A New Online Course for Children's Choir Directors!

A New Online Course for Children's Choir Directors!

Do you find it challenging to find time to plan exciting, thoughtful, musical rehearsals for your children’s choir every week? 

From finding relevant, good-quality resources to choosing age-appropriate songs and anthems to preparing, introducing, and properly sequencing new musical concepts and skills throughout the year, the job can seem overwhelming at times. 

Where do you find music and materials? How do you develop musicianship in young singers? What makes a rehearsal fun and productive?

If you can relate to any of this, then this course is for you.

This course is designed for children's choir directors in church settings.

Whether you're a full-time staff member or a dedicated volunteer, whether you have a music degree or not, whether you lead a small group of six singers on Wednesday nights or oversee a large graded choir program, this course will equip you to lead, teach, and inspire your young singers and give you the practical skills and useful step-by-step processes you need to plan, direct, and teach on a weekly basis, and grow your choir ministry.

Feeling Overwhelmed? Start Here.

Feeling Overwhelmed? Start Here.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? You know the feeling:

Tired.
Distracted.
Uninspired.
Slightly frantic.
Unable to make decisions.
Burnt out.

For me, these are the tell-tale signs that I'm feeling overwhelmed. Why does this happen? How do we get overwhelmed in the first place? Here are six common reasons. Do any of these resonate with you?

When I start to feel overwhelmed, I try to stop and ask myself these questions:

- Am I saying “yes” to too many things? 
- Am I unable or unwilling to relinquish control of something or ask for help? 
- Am I chasing the thrill of achievement and productivity? 
- Can I live up to my own expectations?

These are hard questions to ask. But understanding how we got here, to this place of overwhelm, is important to learning how to overcome it, now and in the future. 

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Four Ways to Celebrate the End of the Choir Year

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Four Ways to Celebrate the End of the Choir Year

The birds are singing, the grass is green, and summer is almost here. Do you know what that means? It’s time to celebrate the end of a great choir year! 

From August or September until about May, choir members of all ages faithfully gather, week in and week out, for rehearsal and worship. They sing, they smile, but most of all, they give their time to the work of the church and its music ministry. It’s a commitment, and often one that includes the whole family.

This alone is something worth celebrating.

But then there’s the wonderful work that you do together throughout the year - the music you learn, the songs you sing, the worship services you lead together, the pieces of life's journeys you share, the community you build.

There’s something special about church music ministry. Something worth celebrating every chance you get.

Here are four things you can do to celebrate your singers and their families and the end of the choir year this spring:

How to Teach a Song or Anthem by Rote

How to Teach a Song or Anthem by Rote

Working with young singers can be such a fun and rewarding experience, but it can be challenging to teach a new song or anthem to children who aren't yet reading (words, let alone music!). What do you do? How do you teach something new, quickly and effectively?

For children who are not quite reading, teaching by rote is the way to go.

What is Rote Learning?

Rote learning is based on imitation and repetition (source). This is how young children learn best! Hearing, seeing, and experiencing things over and over again.

If you've spent some time around young children, you know one of their favorite words is "again" - "do it again," "read it again," "sing it again," etc. This is how we learn.

When teaching music (an aural art form), it's important to help children develop their listening skills and auditory memory from the beginning. Teaching by rote is a great way to do this.

A Dozen Budget-Friendly Collections for the Small Handbell Choir

A Dozen Budget-Friendly Collections for the Small Handbell Choir

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of playing through a new handbell piece. The challenge (you want me to play how many bells?), the excitement (a new technique!), the intrigue (how will it end?).

The only problem is, handbell music can be quite costly, sometimes as high as $5 per copy.

And if you’re a part-time director of a small handbell choir at a small church with a small budget, to match, you may be able to afford only 1-2 new pieces a year.

A practical solution? Handbell collections.

Instead of buying music one piece at a time (and spending $4-$5 per copy), a collection gives you 3-10 pieces for a fraction of the cost. Recently, I’ve come across several collections that work really well for smaller (2-3 octave) handbell choirs like ours.

Here are 12 budget-friendly collections you might consider:

Worship Planning Theme: Spirit

Worship Planning Theme: Spirit

Each year, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday.

On Pentecost Sunday, we remember the story from the book of Acts about how the apostles gathered, were filled with the Spirit, and with tongues of fire resting above their heads, began spontaneously speaking in different languages.

This was the beginning of the church, in a way — a group of people that gathers together and goes forth to share the Gospel throughout the world.

How to Plan a Hymn Festival

How to Plan a Hymn Festival

"No other form of expression can so richly translate the depth and breadth of authentic religious experience like a well-conceived song of praise.” - Juan Vidal (source)

It’s true, isn’t it?

A hymn or song of praise reminds us of who God is and what he has promised us. It fuels our faith - a foundation we can stand upon throughout our lives. It weaves our lives together as believers and connects us with the church’s history and the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us.

This is a powerful thing.

A hymn festival is a special service focused on the hymns and songs of our faith. These might include old favorites and newly-composed hymns, traditional, contemporary, and everything in between. The nature of your hymn festival will depend a lot on your congregation and what music they hold dear.

Here are a few helpful steps for planning your own hymn festival:

Handbell Notation Guide [Infographic]

Handbell Notation Guide [Infographic]

One of the most challenging things about directing a handbell choir is getting used to all the new markings in the music.

Why? Because in addition to general music notation markings (dynamics, slurs, articulation, accidentals, accents, etc.), handbell music includes special technique-specific markings - things like “thumb damp,” “echo,” and “martellato."

A number of these notation markings appear only in handbell music and if you’re relatively new to ringing, it can be hard to keep up.

What does that arrow mean again?
What do you do when you see a plus sign?
What does “TD” stand for?

A few months ago, I found myself googling “handbell notation chart” without much success. There are a few cheat sheets out there, but not as many as you might think. So, I decided to create my own.

8 Creative Alternatives to Special Music in Worship

8 Creative Alternatives to Special Music in Worship

In many churches, "Special Music" is a fairly common occurrence in worship services. For some, the title is reserved for a soloist or small ensemble, and sometimes guest musicians or interns. For others, Special Music is anything other than the choir singing - a soloist or ensemble, an amateur instrumentalist from the congregation, a guest musician, etc.

Let me begin by saying there is nothing wrong with having Special Music in your services. However, there are a few problems that might arise:

  1. Expectation. It can be hard to live up to the expectation of having Special Music every week. It can be challenging to find people who are willing to do something musical and are readily available, especially if you’re in a small church. During extended periods when the choir isn’t singing (e.g. summer), it can become a week-to-week struggle. “Are you in town next week? Would you like to sing something, anything?"
     
  2. Content. When Special Music is planned relatively last minute (e.g. week-to-week), you often have less control over the music selection, choosing from whatever the person has in their repertoire already. Sometimes, it may feel like a nice solo stuck in the middle of the service with no apparent connection to anything else around it.
     
  3. Label. For some people, the label “special music” itself can be a problem. “Isn’t all music special?” they might say.

Fish, Faith, and Dinner for Five Thousand: Spring Musicals for Children's Choir

Fish, Faith, and Dinner for Five Thousand: Spring Musicals for Children's Choir

Looking for a musical for your children's choir to do this spring or summer?

There are dozens of children's musicals out there, with topics ranging from Creation to the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, Noah, Moses, Esther, Jonah and everything in between. Most are based on a familiar Bible story, though set in a more modern context.

Some include production notes with ideas for set design, staging, and costumes. Others can be put together in less time with a smaller group of children.

I tend to look at the quality of the music first - something that's singable and in a good range - then, I look for meaningful text - a story line based on scripture with sound theological teaching.

I did a little searching to see what I could turn up this year - here are a few spring/general musicals worth considering:

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

Let’s be honest, this month (year?!) has been hard. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this: As an independent, self-employed musician and small business owner, you’re resilient. You don’t give up when s
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