Your infant’s coos in response to your singing may be quite lyrical. Your baby may spontaneously respond to Tonal Activities with the Resting Tone, on pitch. Your little one may hum while playing with toys, or make up songs about anything. Your child may initiate “too,” even while you are chanting on “bah,” as if to cue you to sing rather than chant—or to “play tonal” rather than rhythm. Your child may suddenly burst forth with a high, squeaky voice or a “sing-songy” sound that you conclude must be an attempt at singing rather than speaking. You would, of course, reinforce each of these incidents as “singing,” just as you would when your child chimes in with occasional words to a song, or recites song lyrics in a “sing-songy” manner. Just don’t confuse in your own mind, your child’s rhythmic or spoken delivery of words to favorite songs with the developing singing voice, nor assume that the non-tuneful little tyke is doomed to be a monotone. Your little one’s singing voice will emerge, in time.
Your child’s production of sustained sound totally unlike his speaking voice, even high and squeaky, may be a significant growth step. It may indicate that your little one is becoming aware of the difference between singing and speaking and exploring that difference in his own voice. Your child’s cue for you to engage in tonal rather than rhythm may indicate that your little one is becoming aware of the difference between tonal and rhythm. These are important developments on the road to discovering, or uncovering, the singing voice. A strong sense of tonality will propel in-tune singing, when your little one is ready. Competent speech slowly emerges from a rich language environment, and a lovely, in-tune singing voice will emerge from a rich tonal environment.
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