I love being primary chorister!

In my church I have been asked to volunteer to be the music leader for the children ages 2-12 yrs. They are divided up into classes by age and all are considered Primary children. So each week I prepare fun and educational "lessons" for Singing Time during Primary.

Each year the Primary chorister helps the children prepare for the annual Primary program to present in front of the whole congregation during our Sacrament meeting. Throughout the year the children learn to sing several songs that go along with the talks and lines each of the children present for the program about what they've been learning in their Primary classes. So now I get to my point:

This month I've been teaching the children the song When I Am Baptized. I used one of the ideas from this blog for this past week's singing time to teach the kids how to sign it.

http://singingasongisfun2do.blogspot.com/2012/05/when-i-am-baptized-signs-grow-rainbow.html?showComment=1338317161050#c277019655135650641

Our past primary chorister was fluent in ASL, so she taught the kids to sign a few things for last year's program. I think it's wonderful, because we have a deaf man in our ward. So this was a perfect idea for this song.

I spent the past week practicing the ASL in front of a mirror. I ended up only having 10 minutes to teach the song to all of about 30 children in Primary. They learned the words and the signs to both verses of the song in under 10 minutes! I was so impressed and touched I had tears in my eyes. Afterwards, the Primary president stood up in front of all the children and complimented them on how good she felt inside about how well they had behaved and learned the song, and that they knew what the words meant on a spiritual level. The emotion in the room was pretty high.

It's experiences like that that really help me understand how much influence I can have over children. I help them learn the truths of the gospel, and of Jesus Christ, through sharing my love and knowlege of music. I am so grateful for the gift of music I have been blessed with, and I love being primary chorister!