Ah, Poor Bird, a Singing RoundAh Poor Bird is one of the easiest and loveliest of rounds for singers. It has a melancholy minor sound that matches the words well, and is fairly easy to learn, with its climbing scale up to the leap in the third line, then back down again. This singing round works well as a "listening" kind of warmup, in which your student sings their part slowly against the contrasting line YOU are singing. This takes great concentration!
If you are new to singing rounds with your students, I highly recommend playing their part on the piano with them, while you softly sing the part that follows theirs. (This takes great concentration until you are accustomed to it!)
The fastest way I've found to get kids singing rounds accurately is to have a partner or two sharing their part, while I sing against them. After a couple times through the notes, we might clap the rhythm, or better yet, count aloud as we sing the notes. If the tune is "Ah, Poor Bird," we might count it like this: "1-2, 3-4, 1-(2-3-4), 1-2, 3-4, 1-(2-3-4), 1, 2, 3, 4, 1-2, 3, 4, 1-2, 3-4, 1-(2-3-4)." I hope that makes sense! For a non-notereader, as some singers tend to be, I would probably count NOTE UNITS rather than measures of 4 beats. Then it would sound like this: "1-2, 1-2, 1-(2-3-4)," etc. Even if they don't read well, they need to be able to count!
Vocal rounds can be hard at first, but they are very worthwhile for teaching kids to hear other musical parts while staying on their own. I hope you and your students enjoy this singing round!
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What Visitors Say
Amber:Thank you! THANK YOU!!! For keeping the beautiful art of Opera alive! I stumbled upon this site and I'm so happy I did!
Toni:
Thank you for your wonderful website. I also teach piano, voice and guitar - spooky! My absolute passion is opera, and have opened many a singing student's ear to the beautiful melodies and voices in the repertoire. Thank you for the wonderful warmups which I have downloaded, and will be using at the earliest opportunity - I will let you know how they go! Looking forward to more warmup ideas, too.
Danielle:
What a lovely, generous site! Many thanks from a fellow singer and music teacher in New York State. Loved the inclusion of the video for "The Ash Grove," a song I just recommended to an adult voice student today. I was pleased to be able to send her the link to not only the sheet music, but a charming performance of the song as well.
Marybeth:
I love your site! It has been an incredible resource for me as a Music teacher. I love your ideas and the music you share...
Useful Sites for Vocalists
Cantorian.org, home to free classical sheetmusicChoralWiki, Home of the Choral Public Domain Library
International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) Petrucci Music Library
Musicnotes.com - transpose vocal sheets up or down!
Note-Perfect.com, Resources for Choral Singers and Soloists
Sheetmusicplus.com
What's New at Sheetmusicplus
Matt:
THIS SITE IS AMAZING!!... Thank you so much for your hard work getting these on the web, you have made many children very happy!!
Wynn:
Thank you so much for this site. I admire you so much for taking the time to reach out and share so much with others. After years of singing professionally I am finally making myself re-learn the piano in order to play for myself and to do some piano bar work. Your scales and your feedback are inspiring! Create Beauty and fill the world with LOVE!
Marta:
Thank you for the free downloads! I'm a private teacher and I teach piano and beginner voice as well. :) I've been running my studio for about a year and I've come across the same issue; I don't want my students to have to purchase an entire supplemental book for only a couple of songs. So thank you for this site...some great downloads!!
Stasi:
AH!!!!! I am so happy to find a helpful site like this. I started to give piano lessons to one little girl from church and two girls requested voice lessons this spring. Since then, word got out and going into the fall I have 18 students. I am so excited, but I'm running out of materials that they can borrow, and I, like you hate telling the parents to buy morebooks. Because I have such a diverse group of students I spend SO much time making supplemental material and I feel like I have to pick through other websites, to only find one or two useful things. I am so thankful for the wealth of supplement that you have offered here! And it's all SO user friendly!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!