Why Children & Teenagers Should Sing (or: Write) Badly
One weekend when I was twelve, I auditioned for a musical. Knees shaking, the rubber bands of my braces dragging my jaw into an underbite, I opened my mouth to sing—but no sound came out.
I looked out at the room full of kids sitting cross-legged on the audition room floor, staring up at me expectantly, and tried again. The accompanist played the first few notes of my audition song, I opened my mouth once more…and the same thing happened.
Somehow, I didn’t slink to the floor and slither out of the room in the way I longed to do. I kept trying. Eventually, I eked out the tune in a whisper.
I’m in my early forties now, and the act of seeking and finding (or not) voice has become a running theme in my life. Voice played a central role in both the style and themes of my debut novel, and it’s become a central tenet of my teaching at Write Well Brooklyn.
I tell students that in writing, voice includes details and perspective of our lived experiences, and the meaning we make from them: my perpetual underbite as a twelve year-old, for example, and my effort in that humiliating audition to sing—no matter how badly. Voice is not often practiced in school, but it’s essential to so much: high school admissions essays for New York City children; college application essays for rising high school seniors; cover letters; professional presentation decks; love letters; texts—and so much more.
Voice is at its most powerful when we access something authentic and true in ourselves. Then, it has a way of inviting others to connect with our own vulnerable and vibrant humanity, too.
Rarely, however, do we achieve powerful, voice-driven writing right off the bat. It’s a process—one that is valuable in and of itself, regardless of the stakes at hand. And for students who don’t have much experience writing with voice, it often requires they get unstuck, or find their way out of overwhelm.
In such moments, I often suggest they first write messily, and offer specific strategies for doing so. I call this approach “singing badly.”
You’d be surprised how quickly singing badly can lead to something truly beautiful.
Write Well Brooklyn offers 1-1 writing coaching programs and a free Creativity Club—all designed to help students find their voice. Click the button to explore programs for application essay writing, high school prep, and more.