Kids' Singing in the Congregation #2

At the end of March next year I will be co-presenting a workshop at the CCOWA Perth Children's Ministry Convention. The topic for the 2009 conference is "Music with Meaning" and my workshop is titled "Integrating children's music and church music".

I am posting my workshop draft in dribs and drabs over up-coming "Tuneful Tuesdays" and whoever wants to comment and help me improve the draft before it becomes the final version will be welcome and appreciated for their efforts. (See here for previous Tuneful Tuesday posts.)
---
I. Helping children participate in music with the entire congregation

1. Children can participate in singing when they know, or at least are familiar with, the tune and words of songs.

A) Tune: Children generally sing with a higher range of notes than adults. They are capable of learning to sing to the tune just as easily, if not easier, than adults. Just as with adults, they will need to be given prompts as to when the words begin within the tune.

> It is helpful for children to hear the tune before it is sung. A short musical prelude to the singing can help them (and the rest of us) to sing along with the tune rather than along with what they think the tune might become. This is especially important with songs which are unfamiliar to the congregation.

> It is helpful to have a Song Leader or Singer whose voice will be audible to the congregation above the volume of their own singing and for at least one of such persons to be female, as women have a voice range more comparable to a child’s than men do. On the other hand, a lot of music for church use is written in a key that is too high for most of the adult congregation, so this needs to be balanced. The Song Leader must be able to sing well and comfortably in the key that is used, so that children can sing higher if they need to but everyone in the congregation has a suitable example to follow.

> It is helpful to have a Song Leader or Singer who will stand in a position where they are visible and for them to give obvious cues as to when the singing will begin and end (at the beginning of the song and at the beginning and end of each verse, after a musical interlude, etc). Examples might include raising and lowering the microphone to/from their mouth.

B) Words: Young children are good at memorising repeated words, so even if they cannot read well, they can learn the words to songs quickly, especially the words of a chorus which is repeated a few times in the song.

> It is of great help to children for there to be songs that are repeated in the congregational setting. For example, a congregation might only sing songs from a limited repertoire when the whole congregation are together, with the Play List being changed every quarter. Congregations may also have a “Song of the Month” which is sung every Sunday for a month so that they children (and adults!) can learn it thoroughly.

> If such a Play List is used by the church, it would be of great help for a Song List to be provided to parents for use with their children at home. According with the rules of copyright, a Church Song Book with words and simple tune line for the song list may be photocopied for those parents who wish to sing these songs together with their children during the week, as part of family worship times and to help the whole family learn the words. Parents who feel unsure of their own singing ability can be encouraged to purchase individual songs online so that a CD of Church Songs may be made for use in the car or at home to reinforce knowledge of songs.

> Likewise, the words and tune line of the Song of the Month could be included in the weekly bulletin handed out to people as they enter for church. This can be especially helpful for non-readers and beginning readers. I have found my children can learn one verse or more in a week; it took my four year old daughter two weeks to learn Amazing Grace and my five and four year olds learnt the verses of In Christ Alone easily one week at a time.

> The people in charge of the congregation’s Play List should always be on the look out for good new songs, which are based soundly in Scripture. However, no more than one new song should be sung while the children are present with the congregation, to avoid confusing them too much.

> New songs can be sung as a demonstration just by the Song Leader / Singer without the congregation joining them, the first time they are used in the congregational setting. (Songs which have not been sung at least once in the past 6-12 months should be considered “new” again.) For some churches, during the offering or while Holy Communion are taken can be suitable opportunities for this to occur. Alternatively, the Musicians could play the tune of upcoming new songs immediately prior to the service beginning. Another good time to introduce new songs to the congregation is at a time when the children are not present. This has the added benefit of ensuring at least some of those singing in the congregation the first time the children join in to sing it already know the words as well as the tune.

> When a song is introduced, if it has a chorus, it can help if the Song Leader recites the words of the chorus once to the congregation to give children advance warning of words they might be able to join in with, even if they can’t read or can’t read fast enough to read and sing in tempo.

> Children who are too young to sing along with the words or do not know them should be encouraged by the Song Leader and the adults sitting near them to hum or “la la la” along with the tune, or in the parts of the tune where they are unfamiliar with the words.
---
Next Tuneful Tuesday: I.2. Choosing songs with Kids in the Congregation in mind

[Image courtesy of CCOWA.]