thatD - which will be middle C).c) Sing this 'C' pitch, and encourage your child to try to do the samething. *If the child's sound is not a musical pitch, go back to fireengines and bird calls until they can transfer the bird sound to thepitch that is 'C'. **If the child's sound is very low and on otherpitches OR just a little flat, ask the child to stand in front of thekeyboard, place his fingers on the wooden rail just in front of the keysand press down - this helps to engage the diaphragm - and enough energyto sing better. If this doesn't quite work, then have the child continueto press down, and sing the pitch they are singing, then 'scoop' up tothe proper pitch---- Practice scooping up too much if needed and comparethis skill to playing fire engine (if the child is uncomfortable today,that is understandable, and pressing is not necessary - try again brieflylater, as many times as needed). ***If the child's sound is too high,let them slouch on the piano bench (*gasp*) to relax, and help them tryagain. If the pitch is still too high, then try to help them scoop down.If scooping down feels difficult for them today, try again later.d) After the child can repeat the pitch you are calling 'do' for a while(Mrs. Curwen used a moveable 'do' system, which means other pitches canbe 'do', but don't worry about that yet).... anyway, after the skill ofsinging 'do' is mastered and celebrated, write 're' (pronounced ray) just

above 'do'. Then play C and then D, then sing C and D saying 'do' and're' respectively. After that, ask the child to repeat what you sang.If there are difficulties, work on the skills the way that you did withlearning to sing 'do'.e) children often digress at some point, which is normal. do not befrustrated by that - just work where the child is, wherever that isf) continue writing one new solfege syllable above the other until thechild can sing, 'do', re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do (and possibly 're', mion top of that - which all children should be able to do better than youaltos out there...... - children can usually sing high easier than mostsopranos!!!)

Good ways to apply this skill include: learning to use shaped notes

(there are various systems, choose one and use materials related to thatsystem)

Look at simple children's melodies (have a knowledgeable person show youwhich pitch is 'do'). Teach the child to figure out which pitchescorrespond with which solfege syllable, then bit by bit, learn to singthe melody on solfege syllables.

Then change to the words again.

Repeat that process with other songs.

Along with this, sing, sing, sing.