For those of you who have bells at home (or in your library that you can borrow), I just threw together a bell chart for verse 1 of "Come Follow Me" that you can copy. For those of you that don't, if you're just introducing the song for the first time, I recommend singing it by clapping out the rhythm with one side and the beat with the other side, then talking about the meaning of the song as you sing it.
This one is a tiny bit tricky because there are two parts where this song slides to another note on the same syllable ("Sav" in "Savior" goes from a high C to a B and "foot" on "footsteps" goes from an F to a G.) I missed the first slide when I wrote out the notes, so that when I was testing the bells, it sounded awful until I realized my mistake.
I always write the letters in the same color OR put a symbol like a square or heart around letters so that younger kids can still participate and play the bells. I've learned the easiest way to lead children with the bells is to point to the letter as you are singing the word, so they know it's their turn to ring their bell. Kids that are studying music rarely need this help, but even with the words on the page, this makes things a lot easier for kids that don't read music, and younger kids.
The general plan is:
1. Introduce the song with a "Can you guess the song" game - I might just keep it simple and have the pianist play a few notes of the song. Or I might include a few other hints:
a) This song is in the green hymnal that we use in sacrament (hold one up).
b) This song is about something Jesus asked us to do.
c) Here are the first three notes of the song.
d) Here are the first four notes of the song.
e) The first word of the song is "Come"
2. Sing the song while clapping out the rhythm once. Let them know if they can follow me and do this well, then they are ready for the bells. This is verse 1 of the song so I expect a lot of children to be somewhat familiar with it and recognize the rhythm. I'll either do this, or have them sing the song with motions remembering different ways we can follow in Jesus' footsteps as described here.
3. Depending on time, let teachers "demo" the song for the kids first, and have the kids sing again - this helps to start getting the rhythm and words in their heads. This is just a fun way to include the teachers once in a while. I think both the kids and teachers like doing this.
4. Let kids take a turn with the bells. Depending on number kids in the class, I might pass out rhythm sticks, too.
5. If there are more kids than bells, switch!
This one is a tiny bit tricky because there are two parts where this song slides to another note on the same syllable ("Sav" in "Savior" goes from a high C to a B and "foot" on "footsteps" goes from an F to a G.) I missed the first slide when I wrote out the notes, so that when I was testing the bells, it sounded awful until I realized my mistake.
I always write the letters in the same color OR put a symbol like a square or heart around letters so that younger kids can still participate and play the bells. I've learned the easiest way to lead children with the bells is to point to the letter as you are singing the word, so they know it's their turn to ring their bell. Kids that are studying music rarely need this help, but even with the words on the page, this makes things a lot easier for kids that don't read music, and younger kids.
The general plan is:
1. Introduce the song with a "Can you guess the song" game - I might just keep it simple and have the pianist play a few notes of the song. Or I might include a few other hints:
a) This song is in the green hymnal that we use in sacrament (hold one up).
b) This song is about something Jesus asked us to do.
c) Here are the first three notes of the song.
d) Here are the first four notes of the song.
e) The first word of the song is "Come"
2. Sing the song while clapping out the rhythm once. Let them know if they can follow me and do this well, then they are ready for the bells. This is verse 1 of the song so I expect a lot of children to be somewhat familiar with it and recognize the rhythm. I'll either do this, or have them sing the song with motions remembering different ways we can follow in Jesus' footsteps as described here.
3. Depending on time, let teachers "demo" the song for the kids first, and have the kids sing again - this helps to start getting the rhythm and words in their heads. This is just a fun way to include the teachers once in a while. I think both the kids and teachers like doing this.
4. Let kids take a turn with the bells. Depending on number kids in the class, I might pass out rhythm sticks, too.
5. If there are more kids than bells, switch!
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