Rebuilding Children's choir

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Noelle Mena on June 3, 2008 at 4:36am

So was your greatest challenge area keeping them engaged with what you were working on? Trying to keep their attention? K-1st graders LOVE to do motions with their music. They love to see you do them too, :-) They love and mostly all elementary age love to use instruments. Adding some bells, and cymbals. I do not know what denomination you are with, so I am un-sure what to suggest. I have always been part of a non-denominational church and we would include ribbon sticks sometimes, and I would let them make the instruments. Staying seated or standing and just learning music will just be 'trying' on their little spirits. We have to meet them where they are but yet, have expectation of where God will take them! I would always gather them close to me and get down on the floor with them, discuss what the songs are saying, what the song says to them. They, just like us need to know what we are really singing for it to end up coming from our hearts and be true worship. This connects them to the song and therefore becomes more meaningful and something they want to spend time on.

Is also a great idea if leadership allows to split up the group sometimes to work separately so they are not constantly 'waiting' on the altos or vise versa. Then bring them together.
I taught them that being up there singing in the choir or worship team is way more than singing. We did not get caught up in perfection in the music- we focused on the offering of it. We always prayed together. Oh yes, and we always did fun warm ups for our voices. That is fun, you can always have fun with those- they love that. And they learn the foundation of taking care of their instrument!
Which leads to nice inside voices and how you can't yell to get their attention etc- as you are taking care of your voice as well!
Blessings Cindy! Your making me really miss this!!
Noelle

Permalink Reply by Cindy Bishop on June 3, 2008 at 1:00pm

Thank you so much Noelle. Those are some good suggestions! I also attend a non-denominational church, so I wouldn't think there would be too much of a problem with any of your suggestions, especially when it's the kids doing it.

I do have another question for you. How do you keep the older kids from getting bored or thinking something is too "baby-ish" for them wihle still keeping it fun for the little kids? I guess that's my biggest problem. I still want to challenge the older kids w/out leaving the younger ones behind.

Permalink Reply by Noelle Mena on June 3, 2008 at 11:42pm

Hey Cindy, K-6 is very typical to combine but you are right, there is a big difference in maturity levels in this range! First I would say to train the older ones as junior leaders. Its also something the younger ones will aspire to grow into as they get older. Obviously just because one is older they should not be auto leadership. Leadership should be well defined. As to what you expect from a junior leader. There are lots of ways to incorporate leadership. It can be through helping with crafting of the instruments or praise banners. Setting up chairs for practice etc to, actually working with a small group on a certain part of a song. 5th-6th graders can help a lot and want to feel there is a difference in what you expect from them besides sitting still longer. You could even have older ones be like big sisters, big brothers in Christ to the younger ones. (you know like, they have certain younger ones they always look after, like in school when a 5th grader is assigned a k--3rd grader to read to ect, only you implement through worship, assisting in other ways)
As far as babyish movements or song choices, remind the older ones that they are not singing for themselves. This is for God's Glory, to 'lead' other kids out there into worship. They see themselves as just singing, really guide them into the realization that they in fact are leading others into worship, as they worship. This is not about them.

That being said, allow the older ones to express in 'older' ways with their movements sometimes. Try not to keep all in a box. Same with their vocals. Hope this helps, I could go on and on...
Blessings, Talk to you soon!

Permalink Reply by Cindy Bishop on June 4, 2008 at 1:28pm

Thank you so much. Those are some wonderful ideas. I truly want the kids to have fun as well as growing musically & spiritually. I really appreciate all your input. Please feel free to add anything else that might come to mind.

Permalink Reply by Deisha Day on January 28, 2009 at 3:28am

Wow...my mom was the director for our kids choir...I took over for a while...but then we grew up and other kids just really haven't been interested...One thing that kept us spiritually interacted was that we'd pray before we started, and after we finished...Then we would start on the song we were learning....if it had a bible story, we'd all talk about the story so we understand the song more...if it was something like "peace like a River" we'd talk about how we have peace...you mentioned you had some younger ones...they are hard to keep attention...One thing that might help is that you have one short song ya'll can do at the beginning of each practice that has motions...it'll get them focused and excited about the choir...ya'll could even do songs with motions for the church...they'll be more excited about it...(not so sure about the older ones, but you can find ways that they'll enjoy it too) One thing you can do to make sure they're singing loud is start playing the song soft and tell them to sing louder than it...then steadily increse the volume until they've sung as loud as you think they should...this will help them be able to sing loud, but yet listen for the music...anyway, not much more advice I can give...I haven't participated in the kid singing for a while...i'm just part of the sunday school staff lol