I am not going to start teaching "A Child's Prayer" until the first Sunday of August but I do want to comment on this song for those that are nervous about the duet style of the song. Don't shy away from leading this song the way it was written to be sung. It's not as hard as it looks and the kids and parents will LOVE it!!!!
I taught and had the children sing "Love is Spoken Here" for Mother's Day. This is a duet-style song, just like "A Child's Prayer," and the kids LOVED it. They sang with gusto and volume. I had chills! Seriously, the kids went home and told their parents about it, that's how much they loved this song.
I followed this format:
1. I initially just taught them the words of the song, until everyone had every line memorized. This took one Sunday in Senior Primary and two Sundays in Junior Primary.
2. After I was confident that the children knew the lines of the song very, very well, I explained to the children that this song was actually a duet. I had the children move around in the room so that the different parts sat together. In the case of "Love is Spoken Here," I split the boys to one side of the room and the girls to the other side of the room. I had another leader come in and help lead one of the two parts of the song.
That was it! The trick is to have another leader come in and lead the other part of the duet. In an adult choir, or even a professional children's choir (where you don't end up only having 7 minutes to teach, like happened to me in Junior Primary last Sunday), you don't need the second leader, but our children our following our voices, our mouths, and our body language, and we can't sing two parts at once. The man I had help lead the boy's part in "Love is Spoken" here didn't even know how to lead music - it didn't matter. They just wanted needed someone to watch to make them feel confident they were coming in at the right part, etc.
I will post more about how to teach this song but come on, it's the fourth Sunday of the month. Have fun! Review songs. Sing last year's song. Mix it up! You have time, and if you don't - you can have a smaller group sing a song as a special number. So don't worry :)
I taught and had the children sing "Love is Spoken Here" for Mother's Day. This is a duet-style song, just like "A Child's Prayer," and the kids LOVED it. They sang with gusto and volume. I had chills! Seriously, the kids went home and told their parents about it, that's how much they loved this song.
I followed this format:
1. I initially just taught them the words of the song, until everyone had every line memorized. This took one Sunday in Senior Primary and two Sundays in Junior Primary.
2. After I was confident that the children knew the lines of the song very, very well, I explained to the children that this song was actually a duet. I had the children move around in the room so that the different parts sat together. In the case of "Love is Spoken Here," I split the boys to one side of the room and the girls to the other side of the room. I had another leader come in and help lead one of the two parts of the song.
That was it! The trick is to have another leader come in and lead the other part of the duet. In an adult choir, or even a professional children's choir (where you don't end up only having 7 minutes to teach, like happened to me in Junior Primary last Sunday), you don't need the second leader, but our children our following our voices, our mouths, and our body language, and we can't sing two parts at once. The man I had help lead the boy's part in "Love is Spoken" here didn't even know how to lead music - it didn't matter. They just wanted needed someone to watch to make them feel confident they were coming in at the right part, etc.
I will post more about how to teach this song but come on, it's the fourth Sunday of the month. Have fun! Review songs. Sing last year's song. Mix it up! You have time, and if you don't - you can have a smaller group sing a song as a special number. So don't worry :)
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