Interprative Singing Time at the Mormon Church
I've been given a new assignment at our church: Children's Song Leader. I knew this was coming. My whole life I've never had any calling in the Mormon church that wasn't completely administrative. But we've been going to our church here in Los Angeles for over four years now so the secret was hard to keep - I'm a manic freak who is superbly suited for mass entertainment.A few weeks ago my friend tapped me on the shoulder at the start of church, "could you come help out in Primary [the 4-12 year old classes] today?" Of course I said yes but when I showed up she asked me to entertain the entire group of 50 kids with songs for half an hour.
There was only one thing to do. For our first song, I picked a basic everyone knew and had a squadron of eight year old girls come up to interpretive dance along to the music. I tried not to look towards the back of the room where the regular adult leaders sat since I'm sure they were expecting something a little more reverent. For the next song, I had them alternately yelling and whispering the words. The rest of Singing Time was just as raucous. It was a blast but I'm pretty sure not one of them "felt the Spirit." But two weeks later, they still have me doing it so hopefully my methods are acceptable.
I'm trying to come up with more gimics for song time. Perhaps a good motivator to get the kids singing louder would be, "children, the louder you sing, the higher I'll lift my dress..." Wow. Just kidding. Other options would be to have a suitcase full of kittens and threaten to kill one kitten for every kid I see not singing. A few of the older boys may take up the challenge, but I bet I'd get some good volume with that one. Of if I see kids not singing, I could duct tape their mouths and hands for the remainder of Primary class? I'm full of great ideas.
Anyone know where I can find kittens in bulk? I'll have to stick with interpretive dancing until I can scrape some up. Or just go the traditional route and bring in a paddle covered with damning scripture verses and whoop booties to encourage participation.
It's a wonder my church has always given me desk jobs. I was born for this crud.
Comments
Good luck! And it'd probably be easier to find bunnies - they self replicate. ;-)
The interpretive dance idea is genius -- and it is always a good idea not to look at the adults.
I'm not sure about the kittens though---the kids might get confused by the whole animal sacrifice thing.
aunt lolo--are you sure the kid had bad aim? ;)
you got to make a pet shop out of your little creations. with collars that have song names on them. then when the kid picks the song, you can ask the creature how she wants them to sing. loud, soft, pretty, ugly.
Our ward's previous singing leader would have the kids sing in staccato, whisper, etc. Staccato was a great favorite. As was the "hot and cold" thing---hide something and have one kid look for it. Sing louder when they were getting "hot."
She also had stop and go signs that she'd let one kid come up and use. The stop sign was to stop singing, the go was to sing, but the deal was they couldn't leave it on stop for too long. (The music just kept going.)
If the kids are getting too rowdy, best remedy I've seen is a very quiet, reverent song. "As I Have Loved You" or "I Am A Child Of God" work wonders.
The kids really liked when I would add one item of women's clothing (i.e. wig, frilly apron, beads, hat) on a male teacher every time they sang really loud.
VERY entertaining in primary myself.
Do you think it would stop them from hitting each other and jumping off of their chairs? Or should I just make a game out of them hitting each other and jumping off of their chairs while doing an interpretive dance ?
I think your singing time methods are great! Stuff like that will help them to remember the songs. Our song leader does things like that sometimes (however a bit toned down from your method)
I bet the kids loved it!
Much Much too far! Wow. You should delete that. It made me feel sick!
ps... I'm pretty sure kids don't feel the spirit. They just look around and wonder why the heck all the grown ups are crying. So your methods are everything they could ever dream of. ENTERTAINING!
The first week I taught I informed the kids I was a talent scout and anyone who wanted a solo could just NOT sing, thus letting me know they needed and audition, which I actually had them do. The boys tried to back out, but after that first week they knew I meant EVERYONE to sing! There were actually some kids who WANTED solos, so it worked that way too!
I made rain sticks and shakers and all kinds of rhythm instruments for rewards. I also rewarded with new songs, signed songs or songs in different languages.
You are in for the best time! I am so jealous!
But then again, I'm kind of a manic freak too. So, maybe that's why. Plus, I love having all that attention. It's like the Heidi Variety Show every Sunday. And it's awesome. Oh, yes it is.
Mandy - My sister was called to be ward organist at 16 and had to teach herself how to play. Moving to a new ward is your best bet to get away from the piano!
I would pay a bajillion dollars to have you leading the children in irreverent parodies of the standards.
When I have to step in and do Singing Time, I like to play "Primary Songbook Flashback." That's where we sing all the oldies but goodies that we grew up with from the orange song book. Remember that? Probably not, I have a few years on you.
If the kids sing well, I sing the songs in Spanish for them. They did it. What a way to abuse the gift of tongues! I don't think God minds. Do you?