Children's Choirs

One of the most effective ways to get children enthusiastic about singing and to get them to feel a sense of pride in their singing is by having them collaborate with the adult choir. Not only is this generally an exciting experience for the children, it is often just as much fun for the adults!

Here are a couple of selections that provide wonderful opportunities for collaboration:

For Palm Sunday

SATB and Piano with optional Children's Choir, Flute, Djembe

To preview the music and listen to a recording click here.

For Any Sunday

Children's Choir/Unison/SATB and Piano with optional, Orchestra

To preview the music and listen to a recording click here.

For Christmas

SAB/SATB and Piano with optional Children's Choir (Solo, Congregation)

To preview the music and listen to a recording click here.

Keys to Success

• Remember that they’re children. It’s important to have high expectations, but it’s also important that they be realistic expectations.
• Be patient. Children will not respond well to impatience.
• Be a confidence-builder. Before every rehearsal, ask yourself how you can help build the childrens’ confidence in that rehearsal.
• The more repetition, the better (goes towards confidence-building).
• The more you can use your voice as a model, the better (goes towards confidence-building).
• The more positive feedback, the better (goes towards confidence-building).
• Select realistic songs—songs that the children can sing successfully.
• Vary the style of songs selected (traditional hymns, contemporary worship songs, etc.). Provide for the children a well-rounded and soul-satisfying musical experience. It’s very important that they know the hymns, but it’s also important for them to have the opportunity to sing some more modern music. They tend to respond well to the latter.
• Don’t try to learn too many songs in one rehearsal (again, be realistic). It’s better to learn one song very well than to have learned five songs decently.
• It’s important that children not just learn music solely by rote (“repeat after me”). Have them follow along in the music and watch for skips/jumps so that they get the feel for moving their voices up and down as the notes go up and down.
• Provide them with opportunities to sing with the adult choir (this is impactful not only for the children, but also for the adults!).
• Have them sing regularly (at least monthly). The more they become used to singing (and the more they experience how awesome it feels to sing in worship), the better!

Sing! Resources and Materials

The resources and materials below come from Keith and Kristyn Getty's book, Sing! - How Music Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church, used for our small group discussions in the fall of 2019. 

The Sing! Teachings and Takeaways document includes highlighted teachings from the book that could be used by worship leaders during worship, for music/worship team meetings, or for personal moments of reflection and introspection. The graphics package contains slides with quotes from the book that can be displayed on screens either before or after the divine service experience. Finally, the facilitator guides provided in the fall of 2019 can also be found below, including the bonus facilitator guides. The latter would be especially useful for minister and music/worship team meetings. 

It is our hope and prayer that these resources will be a blessing to you, and help re-inspire singing and worship in your congregation.

• Sing! Teachings and Takeaways 
• Sing! Slides (JPEG) 
• Sing! Facilitator Guides - Chapters 1-7 and Prelude/Postlude 
• Sing! Facilitator Guides - Bonus Tracks 1-3