Youth Vocal Arts: Colour and Canvas

 Kowhai 
6-8 year olds

When young children sing, it is instinctive, expressive and fearless. At Rata, we want to ensure every young singer continues to feel comfortable in their voice, so that they can bypass the stage of self-consciousness.  Welcome to Kowhai class, voice lessons for 6-8 year olds.

This course will include playful experimentation and exploration of sounds, words, rhythm and melody, helping ‘Kowhai’ students to get to know and gain confidence in their voice. ‘Kowhai’ students will be introduced to a variety of songs with discussion on differences in melody, style and emotion. Focus will be given to understanding and portraying the meaning of the words. Songs will be prepared as a group, developing performance skills. The term will finish with a performance for the children’s families.

Course Outcomes

Kowhai students will:

• develop their voice in range, volume, tone.
• build their vocal (and social) confidence in a friendly, safe and inclusive environment.
• explore methods of song learning.
• learn the importance and methods of understanding and portraying song meaning.
• learn performance skills.
• participate in a group performance for their families.

Timetable and Enrolment

About Ruth Armishaw

Ruth the Teacher

Ruth Armishaw’s teaching experience spans 22 years, all ages and class sizes, from individuals to large groups, including choirs and musical theatre classes. Specialising in young voices, believing that if a young child has the passion for singing and the focus to work one-on-one, a teacher can harness that without pushing the voice to develop too early.

As a member of NEWZATS (New Zealand Association of Teachers of Singing), Ruth has found a network of like minded singing teachers who all seek to regularly up-skill and better understand the voice and how to help others reach their vocal potential.

Ruth Armishaw’s teaching experience spans 22 years, all ages and class sizes, from individuals to large groups, including choirs and musical theatre classes. Specialising in young voices, believing that if a young child has the passion for singing and the focus to work one-on-one, a teacher can harness that without pushing the voice to develop too early.

2021 is Ruth’s fourth year at Queen Margaret College, sixth year at Rata Studios School of Music and eigth year at Onslow College. In these roles, Ruth has also helped advance many teenage voices, including preparing students for NCEA performance assessments.

Ruth was the vocal tutor at Musical Stars (a musical theatre school for children) for five years till the end of 2019 and prepared the children for 5 musicals including Beauty and the Beast, Annie and The Lion King. She enjoyed leading the choirs and teaching music theory at Wellington Music Centre for 12 years. She was Co-Musical-Director for the Wellington region’s ArtSplash children’s festival for 4 years and has tutored many school choirs. While teaching piano and singing for 5 years at Chilton Saint James’ School, Ruth taught students individually across all year-levels including primary-school children.

Ruth is working towards accreditation in the Estill Voice Training Programme and has completed the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses. This a method which focuses on safely exploring a full range of vocal expression, tone and style, through learning to finely control the various structural components of the voice. While giving Ruth a deeper knowledge and versatility of her own instrument, this has in turn helped her understand her students’ voices and ways of building and fostering them.

Ruth the Performer

With a BMus and BMus(Hons) in Vocal Jazz Performance, and a Performer’s Certificate in Piano, Ruth is often found performing as a solo act, self-accompanying, with a broad repertoire of Jazz Standards (and other familiar tunes you might not have put in that category).

As a Mezzo-Soprano, Ruth has been performing with the Chorus of the NZ Opera since 2002, performing in at least 30 Operas as a peasant, aristocrat, factory worker, bar-goer. In 2018 and 2019 she joined the casts of Madame Butterfly and Rigoletto with Eternity Opera.

In 2019 Ruth performed the Alto solo for Orpheus Choir of Wellington’s ‘Mozart Requiem’ and re-joined them in 2020 for Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’. She has performed several of the major works as a soloist with community choirs around Wellington.

Ruth is founding member of Wellington’s professional vocal ensemble, Inspirare. Her first classical voice training came in the form of singing in Choirs starting at school and progressing through the Wellington Youth Choir, NZ Secondary Students’ Choir, NZ Youth Choir, and Orpheus Choir of Wellington.