Watering Your Child’s Imagination

“Imagination creates reality.” —Richard Wagner

Every musical masterpiece begins in the imagination of a composer. Every pitch sung begins in the mind of the singer. Every rhythm is counted conceptually before it is heard.

Imagination is key to originality and creativity, so it is imperative that we water the imaginations of the children in our lives. Children have all the raw materials to build fantastic imaginations, but many times they start to wane in their ability to continue the construction of a creative imagination as they grow into adolescence. Our modern sensibility of reality has become an opponent of imagination instead of a product of it, but I would argue as Wagner stated that imagination can give birth to a better, future reality. Our cultivation of imagination in our children has a direct relationship to the creative efforts they will accomplish in their adulthood.

So how do we water this little sapling in our children? Their imaginations are nothing we have created—they were born with their very own unique creative seedlings. However, there are definite ways we can nurture this sprout into a fully bloomed plant, complete with fruit production.

One way to water is to introduce an idea but leave it unfinished for our children to then complete. Musically, this can look a lot of different ways. Challenging students to fill in a rhyming word in some lyrics can be a quick, fun activity to get minds thinking. Playing an instrumental piece and asking students to write a story to express the song helps young students to notice and adapt musical expression into a more tangible form. Encouraging older students to create a harmony to accompany a familiar melody illumines the path for future composing.

Another way to water this imaginative interaction with music is to spend significant time on ear training. All singing begins with hearing, and all good singing begins with converting listening into quality sound production. Good listening in music involves not only the hearing of the original sound but then the hearing and adapting of the sound being sung back. You might be surprised at how profound this approach can affect the sound of your choir. Children know they should listen to learn a part, but they fail to continue listening as closely to their own voices when they are singing themselves. Holding rehearsal in a very live acoustic room or hall can be really fun for students as well as help them listen more carefully to themselves. Singing rounds also helps children to listen carefully to their own voices as they fit their part within a bigger setting. Round singing produces quite a bit of giggles at the start as kids realize what a mess it can become before they really pick it up, so have fun and allow time for a few times though the exercise. 🙂

One last idea to help children develop their imagination and creativity in music is to make it a multi-sensory experience. Although we perceive music primarily through our ears, I propose that all five senses can either directly experience music or connect to music through associative experiences. When our senses interact with music, we connect more deeply with it and become more able to mold and shape it in an organic and creative way.

For example, I can listen to a song and pull my visual muscles into the experience by assigning a color to the song. If you’ve seen Fantasia, you have seen one artist’s visual impression of a song. We should be encouraging our kids to explore music in this way. Once you do this with kids a few times, they will start offering colors or pictures before you even ask. How fun is that?!

Our family has also seen an associative experience of music through smell and taste. Certain music we have heard at restaurants automatically makes our taste buds crave that cuisine. We are almost able to conjure the smell just from hearing that style of music. So why not help your kids start making this fun association in a very intentional way? Why not bake brownies and have a listening party? The smell of warm chocolate and the decadent taste might just stick to the song, creating a warmth and familiarity the children will want to revisit. At the very least, your children will remember the event and get excited for the next listening party!

Sensing touch through music can be both physical and emotional in nature. Vibrations from live instruments can be felt throughout the body. Beethoven certainly yielded some of his most creative works after he lost his sense of hearing by using vibrations to guide him. It makes me wonder if he had already experienced music in such a multi-sensory way that he had full confidence in this method of composition. Emotionally, music can also be felt profoundly in the heart. I personally respond to moving pieces or even certain musical intervals with a prompt display of goosebumps. Sometimes tears will flood my eyes as well. Responding to music by the sense of touch can actually reveal a deeper interaction with the piece than merely sensing it through sound. Can you imagine what kind of creativity could come from children who are being encouraged to dig into music in this way? Marvelous!

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to inspiring creativity and imaginative growth in our children, but I hope it has inspired your creativity in leading them down this road. The sweet privilege we have to shape little minds is such an honor to hold. We must keep our children singing and growing. Water these precious ones for a future generation of creatives who can lead the charge for years to come.

Going Retro!

Fashions seem to be cyclical in nature. Just when a style has passed into distant memory, designers drudge it up again with a tiny tweak to freshen it up for the “new” look book. You have to have accumulated a few years to notice this, though. Flare jeans were a new thing to me when I was in middle school, but my mom promptly showed me vintage pics of my dad sporting some totally groovy plaid flare pants. It was then I realized that fashion just built upon itself, year after year, revisiting some styles with perceived merit.

Well, I am officially old enough now to recognize the ‘80’s fashion coming back around in the form of high-rise jeans, scrunchies, and crop tops, and it got me into a retro mindset. I started remembering more of the awesome ‘80’s and life as a young child then. It was a great time!

Children’s choir was a standard activity for kids at church in the 1980’s, and I was all about it! I believe my involvement in kids’ choir helped to shape who I am today through community and through the songs I learned during those impressionable years. Reminiscing about those days, I pulled up the Psalty albums on Spotify for my kids one day for some car music. We always call older songs “vintage” in my house instead of “dated” because the former sounds intriguing and a bit cool. To my delight, my second daughter loved so many of the songs! She was singing along in no time and picked up a few of the (rather difficult) harmonies as well. I was quite surprised to hear the challenging harmony structure and the part singing throughout these kids’ songs, and it dawned on me that I probably developed a bit of my musical ear from singing these very songs.

My daughter has always seemed to have a sixth sense of being able to judge quality, and her seal of approval on the music reminded me that a good melody will make a good song even with some “vintage” instrumentation or vocal stylings. She and I had the best time that afternoon of driving around listening to these ‘80’s tunes. My 2-year-old son was also grooving along, picking up bits and pieces of the songs with a big smile.

We were all singing together and having fun—so much bonding was happening in that very moment. It was also a way of connecting my children to my own sweet childhood memories in a way they could grasp. You better believe we will have a reprise of this sing-along—and I don’t think I’ll have to be the one to initiate it. I am pretty sure I will hear a cute young voice asking for the “Ha La La” song, and I will be so excited to hit the play button.

Share your retro songs with your kids! They might love some. They might think some are better left in another decade, but you might find a few goodies that will speak to everyone and become family favorites. Tell the stories that go along with the song. Did you sing the song in children’s choir? Was this your favorite song in second grade? Did your dad sing this song to you when you were afraid? Our kids love hearing these stories, and they will appreciate a shared song much more when they get some background information. So as you are pulling out the retro gear to pass on to your children, don’t forget to dust off those favorite “vintage” songs as well.

Conversing with Your Children about Current Events through Song

This year caught us all by surprise. We had no idea that society would shut down for several months, that graduation ceremonies would be canceled, or that toilet paper would become a luxury item. Yes, the new Roaring Twenties have, in fact, been roaring at us.

Our children might understand bits and pieces of the pockets of mayhem around them, but they might not be processing the picture as a whole. They might not even know the questions to ask, and we, as parents, might not even perceive they need to be answered. The longer I am a parent, the more I find these two statements to be true: 1.) Children are more aware and perceptive than they usually share, and 2.) children yearn for straightforward honesty from their parents first before any other source.

Because we live with this little audience looking for guidance, we must not neglect the opportunity to be there for these precious ones. Filling our homes with truth-saturated songs and occasionally pulling out a lyric of reassurance or asking a subtle question will help us engage with our children on a deeper level even during uncertain times. Quality hymns and songs speak to every part of human existence, so these heavier issues are bound to arise, and when they do, the resulting conversation is so much more organic.

For instance, Lauren Daigle’s “Trust in You” and MercyMe’s “Even If” both speak to navigating the world through faith in the Lord even when answers and full pathways are not clearly evident. A conversation of faith in God’s good character may ensue, and the songs will cause the truth to be stickier in little hearts and minds than a passing conversation. What an opportunity be the influence in your child’s life! Do not think that your preteen or teenager has forsaken your advice and confidence entirely! This unique time in history gives you the platform to build even more credibility with your growing children by the way you engage with them and support them when the world feels so chaotic. If you are not afraid to speak openly with your children, they will learn to come to you when they need to work out their own worldviews.

Think about what you need to hear right now. We all need a strong, calming voice to say, “Things are okay. The world is not out of control. There will be an end to the mess, and life will continue. You have hope because this is not all there is.” Now take a moment to consider that your children need to hear the same words. How can you give this to them? How can you approach this subject in a gentle way that will yield a deeper relationship? The songs that have touched your heart in recent days are waiting to be shared with your children. In a moment of vulnerability, you might give your children a glimpse into your interaction with current events and open that door to a genuine conversation.

Our children are the future leaders of our world. We have the privilege of parenting them and thereby molding the future of society. We must sing with them and talk with them and guide them. Your place in their lives is so important.

What songs have supported you during 2020? Have you learned any new songs this year? What old songs from your past have comforted you? Please share! One can never have too many songs in the arsenal!

Identity Songs to Sing with Your Children

The songs we choose to sing with our children have such a lasting impact because of the stickiness of music itself. A good melody becomes the four-lane highway delivery system to build a strong and centered source of truth that will whisper constantly in our children’s ears. Even when our children move away from home, they will take the songs of their childhood in their hearts with them, so we must take action now to lay that ever sure foundation of true identity.

Our identity is our unique perception of who we really are, our philosophical self-portrait. This construct informs all of our decisions and tethers us to our prescribed worldview. As our children grow and become more acquainted with the world and how it works, they will build their identity as they discover how they fit into world. Guiding a child through this process is a long game skill, but I do believe that there are some truths children (and adults) can never hear too often. For Christians, some of these truths are that we are God’s children, that we have been chosen, that we have a worth ascribed to us by God, and that we are secure in our standing before God.

I have begun to curate a playlist of identity songs to teach my children and to have playing in our home, and I would love to share them with you.

My first selection is “My Worth Is Not in What I Own” by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Graham Kendrick. My favorite lyrics belong to the second verse and speak so acutely to children and their whole world of dreams stretching before them:

My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed
At the cross.

We have this song playing all the time, and my girls know all the words by heart. I especially like the version with the duet by Fernando Ortega and Kristyn Getty. Check it out!

The second song in my list is “Greater” by MercyMe. This is a really fun song for kids because it is upbeat and catchy, but there is a wealth of scriptural truth woven into the lyrics. Anytime I find a song with direct scripture quotes, I pay attention to it. I cannot think of a better identity for my children to have than being a redeemed child of the all-powerful God.

‘Cause I hear a voice and He calls me redeemed
When others say I’ll never be enough.
And greater is the One living inside of me
Than he who is living in the world.

I heard my third song selection, “From the Day,” for the first time at a conference several years ago when I Am They was the worship band. Let me just quickly add that if you have not heard of this band and do not know the meaning behind their name, it is worth your time to look up because it sheds light on a great truth! This song reminds us of our journey from darkness to light and calls us to live in the joy of the redeemed.

When You found me, I was so blind
My sin was before me, I was swallowed by pride
But out of the darkness, You brought me to Your light
You showed me new mercy and opened up my eyes

From the day You saved my soul
‘Til the very moment when I come home
I’ll sing, I’ll dance, my heart will overflow
From the day You saved my soul

The call to a new life in Christ changes every part of us, and we are commanded to only look forward as a runner does in a race. The prolific hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, penned a joyful hymn of deep understanding of her new life in Christ. “Blessed Assurance” packs several deep scriptural truths about the identity of a believer being rooted in the work of Christ.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood

As we teach our children the importance of their identity being rooted in Christ, we must also remind them that they have all they need in Jesus right now—“Jesus is mine.” They are presently an heir and forever belong to the Lord. We must never take for granted our children’s understanding of how they view themselves in the present. So much of our discipleship is of a forward-looking nature (future in heaven, one day seeing Jesus, etc.), but our children can greatly benefit from the reminder of who they are in Christ right now, and “Blessed Assurance” certainly fits the bill in this case. As one bonus song thrown in, I really enjoy “My Story” by Big Daddy Weave, which has an allusion in the bridge to Fanny Crosby’s hymn. It might be a good add-on after your kids have become familiar with “Blessed Assurance.”

Next is “Be Thou My Vision.” Oh, that our children would see life, the world, themselves through a lens crafted by their Heavenly Father! This ancient hymn is a profound prayer for the believers to keep their minds and hearts set upon their Savior amidst the distractions of this world. Every stanza brims with scriptural truth. In our modern culture of excess and self-promotion, I pray that my children can remember and live by these words:

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art

My playlist for my children is ever growing, and I could mention dozens more songs, but this is a short read, not a novella. Let me simply close with the song, “Before the Throne of God Above,” written by Charitie Lees Bancroft (tune by Vikki Cook), which speaks to our standing as the Redeemed. The second verse reminds us to cling to the reality of Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me

I pray for a shame and guilt-free life for my children because they have fully realized their Savior’s sacrifice and forgiveness. Whispering this truth into their ears, “Before the Throne of God Above” shatters the former claims of this world and spiritual darkness on the believer’s soul.

Like I mentioned before, I am discovering and rediscovering songs that speak to our standing with God, but I hope this very short list gets your mind marinating on the lyrics of songs you want to share with your children on who they are. Identity has become such a crucial part of modern thinking, and with the individual’s primacy rising to a peak in modern American culture, we need to be having these conversations with our children. If we don’t, the world will fill in the blanks, and it is a bankrupt alternative to the high calling placed upon Christians.

Subtle conversations through song and direct conversations when the moment strikes will be a great way to keep those lines of communication open. As your children grow and even leave the house, their connection with you might change but it won’t wane. I still love talking with my dad about songs, and we have lived states apart for a decade and a half. Our children are too precious and the years are too short to wait to speak heart to heart with them. Sing together, laugh together, and encourage one another with “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” while they are under your wing.

Making the Most of a Remote Rehearsal

Zoom has taken over in all kinds of applications from meetings to classes to rehearsals, but for musical applications, the delay component and sound quality can hinder some of the aspects of singing as a group. So how do we hold profitable rehearsals that are worth the time and effort?

I think the key is looking at all of the building blocks which lead up to the act of singing together and then forming a working plan of cultivating those skills in a broken-down format. For example, singing a scale together in unison might be difficult because of a lag, so assign each student a numbered note in the scale to sing. Each student will be practicing attentiveness, listening, and pitch production. For more advanced students, you can even assign different variations on the scales such as interval jumps in an ascending or descending pattern, and the students will need to correctly construct the pattern using their assigned pitch. And a few laughs at the absurdity of the whole ordeal might even loosen everyone up!

Another trick to singing together over Zoom is to have all participants except the director mute themselves. This allows students to sing along with the director without experiencing the loop of a lag on the feedback. One drawback of using this method is that the director will not be able to hear the voices of his or her students, but this will still provide an avenue to keep songs fresh or even introduce a new song as students follow along with a piece of sheet music.

One final thought as we all figure out this approach to music education is to pull out all of those rusty music games from the archives. Games can keep students interested and still provide many ways to practice musical skills in less-than-ideal conditions. One game my students have always enjoyed is called Salami (sol la mi). I think this game would be perfect in a remote rehearsal setting! The instructor sings the pitches sol-la-mi and has the students sing back to orient themselves to the pitches. Using Curwen hand signs for the pitches is also a great way to engage the students in a multi sensory way. Then the instructor begins to sing and sign other three-note series such as do-re-mi or la-ti-la and has the students repeat. Every once in a while, the instructor should slip sol-la-mi into the patterns. Students then should remain silent and not sing sol-la-mi. If they sing it, they are “out.” The instructor can ramp up the speed in which he or she delivers the series, and the faster the pitches come, the harder it is to stay silent when “salami” rolls around. You can continue until only one student remains. It can become like virtual musical chairs! My students have always enjoyed this game, and I have even used step bells or a keyboard from time to time just to change things up.

I hope this post might bring a fresh perspective as you adapt to the “new normal” of distance directing. Please share your rehearsal ideas with me. I’m sure there is a wealth of inspiration to be had if we all pool our experiences and resources. During this unique time, we can learn so much from each other and come out on the other side of this better and more equipped directors!

Making the Most of a Remote Rehearsal

Conducting a Kid’s Choir Remotely

With the latest pandemic crisis, most of us are feeling the effects of isolation. If we are teetering on the edge of hopeless monotony, our children are most likely in the same boat, but they do not have the life experience to process these feelings through a mature adult lens. By creating normalcy and adapting our weekly activities to accommodate these extreme conditions, we can send a message of perseverance and flexibility to our children as well as form a bit of a shelter for their tender rendering of current events.

Many choir directors and music teachers are turning to online classes and rehearsals, and I think this is wonderful! Both of my daughters have had online violin classes this week, and while in-person time cannot be exactly replicated, I am very grateful we have the technology to connect in this way.

Choral/group classes pose a small challenge compared to one-on-one classes, but I believe they can work. I wonder what it could look like to stagger rehearsal times and work with smaller groups on harmony and part singing. If you have the time, could you subdivide 20-30 minute segments to spend focused time on challenging parts with specific groups? Providing an emailed flow sheet to parents could really make this possible and viable.

Another project to try with online directing might be to give children the opportunity to take turns “leading” a warm up time. Very rarely would a children’s choir director be able to have such a captive audience, and it might create the perfect atmosphere to allow children to step up and take ownership of some of the directing elements. Chances are a parent will be at least within earshot to help maintain focus.

While these rehearsals are uncharted territory for most of us, I believe they will only help us grow. One of the main reasons children’s choirs need to survive is because we are teaching our children that together is better. Even if we have had to cancel concerts and performances, and we don’t know when we will be back up and running, the best message we can send our children is that we still cultivate, we still enjoy our efforts, and we still sing! During this crisis, we need to be a community, and this connection time of singing together even over the internet will perpetuate the hope of coming through even these lonely times as a stronger and unified people.

Please let me know what you are doing to make these rehearsals happen. Are you using Zoom? What has been a surprise or a fun activity that has worked for your group? Keep singing!