2nd Article of Faith Song

This song has a bit of a calypso beat to it so I want the kids to all move to the music as we sing.  So I made egg shakers out of plastic Easter eggs - enough so that everyone will have two shakers; one for each hand.
I used some dried beans in the eggs.  Try rice, beans, anything you have around.  Then I used white duct tape to insure the eggs don't come apart.  Duct tape really holds well.  You can also buy it in cute patterns at Michaels or JoAnns.

Make enough eggs so that the teachers and leaders can join in.  The more the merrier!!

I will lead as we "sing and shake" this song.  Two shakes on the beat to the right and then to the left, repeated throughout the whole song.  I am going to end with the last two shakes up high in front of me and freeze on the last note!

I want to use this "frozen" time to ask the kids some questions to see if they understand what the second article of faith means.  So while they are frozen, I will ask ONE question.  As soon as it is answered, we will sing and shake our eggs again and then freeze on the last note for ANOTHER question.

We'll repeat this until I know they understand what they are singing.  By the time we are done, they will know the song!

The next time we sang the song, we still froze at the end but this time I used that opportunity to choose a child to come up and lead the song.  You can repeat several times because the kids all want a chance to lead the song.

1st Article of Faith Song

We got started with this first song.  I had the kids join me in keeping the beat while patting their laps while I sang the song to them.  Then they sang along as we repeated this.

Then we switched to clapping the rhythm of the words.  That is good because as they clap the words you can fix any errors they may have in the rhythm.

Now that they could do both of these, I had half the kids pat the beat while the other half clapped the rhythm.  I chose a child to lead the rhythm.  Just watched to see who was doing a good job and asked that child to lead.

Then we switched sides so that each side got to do both parts.

By then, the kids had the song learned well.  Everyone was doing something all the time so they were busily engaged.

Then I used the Keep the Beat and Clap the Rhythm cards and whenever I changed the cards, they had to do what the card said.  They liked that challenge.  I tried not to just change at the end of phrases which would make it pretty easy.  I wanted them to be really thinking as they sang.

Blogger is having a problem with videos right now, so if this video is not working for you, you can view it on You Tube at https://youtu.be/j_M01LZifjs

A Prophet Lives Today

I was introduced to this song in 2013.  We used it as one of our optional songs.  It is really lovely and so satisfying to sing those words "I thank my Heavenly Father that a prophet lives today."  Just think how many times we actually do say that in our prayers!

It is a great song to sing before Conference each spring and fall.

Music to go with Nursery Lessons

The nursery is always in flex.  With children of that age, a few months or weeks can change the whole dynamics of the room.  Right now our group is very young and just learning to sit and listen.  But for a while we had a group that was really into listening and learning something new with each lesson.

I discovered that within the lessons in the Nursery Manual are cute little poems.  I felt like if I put a simple little tune to them, the children would enjoy them.  Music for toddlers is very simple.  Think about songs like Mary Had a Little Lamb or Ring Around the Rosy.  They only use a few notes because that is all that the youngest children are capable of singing.

So these songs are very simple melodies but the kids seemed to enjoy hearing them and I felt like I was reinforcing the gospel message they were learning.

Follow the Prophet

When there is a song with this many verses (and we are just doing 6 of them) I like to spread the learning out over a few months.  So we are going to learn one verse each month leading up to May and then we'll pick up the extra verse during May.    We are adding the verse about President Monson that goes like this:

Thomas is a prophet
With a gentle heart.
Visiting the sick,
He always does his part.
Servant from his youth -
He will lead us well.
Listen to his stories,
Live by what they tell.

One of the reasons that we all like this song so much is that it is so rhythmic.  I used the rhythm pattern of the words "Follow the Prophet" to create a drum part for this song.  Once the children know one verse they are ready for drumming!

There are activities that we do in the Primary Room that will NEVER carry over into the chapel for our program.  I think it is still good to do them.  You need reasons to sing songs multiple times so that the children know the words well.  I prefer to use musical reasons to repeat songs wherever I can so I like using drumming with the children.

I always teach the rhythm of a percussion instrument with body movement before using the actual instruments.  It allows me see and identify which children are capable of playing successfully.  It gives all of the children something to do.  It challenges the children to do double thinking as we put movement together with a song.  Here is the rhythm notation for this song.  The pattern is Short Long Short Long Long.

Jr. Primary 

Step 1:  We begin by patting the pattern on our lap.  Get the teachers involved with you.  The adults are usually good at music and help keep the kids on the pattern.  Start slowly and then build up some speed as soon as you can see the children doing it.  

Step 2:  The children keep doing the beat while saying the ABCs.  Can they do 2 things at the same time?

Step 3:  Sing one verse of Follow the Prophet while patting the rhythm.

Step 4:  Children take turns playing this rhythm on drums while you sing the song.  For the younger children they can hold the drum under left arm while using soft drum mallet with right hand.  Reverse this for lefties.

Sr. Primary

Step 1:  Older children are capable of playing a drum with 2 hands so we learn this pattern by chanting the words Left Right Right Left Right while patting that pattern on our laps.  (Note the two Rights in a row.  This allows that the pattern will always be the same and that you won't be alternating which hand you start with.) Of course you are saying the left and right words to the pattern of  Short Long Short Long Long.  You will have to practice this ahead of time and know it well before you try this with the children.

Step 2:  The children keep doing the beat while saying the ABCs.  Can they do 2 things at the same time?

Step 3:  Sing one verse of Follow the Prophet while patting the rhythm.

Step 4:  Children take turns playing this rhythm on drums while you sing the song.  For two handed drumming the drum is held between the knees so that both hands are free to play.  

CODA ( THE ENDING)

Once your children have got this down, you can add an ending to the drumming.  The Coda adds a sense of completion to the music.

Here is what we do for the ending.  Play the drum pattern you already learned 2 times.   Then play Short Short Short Short Short Short Long.  And then conclude with the original drum pattern played once more only with an accent on the last beat!  

Children love adding endings to any song.  An ending is officially called the Coda.  They like knowing they are playing a Coda.  It sounds so important!  Here is the rhythm notation for this Coda.

I will do a post about making drums soon.

He Sent His Son Bell Descant

Since we made a couple sets of the pipe chimes I like to use them whenever there is a nice song that would sound good with a little descant.  This is much more difficult than just having the children in groups playing chords.  However, I use musical icons which makes the teaching much easier.

Children who do not read music can understand musical icons because they are very logical.  The children can SEE how long a note is and also HOW the music moves upward and downward.

Senior Primary could do this easily.  My Junior Primary will also be able to do it but it will take longer.  You have to decide how much time you want to invest in these "extra" activities.  I would use the CTR 6 & 7 classes on the bells.

I have attached the actual music in two forms:  piano and bell part together, and then the bell part separately. Beneath those you will find the iconic pictures.  They are numbered.  You can cut each page along the blue line and then put them in order on your board for the children to see.

Just a note about long notes and pipe chimes.  There is no way for that little pipe to sustain a sound very long but the children won't really notice that.  The point is that the yellow icons are 3 beats long while the red icons are one beat and those move quickly.  They will have to pay careful attention if they are playing on the red notes.  There are two fermatas that the children can learn as you play this song.  I colored that second icon that gets a fermata green to make it stand out from the other icons.

Also note that on page 3 of the icons at the bottom right side there is the word REST.  The piano plays for one measure here while the bells rest.

Roll the Dice

I made dice today with the names of the classes on them.  One die for Jr. Primary and another for Sr. Primary.  Will use them when I want the kids to sing a song multiple times.  I have that particular class come up to the front to sing.  Takes an extra few seconds but gives the kids a chance to be out of their seats and moving which is always a plus for those kids who need that.

I just used cardboard squares and taped them together to form a box for the dice.  Then covered them with paper.  Here are my name labels if you care to use them.  I added the "Teachers" for Jr. Primary because I needed one more name for that die.  I added "Boys" and "Girls" to Sr. Primary because I needed two more names for that die.