Reply #28: You meet them where they are, and work your way outwards.

[ChoralScholar]

And you should encourage them to work on both sides of the voice break. But they have to keep singing - as frustrating as it is.

The changing male voice is akin to this:

If you woke up in the morning - and your hand was twice to three times the size it normally is - how long would it take you to become proficient with your new appendage? It would take you a while to master the new, larger musculature, and to develop the fine motor skills you previously enjoyed. But you couldn't just wait for it to happen - you'd have to use it to develop the skills.

Adolescent boys' larynxes increase in size in this manner - and developing the fine motor skills of the musculature that surrounds the larynx and controls the vocal fold tension - takes time, and practice.

The most difficult area of the voice to negotiate is the voice break (the crack in a pubertic boy's voice). This is the handoff of control from one set of muscles to the other. The more they can sing over their voice break, the more practice they get at this 'muscle handoff' - and consequently, the quicker they will come along.