I do believe almost everyone can sing. There are a few people who have vocal chord misformations or etc.

that prevent pitch or good sound, but that is rare. The easiest time to teach a child to repeat pitches is while the child is still 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 note what you did, and in time, it can become a game. Don't push this. It can turn a child off quickly. Just give them food for thought for a while. My 5 yo dd and I did this and had loads of fun. When she 'sang' more than one pitch, I mimicked it just as she 'sang' it. She realized from this that people could 'choose' their pitches, and learned to mimic other people's pitches much like people learn to mimic other people's words and speech patterns. Later, this became 'recitative' in our home. We don't practice 'talking' to each other in 'recitative' style as often as I wish we did, but when we do, it is lots of fun, and I'm able to get some singing skills, or comfort with singing across to my children. [if you don't know what recitative is, do a search online - it is the part of an opera where one person seems to be 'talking' on pitch instead of 'pouring their 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 how much energy is required to change pitches, pitch by pitch. First experiences for children who 'seem' to not be able to sing can include: 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 can think of - but the fire engine is an exercise in hi and low sounds.......which you don't point out to the children until they have been doing this for a while - instead, you just have them learning about firemen informally) 3) When children singsong the traditional 'Mom-my', or 'John-ny' call while 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 red today?" or "Who is being persistent today?" or "Who wants PBJ's today?", then teaching the child to chant/sing back "Bob is wearing red today" or "Sis was being persistent today!", or "We want PBJ's today" can be helpful too. 5) Mrs. Curwen's approach to solfege was very simple (Mrs. Curwen's The Child Pianist was the method recommended by Miss Mason) - there might be better methods today, but it doesn't take a lot of training to work with little 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 you need to learn that skill prior to beginning with your own children. Here are the basics of solfege and getting children to learn how much energy to use: a) Mrs. Curwen encouraged the teacher to write the word 'do' (pronounced dough) on the bottom of a tall somewhat narrow card (fold a piece of computer 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 a knowledgeable friend about this - but keep in mind that 'D' is between

two black keys, thus only has one door, and the 'dog' is in the 'dog house' which only has one door...... after you find the D closest to the middle of the keyboard, then play the white note just to the left of that D - which will be middle C). c) Sing this 'C' pitch, and encourage your child to try to do the same thing. *If the child's sound is not a musical pitch, go back to fire engines and bird calls until they can transfer the bird sound to the pitch that is 'C'. **If the child's sound is very low and on other pitches OR just a little flat, ask the child to stand in front of the keyboard, place his fingers on the wooden rail just in front of the keys and press down - this helps to engage the diaphragm - and enough energy to sing better. If this doesn't quite work, then have the child continue to press down, and sing the pitch they are singing, then 'scoop' up to the proper pitch---- Practice scooping up too much if needed and compare this skill to playing fire engine (if the child is uncomfortable today, that is understandable, and pressing is not necessary - try again briefly later, 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 try again. 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 can be 'do', but don't worry about that yet).... anyway, after the skill of singing '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 with learning to sing 'do'. e) children often digress at some point, which is normal. do not be frustrated by that - just work where the child is, wherever that is f) continue writing one new solfege syllable above the other until the child can sing, 'do', re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do (and possibly 're', mi on top of that - which all children should be able to do better than you altos out there...... - children can usually sing high easier than most sopranos!!!) Good ways to apply this skill include: learning to use shaped notes (there are various systems, choose one and use materials related to that system) Look at simple children's melodies (have a knowledgeable person show you which pitch is 'do'). Teach the child to figure out which pitches correspond with which solfege syllable, then bit by bit, learn to sing the melody on solfege syllables. Then change to the words again. Repeat that process with other songs. Along with this, sing, sing, sing.