When you hear primary school children singing their voices are usually light in quality and volume and sometimes have a limited range of notes. A voice at this age should be encouraged to develop gradually and not to imitate adult voices. When teaching this age group, I encourage their voices' natural sound and focus the lessons on breathing technique, posture, musicality (reading music, understanding rhythm, etc.) and on performance skills. I don't normally teach children until they are in KS2.

When children start secondary school and go through puberty the changes in their bodies affect their vocal development. Boys’ voices break and during this process each singing lesson needs to be tailored to what the voice will do on a given day. Girls’ voices also change with temporary breathiness and high notes sometimes not sounded as good as usual. By the age of 15/16 the voices of teenage boys and girls start to settle but it is still important that the voices are not pushed too hard. A singer at this age can be challenged by carefully chosen songs that demand characterization and good technical ability. A 'big voice' at this stage is not the goal - developing a good technique and a rounded musician is!