I have three adolescent male pupils whose voices have broken and not completely settled yet. None of them have much range now although it will build up. Obviously I want to take them all gently for a few months but I am running out of ideas for suitable repertoire. Any ideas anyone? I would be very grateful.

Could you look at some hymn tunes? Not stunningly exciting but lots of tenor lines have a range of less than an octave and it would start getting them used to not getting to sing the tune.

Does the shortage of responses mean that everyone else is stumped with this one as well? lol

Not a singer, but owner/driver of 2 teen boys. No reluctance to sing at home, just a tendency to turn wellknown songs into political satires which they would sing at the top of their voices in close harmony, hamming it up...I learned to keep the car windows UP! They don't sing quite so much now that the novelty has worn off.

Noticed two things: 1) one son is not really a confident singer, but a boy with a broken voice is supposed to be immediately able to sing harmony, which often entails reading music confidently and being able to maintain a part against the melody. At the same time, he started listening more to female singers, especially ones with mouse-like high-pitched voices ( Not reading this, I hope... ).

Didn't dislike singing, but very unconfident - I don't know the solution. At home, he sings melody as he has a lighter voice, and the other son harmonizes with him in his lower voice, so he doesn't have to cope with the demands of harmony.

2) other son loves to sing, but definitely noticed a reduced range. We had a lot of scat singing sessions while driving along! I don't know why he found scat so attractive just at that age, but he did.

Plainchant? Recitative?

How about some folk songs? If your pupils are confident enough to try some unaccompanied songs there is also the advantage that you can put them in whatever key suits the voice...even if it changes from one lesson to the next.

Recitative made me think how powerful a throwaway performance of a song can be - with the lyricism pushed right down, the intervals and melody "telescoped", and expression focused on the timing and volume or quality of the voice.

For example, I know Brecht/Weill's Remembering Marie A (from Baal) as quite a lyrical song, despite the dismissive lyrics...I was recently using it to teach English to a student who is keen on drama, and was interested to see David Bowie's rendition on Youtube.

His voice actually cracks on a couple of the high notes, and he deliberately goes for an unartistic performance - but quite an effective one. Maybe this is a time to concentrate on the "acting" side of using your voice to express emotion, as well as the "musical" side?

Sorry if this is all mush, I can't sing, but vocal music is really my only musical interest, because of my passion for drama!

The Skye Boat song is only an octave in range. So is Brahms lullaby.

Having a son with a newly changed voice with a tiny range made me become good at Sibeliusing anyway since everyyhing had to be in JUST the right key to fit his range...but he does a cool Ol' Man River now

Easily singable and adaptable, and part of our heritage. Folk song would be my ideal choice in the situation.

Abide with me: Range, a sixth;
National Anthem: a 7th, I think.
Lots of folk songs definitely, good luck!

Folk songs are often shunned, but if you look for the ones with really "juicy words", I'm sure you'll find plenty to entertain the average teenage lad.

(Wraggle-taggle gypsies comes to mind here for some reason)

And remember that it could be a great way to get them used to things like really fast ornamentation - essential to make the folk songs sound good, otherwise they sound like simple tunes rather than the great stories that they are.

Use the simple tune as a strong point and the fact that folk songs are a devil to sing correctly due to ornamentation and phrasing as a learning point.