What do they sing? Hymns? Popular Contemporary Christian Music songs?
To what style of music do they respond? Live piano accompaniment? Live praise band? Full-production recorded songs? With vocals or just accompaniment tracks?
I'd love to really hear your answers to those questions, but I expect I'll have to do a survey to really get the answers. It is enough if I can get you thinking.
The Lutheran Christian congregation spends a lot of time in worship singing! Garrison Keillor says it is one of the things Lutherans do best. He claims Lutherans are trained from birth to sing hymns in four parts.
There was a time when the epitome of Lutheran worship experience was accompanied by pipe organ. My guess is this may no longer be the case.
Thesis: One goal of a child's Sunday School experience should be to prepare the child to enjoy full participation in the worship of the congregation as an adult. (Note the emphasis on enjoy.)
So . . . think about these things:
- Are your congregation's children in worship each week with their parents? If so, they are learning how adults worship and growing into that practice. How can you help them?
- Is the musical experience the children have in Sunday School (1) similar to, (2) complementary to, or (3) distinctly different from the worship experience they will have as adults? If you pick door number three, how will they ever make the transition? Are they going to enjoy full participation in worship as adults?
God bless you as you teach His children to sing!
Interesting, Tom, and lots to ponder here. Since I teach at a conservative Lutheran school (4x a week chapel with hymns, catechism and Bible memory), I think about this a lot. I attend chapel, and then we have church on Sunday and Wednesday, during Lent and Advent too. I teach music class 2x a week and right now, I teach SS music, too. However, I think that some of the older ones are (grades 5 and up) are getting a bit burnt out, and it's time for me to step back from SS music with them. The younger ones are still enthused, but I do want the children to enjoy what they are singing - as they do in music class. I think I need to take a survey of my SS students, too.
ReplyDeleteKristen, I don't spend nearly the amount of time with kids and singing as you do, but I think kids are a lot like adults: they are very open to new experiences and "learn" their likes and dislikes, often through the attitudes they see in those around them. I'm curious. What kind/style of music do you students experience most? What do they respond to?
ReplyDeleteTom