Pitch Development

Pitch development

Some children find it natural to sing in tune at an early age while others need lots of practice to be able to accurately pitch notes and extend their range.

Using CDs and piano accompaniments may not give the appropriate opportunities for children to develop these skills, particularly if songs have a wide range of notes and are pitched too high.

Simple exercises and improvisations can build confidence and help children to focus on controlling the pitch of their voice.

Use different starting notes at different times (anything from around A below middle C) as individuals will be able to sing comfortably at different places. Aim to gradually increase the range to higher notes over time.

§  Sing lots of simple songs with only two or three pitches

§  Play questions and answers – sing questions on two or three pitches and encourage the whole class, small groups and then individual children to sing back their answers. Start on higher or lower start notes to stretch the range

§  Sing up and down by step by numbers – 1 2 3 4 5 (CDEFG) 54321 (GFEDC)

§  Make up new number patterns to sing – 11 222 33 444 55 666 77 8. Sing songs with simple pitch patterns and ask the children to notice the pitch shapes and "draw then in the air"

Hi Lo Chickalo (playground clapping game)

Focus – pitch matching

Lyrics / Melody
Hi lo chickalo, chickalo, chickalo / F C DDC DDC DDC
Hi lo chickalo, chickalo, hi! / F C DDC DDC F

§  Use this song to explore three pitches – high, middle (chicka) and low. Draw the pitch shapes in the air as you sing – lift both hand up high (hi), down low (lo) or touch palms together in front of you (chicka)

§  Stand facing a partner and hold left hands. Use right hands to clap together a matching pitch pattern as you sing the song – above, below or tapping the clasped hands in the middle

§  Swap hands to repeat this with the left hands clapping the pitch shapes

§  Sing with higher or lower start notes, keeping the melody the same

§  Compose a new pattern using the same three pitches. Invite a composer to conduct their new pattern as everyone follows and sings, e.g. hi hi chickalo hi hi lo