"Wilson" the Tennis Ball

At an Orff workshop several years ago, a teacher in St. Johns County pulled out a tennis ball that she had decorated with a patch of black hair made of yarn, two google-eyes, a red bow tie and a smile. The topic was "teaching children to use the voice correctly" and I couldn't understand what the tennis ball had to do with vocal instruction in my classroom - until I made one myself and tried it with my kids...

Allow me to introduce you to Wilson, the tennis ball. He has become one of my favorite teaching tools ever. I use "Wilson" (think Tom Hanks in the movie, "Castaway," except his buddy was a volleyball) in second grade to help my students understand the difference between "head voice" and "chest voice."

Children have four voices in their little bodies that they must be able to engage on demand. Each serves a different purpose. The "playground" voice (technically labeled the "calling" voice) is easy for them to use properly. Every kid I know can scream, holler, yell and shout. [We also talk about synonyms in this lesson!] The "library" voice (technically labeled the "whispering voice" is usually easy for them to engage and use properly. The tricky part is differentiating between the "head" voice (technically labeled the "singing" voice) and the "chest" voice (technically labeled the "speaking" voice).

I use my little tennis ball friend to help them learn to flip the mechanism in the larynx from their speaking voice to their singing voice without ever asking them to sing a note. This activity is non-threatening to the students and EVERYONE wants to have a turn.

The student can ask Wilson to do anything (within reason) using their chest voice, however, Wilson will not respond to their request. He shakes his head "no!" and sits very still in my hand. When the student asks the same question of Wilson using his singing voice, Wilson smiles and does whatever they ask of him. Of course, in addition to drawing on his smile, I cut a slit for a mouth with an Exacto knife and it delights the kids to see him "talk" to them using his singing voice. My only regret is that I am not a ventriloquist and they usually figure out that it's me operating the mouth by squeezing the ball and I'm the one using my singing voice, not Wilson.

The best part is when my kids return as 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Not a year goes by that several of them don't ask, "Mrs. Tamburrino - Can we play with Wilson today?"

To me, that is the best part of all!

Until next time...