Why the pitch pipe?

One of the best things about teaching Music Together is that we get to interact not only with the children, but also with the adults in class. And very often, the adults have really great questions. Something I was asked recently was, why do the teachers always use a pitch pipe in class?
Well, it's not just because we find the sound so utterly beautiful. Since I don't have perfect pitch, I use the pitch pipe to find the correct key and starting note for each song. This will always be the same key that you hear on the recordings. You see, the songs are pitched rather specifically so as to be appropriate for a child's voice. A lot of popular music (and even a lot of recorded children's music) is quite low; comfortable for an adult to sing along with, but not really comfortable or healthy for a child's singing voice. Singing in tune is one of the main components of basic music competence; this skill is much harder to achieve if you're forever singing songs where you have to struggle to sing the right notes!
So, what is a proper vocal range for a young child? For the most part, it's from about middle C, to the D that is an octave above that note. That's a range of just over one octave. Now and then you'll notice an MT song that briefly goes a little higher, or a little lower, but for the most part they'll stay within that range.
By the way, this range is also very healthy and singable for adults, but a lot of us are accustomed to singing and speaking in our chest voice rather than our head voice. All that means, really, is that we're much more comfortable with the lower register of our voice that we are with the higher one. Getting used to using both of them is just a matter of practice, so start singing those MT songs with your child!