How to Use Queen Queen Caroline to Teach Four Voices
Let’s talk about teaching the four voices (Singing, Whisper, Shouting, Talking). It is important for our students to learn how to think critically about what their voice is doing. Have you ever found yourself frustrated that your little musicians scream instead of using their singing voice? Or maybe you’re asking them to whisper but they still don’t quite grasp the concept? Well, we must back up this concept to understanding the different voices before we can expect our students to be able to use each voice in the correct way.
One of my favorite ways to introduce the four voices is the song Queen Queen Caroline.
The song itself does not use the four voices, but I have written a story that goes with the song. You can read the story here. When I am telling the story to my students I use all four voices. They are absorbing the way each one of my voices sounds without me ever labeling them and all while having fun and giggling about the story! This way of introducing the voices is joyful and non threatening to even the shyest of learners.
Over the course of a few lessons I will continue to share the story and song of Queen Queen Caroline. I have now reinforced the four voices many times over. As students become more familiar with the story they naturally start joining in. Now, don’t expect every student who joins in to be using each of their four voices correctly on the first try as we are still learning.
After your students are joining in using their four voices it is now a great time to label the four voices for your students. You can do this by using your four voices. “This is my speaking voice” “This is my singing voice” and so on. You can use pictures (like these) of children using each voice. And you can even have students practice trying each voice with a body motion to accompany. This covers all of our learning styles, Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic learners. And will really solidify the difference between the voices.
We can now make connections to the world around us and chat about appropriate times to use each of our voices. What voice do you think you can use at recess? What voice do you think you use at dinner time? Questions like this will make your students more observant of the world around them and how and when each voice is used. I love to use this coloring activity to reinforce the places to use our voice.
