The Very Best Praise

Today after church I checked my FB page and this is what I found:

Mati, Aaron gave you the best compliment I think any music leader could ever receive: "Today in primary when we were singing, I felt like I was drinking a milkshake.". Translation: singing time is as good as ice cream. Wow. That's high praise.

What a great day!  I taught the last verse of The Spirit of God.  I will have the picture of that up soon.  I have spent the afternoon working on my pioneer dress (we are having a pioneer Christmas for the ward party).

The Spirit of God

My primary president has been asking me to teach this song since last year about this time.  I feel bad that it took this long.  We didn't work it into the primary program so it had to wait until that was over.  It turns out that I wish I had listened to her and taught it right away.  The kids still aren't great with Shine On, but they picked this up so fast they sounded program ready by the end of singing time!  Sometimes the kids really do such a great job that I am speechless and amazed at how quickly they fill the room with the spirit.
I had a lot of opinions back and forth about the "Hosanna" bit.  I decided to go for it after my president and I talked about the little kids who couldn't read and would be able to use it for the time being to put that word together in their head.  In a few weeks, the hose and Anna will be replaced with the word and pictures of angels. 

I would like to highly recommend teaching this song because it was so popular right away and the kids sang their hearts out.  The truth is though, what I recommend is listening to the primary president when she feels that a song needs to be taught.  This has been an amazing teaching experience for me.

Shine On

I really love this song.  I have loved it since I was a little girl.  I like the image of holding my light in my hand for all to see.  I started teaching this song about the middle of October.  The first thing I noticed is that the notes are a lot higher than I remembered.  I don't have a super high voice anymore and it's hard to hit the notes.  The second thing was the kids seemed to struggle with it.  Two weeks ago I used our CTR beanbag and we played the game where one child waits outside while another hides the beanbag in the room, then the kids sing louder or softer to help them find the beanbag.  That gave us a lot of repetition with the song and the kids are singing it better.  I want to include it with our Christmas songs for Sacrament meeting so that all our songs are themed around light.
One of the teachers said they needed more words on the cards.  More words got me thinking, so when I went to do The Spirit of God last week, I went with a poster. 

Stake Conference this week

Stake Conference is one of my favorite Sundays!  I get to sit with my family and soak up the spirit and the talks.  I'm getting ready to teach "The Spirit of God" and the primary president's request, so another week is welcome.  I remember learning it for the program in the early 1980's, and the chorister had a visual of a garden hose and a picture of a girl which makes "hose" "Anna".  I can't decide if I am going to use that, and the only reason I would is because I have never forgotten that very memorable visual aid!  I can still see it in my head 30 years later!

Due to overwhelming request: Halloween Songs

I'm a Mean Old Witch With a HAT!

Halloween! (Both songs)

There's No Such Thing as a Witch

This week we have a primary activity and we are going to sing these to the parents.  I would have to say by far the kids love "A mean old witch with a Hat" and "Halloween" (The one with witches sailing through the sky).  I remember singing these in primary when I was a little girl.  My kids love them, and my primary kids too!  My son told me this is the first year we have ever sung them, and I'm glad I finally pulled them out.  

I hope you create fond memories of these songs too!

Use the link below to access the google doc with the sheet music.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RRvyKUYFmFHnxfboNm5v8FYufItXfQkQAP2uGGPj68g/edit?usp=sharing

I know one of the pages is upside down.  That's your Halloween trick!  

You can fix it when you print it out!

Halloween Songs

Many years ago the Children's Friend published some Halloween songs.  I took those to the Primary President for approval and she said okay so we sang some last week.  The children loved them.  They had such a great time singing them.  We do sing other seasonal songs, Christmas, Easter, patriotic songs, pioneer songs, but this was something I had always been afraid to try.  I think I always figured that if someone was going to complain it would be about this.  The surprise was, the kids loved it and the parents didn't mind! It was so fun!  I love this time after the program where we get to play and just enjoy singing.
We are also currently learning "Shine On" and we will be starting "The Spirit of God" soon.
If anyone is interested in the Halloween songs let me know, I'll scan them and email them to you.  Please keep in mind, this is a copy of my mother's copy from the early 1980's and that was copied from the Friend.  At least it's not a copy of a mimeo!

Choosing Sticks

Sometimes it's so hard to choose which child should be selected to help or to pick a song.  Last night I was at our local Lakeshore Learning (it was 10.95 for a package of 36 sticks) store and I picked up these wooden sticks in the shape of boys and girls.  I had each child in the primary color one in to represent themself.  They wrote their name on the stick part and we put them in a box (I'll make a garden out of foam for them for later).  During singing time all I had to do was choose a stick, they are so new, I didn't even know which ones belonged to my kids.  I made one up for me too.   I like to pick songs.  I will also make two up for visitors and probably one that looks like a missionary so we can invite them in and have them pick songs too.