Singing has been a basic activity of general music since music was first included in the United States public school curricula in 1838. Consequently, teaching all children to sing has been a goal of general music instruction. In fact, the first of nine content standards included in the National Standards for Music Education is "Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music" (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994, p. 26). However, since some children do not seem to sing "naturally," teachers are continually searching for means of helping all children learn to sing. Researchers have also had an interest in this perplexing problem, and numerous studies have been conducted to determine effective strategies for helping children learn to sing. These include a "speech to song" method (Gould, 1968;

Singing has been a basic activity of general music since music was first included in the United States public school curricula in 1838. Consequently, teaching all children to sing has been a goal of general music instruction. In fact, the first of nine content standards included in the National Standards for Music Education is "Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music" (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994, p. 26). However, since some children do not seem to sing "naturally," teachers are continually searching for means of helping all children learn to sing. Researchers have also had an interest in this perplexing problem, and numerous studies have been conducted to determine effective strategies for helping children learn to sing. These include a "speech to song" method (Gould, 1968;