I remember a grade school vocal music teacher saying she was thinking of recording each of us singing a solo. Her reasoning was that she had "very little to go on when determining grades." I believe, as I did then, that no grade school student should have to sing a solo. I wanted to tell her, "We're not college students majoring in vocal performance. It's grade school, and we're taking this class because it's required. We're not all natural singers, nor do we all have the ability to be great vocalists." She also told the class, "When that middle school chorus teacher says, 'You're going to sing solos,' you're going to." Fortunately, the teacher didn't ask us to sing solos, after all. Both middle school chorus teachers, to their credit, told their classes, "I will never ask you to sing by yourselves."
I've always believed that the ability to sing is much like the ability
to type. You can improve a little bit through practice, but, for the
most part, you're stuck with the level of ability you have. Certainly, in grade school and middle school, you shouldn't be penalized for lacking an ability that's largely beyond your control.
