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In pre-school and school-age choral singing activities, it is of fundamental importance to adhere to a set of vocal hygiene rules to ensure the ‘authenticity’ of the ‘musical product’ to be presented to children. Unfortunately, the songs composed for this age group seldom respect the children's inherent aural and intonation abilities, which over the years can be detrimental to their psycho-physical well-being. Some composers of children's music, in fact, neglect these aspects which, together with the themes covered in the lyrics of the songs, may be unsuitable for the real skills of children and completely ineffective, if not even harmful, to their particular educational and growth needs. One example for all are commercial songs, even for adults, performed at karaoke, which force children to perform, testing the endurance of their vocal cords, which are still too delicate and uneducated for extended vocal registers and excessive breathing pressure. This emphasises how important it is to know the different vocal potentials of children, which not only music educators, but especially choral music composers cannot disregard in order to better adapt song textures to individual needs. The resulting risk is not only linked to the progressive loss of the pleasure of making music and singing, but above all to the serious possibility of fostering pathologies that can also negatively affect the spoken voice, as well as the psychological sphere since the voice is an expression of our moods and deepest emotions.

On the basis of research experiences conducted personally over the past fifteen years on the rehabilitation and prevention of vocal disorders and on emotional literacy in childhood, this paper will present some important scientific results in order to undertake a reflection on the didactics of vocal composition and the management of choral activities in inclusive educational contexts.