One of my favorite collections of songs for children is the book Sing the Stories of Jesus by John Horman and Mary Nelson Keithahn. It is chock-full of songs based on various stories from the Gospels, some well-known stories and some that are often overlooked.  Several songs are simple enough to be used for Sunday School groups, but all are perfect for young singers in choirs.  They cover events of Jesus' life from the angels' Gloria at his birth to Breakfast by the Sea after the resurrection. Instructions for teaching are included for each song as well as an accompaniment CD if you need it. Over time, I have taught and directed many of these songs, but I'd like to share the way I have taught, embellished, and performed four of my favorites from this collection.

[Editor's note: Last week we heard from Karol Kimmel on building your youth choir program, with ideas about scheduling, worship suggestions, and continuing education. This week: more ideas from Kimmel on choir visibility, rehearsal punctuality, recruitment, and team-building.]

[Editor's note: This week begins part 1 of a 2-part article by Karol Kimmell about children's choirs, with applications for all ages: this week part 1 includes attendance/scheduling, liturgy and worship suggestions, and continuing education ideas.]

Children have an incredible capacity to mimic sounds, so there is no reason why shaping good vowel sounds and giving detail to some consonants should wait until children are in upper elementary school. I have become a firm believer that we should model our best diction and be intentional about teaching and reinforcing good diction with our youngest choristers. I introduce diction awareness to my PreKindergarten singers the first day of rehearsals in August. We make choir fun, but infuse good diction training throughout everything we sing: warm-ups, singing and counting games, hymns, anthems.