Need some help and creativity, y'all...

[sunshine74012]

I'm having our second choir practice this week and I don't know what to teach them. The majority (14 out of 18) of them have not had any musical training (informal or formal) and I'm trying to get them on that track, since I've had almost 8 years of training (informal [i.e. church] and formal [i.e. school and lessons]).

I want to teach them for sure, "Oh Lord, How Excellent," by Richard Smallwood, and I kinda want to teach, "Jesus is the Light," by Florida Mass Choir, but I know I shouldn't assign solos this early, because I'm afraid it'll look like favoritism after awhile, and that's what I don't like. I didn't like that when I was growing up in my mother's church, singing in the adult choir, because the MOM played favorites (still does).

So what are some good overall suggestions to teach a choir on their second practice? I wanna do something fast, but then I rethink that situation, haha, but no, all of them can keep up very well. I don't wanna do anything too slow, and I want to do something that's overall choir with no, if any, solos.

I plan to try teaching them five-six songs Saturday (one hymn [Pass Me Not], two praise and worship, two choir, and one invitation to CD), so that we have the entire service to sing.

So help me out...tell me the best thing to do in this situation.

[sjohnson161]

Hi! I've been in your same situation...you need to have some songs ready for practice, but you don't want to give solos, and since the group isn't really trained, you don't want to do anything too complicated.

I would suggest for either Praise & Worship or for one of the choir selections, "I Came to Magnify" by Bishop Clarence McClendon. It has a very good, moderate-to-fast tempo (depends on how fast you want to play it), and it has no solos. Plus, it's not very hard to teach the 3 parts (if the choir members are really elementary in their musical knowledge and/or can't find their own voice parts naturally, it might be better to just teach 2 parts--sop. and alto--until they become comfortable with the song...then you can add the tenor or you could just sing the tenor yourself for now). I don't know the original key the song is written in, but I've always played it in F major, since this is a comfortable key for both men and women, and pretty easy to play in as well (if you have to learn the song).

If you don't know the song, you can find it on YouTube, just type in "I Came to Magnify the Lord". I hope this helps...sty encouraged!

[sjonathan02]

Along those same lines, you could teach them 'May the Lord God bless you real good' by McClendon, as well. 

[Fenix]

I would suggest for either Praise & Worship or for one of the choir selections, "I Came to Magnify" by Bishop Clarence McClendon.

Interesting. We are going to sing this song this coming Sunday. I have to learn it by Friday.

Its not that easy a song to play.