Mother's Day and Father's Day Childrens Choirs

My friend that is a chorister in a different children's choir in Springville has a very different way of teaching his Primary class music. He rarely uses visuals or plays games to supplement or motivate the singing. His Primary loves him, and he is able to effectively elicit active participation

For Mother's Day, he explained to the children that there were two main reactions they could elicit from their mothers on Mother's Day:

Reaction 1: "Awh, aren't they cute!"

Reaction 2: Heartful sobbing and joy.

He told them that while each reaction was great, that they should go for the second reaction, and that to get the second reaction, they needed to sing powerfully, watch him closely as he led the music, and to think about the words they were singing.

I believe the most powerful thing we can do as we teach children music is to make sure they understand what they are singing, and why they might be feeling a certain way as they sing the words.

Many years ago, I was teaching the song, "Nephi's Courage," and a child in the class that was less familiar with the Book of Mormon raised her hand and asked why Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel had to get the plates that are referenced in the song. I've linked to the song so you can read the lyrics. I said, "That's a great question. Let's open up the scriptures and find out. I believe this is in Nephi chapter 3 but can a teacher call out the chapter and verse if you know it?" We were able to find the appropriate scriptures quickly, and on the fly, look up and read the part of the story that was pertinent, make sure her question was answered, and make sure that what we were singing and learning was meaningful. To this day, this is one of my favorite songs in the Children's Songbook.