Just a note, PLEASE, people, don't sing with your head stretched out and chin pointing up. That does nothing to help your voice, and in that position, it's hard to relax the muscles in your neck, jaw, and face, which you should do when you sing.

Autograph, find a voice teacher in your area and talk to them about these questions. You can call the local musicians union, univeristy, etc., to find someone who is a good voice teacher. In the other thread called Singing, Jeri linked to a list of discussions on singing that covers this. In that list I also posted many off-Mudcat website links about singing and the mechanics of the voice.

An exercise to strengthen the voice, which seems to be part of the problem you described with your children's choir voices, is called "messa di voce". Here is a page on that exercise. CLICK HERE TO READ On a single note, with good breath support, you sing from soft to loud and then back to soft again. You have to know how to teach the children to have good breath support to do this. Teaching singing is complex, so I really think you need to find a teacher in your area and talk to him or her about your childrens chorus. Email to gorders@mcn.net as I suggested in the other thread.

Alice