Children's Choir

Fun, Easy Gathering Activities for Children's Choir

Fun, Easy Gathering Activities for Children's Choir

Are you ready for choir rehearsal this week? The music is neatly sorted into everyone's folders, you have your rehearsal plan ready to go, and you have a stack of brightly-colored reminders on the piano to send home to parents. What's missing?

A gathering activity.

It's easy to overlook, but that short period before rehearsal when children sometimes show up early (sometimes really early) calls for a little extra preparation. What can you plan that will keep any number of children engaged for 10-15 minutes? Some people use worksheets, but I like playing some kind of game that gets everyone involved (from the moment they walk in the door) and promotes listening skills, keeping a steady beat, movement, music-reading skills, and creativity. 

Most of the ideas in this post take little to no preparation or facilitation on your part - just lay out the materials in advance and maybe turn on some music to get them started. This way, you can do any last-minute to-dos before rehearsal starts while the early-arrivers play a fun, musical game.

Here are a few fun, easy gathering activities to do with your choir:

Clap Your Hands: 16 Clapping Games for Children's Choir

Clap Your Hands: 16 Clapping Games for Children's Choir

Remember those clapping games we used to play as kids? Between the silly (or nonsense) lyrics and the fast-paced sequence of claps, taps, snaps, and crosses, clapping games provided hours of entertainment. It might seem like just fun and games, but there's actually more to it than that. Clapping games can be beneficial to children's development.

Dr. Idit Sulkin has conducted research on the topic of children's hand-clapping games, noting:

"These activities serve as a developmental platform to enhance children’s needs — emotional, sociological, physiological, and cognitive. It’s a transition stage that leads them to the next phases of growing up.” (source) 

Clapping games are a great way to incorporate rhythm and movement into your choir rehearsals while reinforcing gross motor skills, rhythmic concepts (such as steady beat and subdivision), coordination skills, and the concept of sequencing (source). If you're working with a younger group, try modifying the clapping sequence to fit their ability level (scroll down to the bottom of this article for a few helpful tips).

25 Ways for Children to Participate in Worship

25 Ways for Children to Participate in Worship

Children play an important role in the life of the church. And while I don't think every aspect of the worship service needs to be tailored to children, I do think it's important to create a welcoming and inviting space and plan experiences that include them. And I'm not talking worship bulletins and coloring pages.

I'm talking about real, tangible ways for children to actively participate in worship, as leaders. Here are four reasons why I believe this is an important ministry for the church:

Inviting. Welcoming children (and their parents) into the church and into worship is one of the greatest, most sincere ways to create a warm, inviting atmosphere.

Inclusive. Creating a place for children in worship and giving them opportunities to participate offers a message of inclusivity and acceptance and gives children responsibility, ownership, and a renewed sense of belonging. 

Intergenerational. Inviting children to participate in worship gives them a unique opportunity to serve alongside older teens, young adults, middle age members, and seniors, creating a new sense of community for all.

Inspiring. Watching children lead worship - through song, word, and action - is inspiring to all involved. Everyone benefits.

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Top 10 Posts of 2015

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Top 10 Posts of 2015

I tend to do a lot of reflecting at this time of year. What did we do this year? How did we grow or change? What worked well? What didn't work? How did I do on my goals? What do I want to make happen in 2016?

With that comes an honest look at my blog and website and finding out what really resonated with all of you. I review search terms, blog topics, and popular pins on Pinterest, and look back on the most popular posts. I brainstorm content and themes for the coming year, start researching helpful resources, and outline a preliminary editorial calendar.

Last year, for the first time, I did a little round-up of the most-read posts in 2014 (read it here). Today, I'm continuing the tradition by featuring the top 10 posts from 2015. Enjoy!

15 Singing Games for Children's Choir

15 Singing Games for Children's Choir

Singing games are a great way to teach musical concepts, incorporate movement, and give children an opportunity to sing alone and with others. They're perfect as gathering activities, ice-breakers, or a quick change-of-pace in the middle of rehearsal. 

A few months ago, I shared seven fun musical games for children's choir. As a follow-up to that post, I'm rounding up fifteen singing games - some, more suitable for younger singers; others for older elementary; and even a few that your youth choir would love. Most of these are sung in unison, without accompaniment. Also, since movement activities are difficult to describe in writing, I've included video demonstrations for most of these. 

Enjoy!

Top 50 Favorite Anthems for Children's Choir

Top 50 Favorite Anthems for Children's Choir

Ever since I wrote this post with my top 50 favorite anthems for small church choirs, I knew I wanted to create a similar list for children's choirs. This list includes only unison and two-part music. There are some tried-and-true favorites and some newer publications, so I'm sure you'll see some titles that you recognize! Choosing anthems is an individual process and everyone has their own approach. When searching for children's choir music, I tend to look for the following:

- singable melody + good range
- good text (rich meaning, age-appropriate, good declamation)
- accessible two-part writing
- interesting, but supportive accompaniment
- teachable moments! (musical form, minor mode, new meters, etc.)

Now that you know a little more about my process, here is my Top 50 list!

5 Ways to Make Memorizing a Choir Anthem Fun

5 Ways to Make Memorizing a Choir Anthem Fun

For most of us, memorizing is not a "fun" task. It can be tedious, repetitive, and sometimes, just plain boring. However, we all know that memorizing music is an important part of singing in a choir and making music, in general. Rather than just singing through a piece over and over again, here are a few hands-on, engaging activities that are so fun, your choir won't even know they're memorizing their music! (Bonus points if you try any of these with your adult choir!)

1. Fill in the Blank

This is a quick, easy way to scaffold memorizing at the beginning. See how much of the text the children remember by speaking the first few words of each line and having them finish.

7 Fun Games for Children's Choir

7 Fun Games for Children's Choir

It's a rainy evening and the 1st graders in your children's choir are extra wiggly. You need a quick change-of-pace to keep their attention and get through rehearsal. 

Been there? I think we all have. 

There are lots of games you could play, but I like choosing games and activities that keep the focus on music (and maybe get the children up and moving for a few minutes). Today, I'm sharing a few of my favorite (musical) games and activities for children's choir.

Enjoy!

2014 Reading Session Picks: Children's Choir

Ashley Danyew | 2014 Favorite Anthems for Children's Choir

Last week, I shared some of my favorite (new!) anthems for adult choir. Today, I'm sharing my reading session picks for children's choir!

2014 Reading Sessions: Children's Choir Anthems

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Guide Us, Lord (Mark Patterson)
Unison/two-part Choir with Piano and optional Viola

The text for this anthem is the well-known Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester. Wonderful, reflective piece - would be great for Lent.

Sing for Joy, Sing Together (Mark Patterson)
Unison/two-part Choir with Piano and optional Flute and Finger Cymbals

Fun! Great song of praise for young singers any time of the year.

How Far Is It to Bethlehem? (arr. David Music)
Unison Choir with Piano

Beautiful setting of this lovely tune, interwoven with "Away in a Manger."

I See You, God (Mark Burrows)
Unison/two-part Choir with Piano

Great text and lovely melody - "Who says you're invisible? I see you all around..." Perfect for young, inquisitive choristers!

What Child Is This? (arr. Melissa Malvar-Keylock and Jill Friedersdorf)
Unison, two-part, or three-part Choir with Piano

Simple, but beautiful setting of this classic carol.

I’d love to hear from you:

What are your favorite children's choir anthems?

How to Create a Children's Choir Rehearsal Plan

How to Create a Children's Choir Rehearsal Plan

How do you write a lesson plan?  How do you know how long things will take in rehearsal?  Is it best to start with something new or something familiar?  What do you do when they stop paying attention? These are some of the questions I had in my first years of teaching and I'm sure they resonate with many of you, as well.

The answers to these questions really depend on what kind of teacher or director you are or want to be and what kind of group you're working with.  After a few years of working with children's choirs, I found a quick pace with lots of music and related activities seems to keep everyone's attention while still working toward my learning goals for the ensemble. 

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

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