"Together" Theme Elementary Choral Program

For this year's elementary choir winter concert, I've chosen songs with the theme of togetherness. This is a great theme because there are so many possibilities, and it can work well any time of year, plus it is such a great message! I'm really excited about the songs I've picked and they have been great for teaching a range of skills and incorporating a variety of genres and styles, plus I thought I would also share the other songs I considered that could also work well with this theme depending on the performance and students you're working with. 

This year my choir rehearsals are at the end of the day (which hasn't happened in over a decade and I know is going to make rehearsals more challenging), and my 5th and 6th grades are smaller groups, so I'm trying to keep the songs a little less challenging than what I normally take on while still making sure I'm choosing pieces that will help students learn the specific choral skills I'm targeting. Here are the songs I've selected for our winter concert:

Peace Between I found this piece when I was looking for a choral octavo with partner singing and fell in love! It has 3 different verses that get layered together, each in a different language (Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin), with classic texts about peace and unity. I was only able to find an arrangement for mixed chorus but I think it will sound just as good if I have my students sing the one bass clef part up an octave. It has an accompaniment part but I'm actually thinking of doing it a cappella. 

Where We Come From As soon as I found the first song I knew I wanted to do this one to connect to the theme of togetherness. I'm adding an upper parallel harmony for the chorus, and then doing the first half of each verse as solos (probably having students take turns singing 1-2 lines each). The second half of each verse is repeated (where he sings "I done seen things") so we'll do that part in unison each time.

Whatever Walk Off the Earth is one of my go-to artists for pop songs I can arrange for my elementary chorus, and I've had this one saved for a while now. I usually have students sing at least some of the verses as solos when I do pop songs but since I'll have quite a few solos in the other song and the lyrics are easy enough to memorize in this one, I'm planning to do all of the verses in unison. I'll add an upper parallel harmony for the chorus (except for the "when you're with me.." and "bum ba dum" lines that jump around a lot, which we'll sing in unison), and have them do the last part as a partner song with one part singing "bum ba dum" while the other part sings the main lyrics.

Those are the 3 songs I'm planning to do but there were a few others that I strongly considered that I still think would be great options to go with this theme! I was originally thinking about doing a Michael Jackson song because the students have been so interested in his music since the recent movie came out, and We Are the World would go perfectly with this theme. Another Walk Off the Earth song that works well with this theme is I'll Be There- I've done this with my choir before and the students loved it. And it's a bit of a stretch but I really did think about using one of my favorite elementary choir songs, I Bought Me a Cat, with this program as well. Because it adds animals throughout the song it could work with the theme of togetherness, and it's just such a fun song to do! I honestly decided with the other songs we were doing, this one would be too much to learn in time for the winter concert.

I used to say I'm not a concert theme person but after doing 4 themed concerts in the last few years I don't think I can say that anymore! I still think that finding good songs the students will love that incorporate the choral and vocal skills I want to teach them with a variety of genres, styles, tonalities, and languages is the highest priority for selecting elementary choir concert pieces, but when a theme naturally emerges in the process that is a cool bonus! You can see all of the themed elementary choral programs I've put together in this post if you're looking for more great theme ideas:

And if you want to see all of my posts related to teaching elementary choir, from rehearsal techniques to my favorite songs, arranging pieces for elementary choir to my favorite warmups, you can see them all here.

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"Shine" Theme Elementary Choral Program

Sometime in the last few years I became a person who chooses my elementary choir concert pieces to fit a unifying theme. For our spring concert this year we are going to be doing a theme of "shine"! I always include a mixture of traditional choral pieces (usually with at least one non-English song) and modern/ pop songs, and this concert includes all of those! I'll also share some of the other songs I considered that I didn't end up using but would also fit the theme well and would work well with elementary chorus.

I found the pop song for this program a couple of years ago when I was looking for something else and I've been trying to find a way to fit it into a chorus concert ever since! I ended up finding a complete program around the theme of shining light, which seems fittingly hopeful for current times.

Brighter Days by Emeli Sandé I am going to have the 2nd verse be solos, and add a lower parallel harmony on the chorus.

Let the Sun Shine Down by Peter Johns This is a nice, easy two part arrangement that includes singing the melody in unison, then in canon, then as a partner song. There are a few lyrics I changed to avoid religious connotations since I have some students who wouldn't be able to sing it otherwise, but it was simple changes (like changing "God speed" to "peace be"). 

Shining Moon (Ngam Sang Duan) traditional Thai arr. Audrey Snyder I wanted to have a song about the moon shining as well, and when I came across this 2-part arrangement of a Thai song (which I was able to verify is in fact commonly sung in Thailand) I knew this was the one! There are lyrics in English included but I am planning to have my students sing only in Thai. It is mostly in unison or in canon but also includes a few parallel harmony spots so it should be another accessible song for my group.

Firefly by When Chai Met Toast I'm adding a higher parallel harmony on the refrain, and have a few spots for solos- I love that this has an easy line in Hindi in it as well!

Besides these, I found several other choral pieces I considered doing that are a similar level of difficulty and fit the theme very nicely:

Kokoleoko traditional Liberian arr. Victor Johnson I wasn't sure if I could get my current group to really buy into this one but I'm definitely keeping it for future consideration!

Hola, Media Luna by Laura and Eddie Cavazos If I hadn't just done a song in Spanish this year I probably would have done this one!

I Want to Rise by Mark Weston I did this one a few years ago and I decided it was too soon to do again but it would also fit this theme!

I also found a TON of other fantastic pop songs that I love (and am definitely keeping for future consideration) but I just felt I had too many slower, quiet songs already on the program:

Constellation by When Chai Met Toast

I Am Light by India Arie

Follow the Sun by Xavier Rudd

Little Blue by Jacob Collier

Any of the songs I used for my "Stars" theme concert from a few years ago would fit well here too, and there are actually quite a few pop songs I've already done in other previous concerts that would also fit:

Cover Me in Sunshine by Pink

Waiting on a Sunny Day by Bruce Springsteen

Brighter Day by Michael Franti

I confess I actually considered doing an entire concert of just "Brighter Day(s)" songs, with Emeli Sandé song I'm doing this year, The Michael Franti song listed above, and Brighter Days by Blessing Offor... I decided it was too confusing but if someone decides to go for it let me know! :)

I'm really excited about this program and I think the students and the audience will enjoy it as well! You can see all of the themed elementary choral programs I've put together in this post if you're looking for more great songs:

And if you want to see all of my posts related to teaching elementary choir, from rehearsal techniques to my favorite songs, arranging pieces for elementary choir to my favorite warmups, you can see them all here.

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"Colors" Theme Elementary Choral Program

For our elementary choir winter concert this year, I've chosen songs with the theme of colors. This is a great theme because there are so many possibilities, and it can work well any time of year! The songs I've ended up choosing have been a big hit with my students and they have been great for teaching a range of skills and incorporating a variety of genres and styles, plus I thought I would also share the other songs I considered that could also work well with this theme depending on the performance and students you're working with. 

The idea for this theme started when Kpop Demon Hunters blew up this summer. I knew I wanted to do "Golden" with my choir, and the program grew from there. Here are the songs I've selected for our winter concert:

Golden I'm having students sing the first verse as a solo, then part 2 sings a lower harmony on the pre-chorus and chorus. I'm also having part 1 drop down an octave on the "born to be" part that goes up to a high A, and that has worked out well!

Blackbird We're doing the song in F to make it more comfortable for them to sing it an octave higher, and I've added a lower harmony for part 2 to sing on "blackbird fly" in the chorus.

All the Beautiful Colors This song was actually the other reason I wanted to do this theme- I have been wanting to do this partner song with "De Colores" for a couple of years now because I have so many Spanish speakers and I don't have my 3rd and 4th grade chorus program anymore, so the 5th graders coming into my choir don't have the same choral skills I'm used to seeing. 

Possible bonus: Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows This is so random but I really want to include it because it fits so perfectly! I have made my students obsessed with Andrew Huang, and this song, so my vision right now is to possibly throw it in as a surprise encore if we learn the other 3 songs in enough time to add it in.

Besides those, another song I really strongly considered is Blue Skies. Besides having a few clear references to colors, it would be great to throw in a jazz piece that accessible enough for a beginning choir. There's even some scat singing!

This is another theme that instrumental ensembles performing in the same concert could easily tie in with- beginning bands often have easy songs called "blues", plus there's "Greensleeves", or anything about white snow for a winter concert. So many possibilities!

I used to say I'm not a concert theme person but after doing 4 themed concerts in the last few years I don't think I can say that anymore! I still think that finding good songs the students will love that incorporate the choral and vocal skills I want to teach them with a variety of genres, styles, tonalities, and languages is the highest priority for selecting elementary choir concert pieces, but when a theme naturally emerges in the process that is a cool bonus! You can see all of the themed elementary choral programs I've put together in this post if you're looking for more great songs:

And if you want to see all of my posts related to teaching elementary choir, from rehearsal techniques to my favorite songs, arranging pieces for elementary choir to my favorite warmups, you can see them all here.

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World Music Performance Pieces: early childhood

I've been doing a school-wide International Music Festival, where every grade level performs music and dance from a different country, for a few years now, and it is probably my favorite performance event I've ever done but it is a lot to put together! Although for the most part each grade studies the same culture each year to fit in with the skills and concepts they are learning in general music, each year I change at least some of the pieces so it's never the exact same program. Here are the performance pieces I have used over the years with my youngest grades- each of these would work well as part of any concert, informance, or program on their own, or you can use this list to put together your own International Music Festival!

I'm listing the pieces by culture/ country below, with the grade level I used them with in parentheses. Obviously many of these could be done with different grades as well, not just the ones I use them with!

Native American (Kindergarten)

• Water Song (students play the steady beat on rhythm sticks and turn each of the 4 directions to sing it 4 times)
• Navajo Happy Song (students sit in rows with their feet under them and their knees touching to do the different patting patterns mentioned in the link while singing)
• Iroquois Ho Ho Watanay (students pretend to rock a baby on the beat while singing)
• Sioux Epanay (students do a basic intertribal step in a circle while a few students play the steady beat on a gathering drum in the middle of the circle)

Bolivia (1st grade)

• Mi Gallito (students face a partner and do a simple 3-beat clapping pattern while they sing- I have them clap their own hands, touch the backs of one hand with their partners', then palms of the same hands, then repeat with the other side)
• La Mariposa (students do a circle dance with a recording while each holding a scarf and singing along on the chorus- the link has a full explanation of the moves that they do with each part of the song as well as links to recordings)
• Carnavalito (students do the dance in rows with a recording)
• Boquita Colorada (I have done this 2 ways- 1) students do the line dance with the recording and sing with the "lai lai" section, or 2) students play simple ostinati on percussion instruments like shakers, rhythm sticks, guiros, and drums)

Colombia (1st grade)

• Vallenato (students play simple ostinati on percussion instruments like drums, guiros, and ridged rhythm sticks with the linked recording)
• Juguemos en el Bosque (students sing and play the circle game)

Syria (lower elementary self-contained special needs)

• Tiri Tiri Ya-as Fura (non-verbal students do motions to show the lyrics of the song with the steady beat of the recording)
• Fiane Sheschra (students play different ostinati for each section of the music on hand drums with the recording)

It would be too much to put everything in one post so check back for future posts with lists of performance pieces I use with older grades in my K-6 International Music Festival! If you have other songs or musical performances you've done representing these cultures, or other ways you've used these songs, I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below. And if you are thinking about putting together a similar program, you can find all the information on what I do and how I do it, from logistics to teaching to stage setup, in this post:

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"Joy" Theme Elementary Choral Program

If there's one thing students and teachers could use more of right now, joy is definitely at the top of the list. I am so excited about my spring elementary choral program this year, and it has made our weekly chorus rehearsals even more of a highlight of the week because it brings (literal) joy to the day! If you're looking for a fun elementary choir program, or even just a song to add to yours, that includes simple part singing and a range of genres and opportunities for musicality, I highly recommend these pieces!

For context, I have one elementary chorus that meets once a week during the school day as a pullout class with 5th and 6th graders. I have around 65 students in the group in the group this year, and they are such a great group! Ever since finding one of the songs about joy last summer I've been hoping to do a joy-themed program, and I am so excited with the way it has turned out.

Here are the songs I chose:

Joy Revolution I love that the two singer-songwriters who created and performed this song are women of color, the range is perfect, and it's an easy song to do in 2-part parallel harmony and include some featured soloists.

Joy This song was the original inspiration for this program- the first time I saw the linked arrangement with The Choir Room, I got chills! It is the perfect way to give younger students the opportunity to sing a gospel-style song without specific religious references, and it has opportunities for parallel harmony and a 3-part layered ostinato section that is so cool. It is definitely my students' favorite too!

I've Got Joy I stumbled on this song while scouring the internet for one more joy-themed song to complete my program and was thrilled to stumble on this one by Otto Gross and co! This is another great one for teaching part-singing and it's the only one on this list with an actual written octavo.

The great thing about this theme is it was super easy to tie in the orchestra and band- everyone has an easy arrangement of "Ode to Joy" they can pull together! So this will be the first time we have every ensemble performing something related to the concert theme.

I used to say I'm not a concert theme person but after doing 4 themed concerts in the last few years I don't think I can say that anymore! I still think that the priority for me is finding good songs the students will love that incorporate the choral and vocal skills I want to teach them with a variety of genres, styles, tonalities, and languages is the highest priority for selecting elementary choir concert pieces, but when a theme naturally emerges in the process that is a cool bonus! You can see all of the themed elementary choral programs I've put together in this post if you're looking for more great songs:

And if you want to see all of my posts related to teaching elementary choir, from rehearsal techniques to my favorite songs, arranging pieces for elementary choir to my favorite warmups, you can see them all here.

Read more ""Joy" Theme Elementary Choral Program"

Favorite Songs for Elementary Choir

If you're looking for some song ideas to use with your elementary chorus, today I'm sharing some of my favorites! I've shared some of my favorite pop songs I've arranged for my elementary choirs in previous posts (look for that link below) so this post will focus on choral pieces.

I have taught elementary choir for many years in all different formats, age groups, schedules, and ability ranges, and I definitely have found some pieces that have been successful time and time again. Of course there are no magic songs that are perfect for every elementary choir, so you'll want to consider which ones of the list below are the best fit for the group you have from year to year, but these are all pieces I have done over the years and have worked well. 

I've split my list up into songs I've done for winter concerts and songs I've done for spring concerts, but keep in mind there are many songs on this list that would work any time of year and often, I have done them in multiple different times of year myself- in those cases I just added them to one or the other, so be sure to look through the whole list regardless of what time of year your program will be.

Winter Concert Songs

• "Winter Is Coming" from "Songs for the Winter" 
• "Here Comes the Snow" from "Songs for the Winter" 
• "Gong Xi" arr. Lily Lung Grant
• "A La Puerta del Cielo" arr. Ruth Elaine Schram (2-part)
• "Hot Chocolate" (from Polar Express) arr. Roger Emerson (2-part)
• "Sing" by Pinkzebra (2-part)
• "Catch a Falling Star" arr. Mac Huff
• "Hushabye, Nanita Nana" arr. Donnelly & Strid
• "Snow is Falling" by Ruth Elaine Schram (2-part)
• "Siyahamba" arr. Donald Moore (2-part)
• "Seasons of Love" (from Rent) arr. Mac Huff (2-part)
• "How Can I Keep from Singing?" by Greg Gilpin (2-part)
• "Artza Alinu" arr. Earlene Rentz (2-part)
• "Babethandaza" arr. Victor Johnson (SSA)
• "Whisper!" by Greg Gilpin (2-part)

Spring Concert Songs

• "I Bought Me a Cat" arr. Sally Albrecht (2-part)
• "Akatonbo" arr. Russell Robinson
• "Bonse Aba" arr. Victor Johnson (2-part)
• "I Love Chocolate!" by Mary Lynn Lightfoot
• "Get On Board" by Martin/ Williams
• "I Want to Rise" arr. Mark Weston (2-part)
• "J'entend le Moulin" arr. Dwyer/ Ellis (SA)
• "Salangadou" arr. Susan Brumfield
• "Cantar!" by Jay Althouse (2-part)
• "Sisi Ni Moja" by Jacob Narverud (SA)
• "Aya Ngena" arr. Ruth Morris Gray (SSA)
• "Kojo no Tsuki" arr. Audrey Snyder
• "Rhythm of Life" arr. John Leavitt (2-part)
• "Ukrainian River Song" by Roman Yakub

Keep in mind in many cases I make minor adjustments to the pieces to fit my needs, whether that's adjusting the lyrics, modifying the harmony parts, adjusting the arrangements, or making a section a solo. I've written more details about some specific ways I often modify songs in this post, and you're welcome to comment or email me if you have questions about any of the specific songs on this list.

I have been hesitant to share this list because I am not particularly thrilled with the identities represented in the list of arrangers and composers. I would love to hear suggestions from people who have found songs they love for elementary choirs by composers and arrangers that identify with underrepresented identities, particularly culture bearers from the global majority. I have, frankly, had an easier time finding representation in the modern songs I program for my elementary choirs and have admittedly put more energy into that effort than I have into the choral arrangements. To see my (ongoing) list of modern songs I've arranged for my elementary choirs, check out this post.

I also don't tend to program concerts with a specific theme most of the time, because I don't want to limit myself, but sometimes I stumble into a theme and when that happens it's pretty cool to see it come together! I've shared the songs I've programmed for 3 different themes (stars, rhythm, and self-identity) in this post.

Looking for more advice on teaching elementary chorus? You can search all of my posts on the topic, with everything from teaching strategies to warmups to rehearsal procedures, here.

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Elementary Choir Concert Program Ideas

Choosing literature for an elementary choir concert can be very hard- I know because I go through that struggle twice a year! I don't generally feel compelled to choose songs around any sort of theme, but sometimes having a theme helps narrow the search for the perfect songs that will fit the group well but also flow well together. Here are some of my favorite elementary chorus concerts that I've programmed over the years.

I teach in a K-6 elementary school and we currently offer chorus for grades 5 and 6, but in the past I've had choirs for 3rd and 4th grade as well, so the songs I've picked are for those age groups. My chorus classes meet during the school day but it is a pull-out program that students can choose to sign up for. For each of the programs below you'll find a complete post detailing the songs I picked, which grades I used each song with, and any extra songs that I considered as well.

1. Stars

I chose a stars theme one year for our winter concert because our schoolwide PBIS program is based on the STAR acronym, but it is a lovely theme for any school and it works well for a winter concert or any time of year! 

2. Finding Myself

Coming out of the pandemic it has been more important than ever for me to choose songs that are empowering, hopeful, and positive for my choral groups, and this program was a great example of that. Besides the overt messages of being true to yourself, this program also included songs representing different cultural identities, to add to the idea of celebrating all of our identities.

3. Rhythm

This was a really fun one, and if we had been more on top of it this would have been a perfect theme to tie in with the band and orchestra as well, even just having the percussion section do something! 

4. Joy

There was something really special about hearing my students sing about joy week after week, and talking with them about the joy that we can all feel inside whether we're happy in that moment or not. This was a fantastic concert and so many adults told me afterwards how touched they were by the songs.

5. Colors

This theme really started because I decided I HAD TO do "Golden" from Kpop Demon Hunters, and it became one of my most well-rounded programs (that could easily be added to/ adapted because there are so many songs that could fit into this theme!).

6. Shine

I love this theme because it can include songs about people "shining bright", songs about the moon, sun, or stars, or anything really about light. 

Whether you use them together to create a themed program like I did, or just take one or two of the songs to add to your concert, I highly recommend all of these songs for elementary choir! If you want to read more of my teaching tips, rehearsal strategies, concert preparation, and more ideas for teaching elementary chorus, this page has a compilation of all of those posts:

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Rhythm Theme Elementary Choral Program

I don't do themes for my concerts very often- I find it too restrictive most of the time for me to get the perfect songs for my elementary choirs- but I just finished planning my upcoming spring concert with the theme of "rhythm" and I am so excited about it I had to share! If you are looking for a chorus program for your elementary choirs, or just some good selections to add to your concert, these are great options!

For context, I have one elementary chorus that meets during the school day as a pullout class with 5th and 6th graders. I have around 65 students in the group in the group this yea, and I always try to choose songs over the course of the year that include parallel harmony, a capella singing, solo opportunities, and a mix of traditional choral and pop songs in multiple languages. They sang an a capella song and songs in 3 different languages with some parallel harmony and only a few solo opportunities for our winter concert so I'm focusing on including more parallel harmony and solos in the spring.

Here are the songs I chose:

Feel Good Feeling by Blessing Offor

Rhythm of Life arr. John Leavitt (2-part)

Rhythms of One World by Gary Fry (2-part)

Gang of Rhythm by Walk Off the Earth

And a few others I considered that I also love:

Oye la Musica by Jay Althouse (2-part)

Rhythm Nation by Janet Jackson

I am planning to use backing tracks for all of the songs except for Gang of Rhythm- I have colleagues in my building who play instruments so I'm hoping to have them play with us for that one!

If you want to read more about how and why I use pop songs in elementary chorus, here are two posts on that (with a running list of all the songs I have done):

I have only done a couple of other concerts with themes like this- here are those 2 song lists if you're looking for more great pieces to do with this age group:

And you can catch up on all my posts related to all things elementary choir here, including rehearsal procedures, warmups, teaching strategies for introducing parallel harmony, lesson planning, and more. I hope this is helpful for anyone looking for selections for their next concert!

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Building Your Elementary Choral Program

I teach a 5th and 6th grade chorus class, and a 4th grade chorus class, that are both elective pullout classes during the day. When I first started in my current position, there were 12 students total in the 5th and 6th grade combined chorus and 15 in the 4th grade chorus- 27 total singers. That number has grown to 116 total this year (that's 80% of the students in those grades in my school). If you're trying to revitalize a dwindling chorus program, or coming into a new one, here are my top tips for building a thriving elementary choir program.

1. Personal invitations

I've found inviting students to join chorus individually is much more effective than sticking to just the general invitation letters. Of course I still send home those letters and make general announcements to my classes, but I get a lot more students to join by talking to them individually and asking them why they haven't signed up yet. When a student feels individually wanted/ included they are much more likely to decide to join (and much less likely to forget before the deadline)!

2. Up the ante

This may go against common sense but the first thing I did to turn the program around after my first semester in the position was to add auditions. Whereas before the chorus class had been open to anyone who signed up, after my first semester I announced that students were now required to "audition" before they would be accepted! This changed the students' view of the class from a "get out of class" time to a meaningful, high-caliber, desirable ensemble, and I instantly saw an increase in signups.

3. Get staff on board

This obviously takes time, but I think building respect for the program among the other teachers, the principal, and other staff has been very important for building the chorus program. As much as I can talk to the students directly and try to promote it myself, the reality in elementary school is the homeroom teachers see the students and talk to them a lot more often than I can, so their attitude towards the class, and their enthusiasm for getting students to sign up, make a huge difference in signups. The homeroom teachers who remind their students regularly to turn in the form, who encourage the ones that are on the fence, and who talk up how awesome it is are always the ones with the highest participation rate year after year.

4. Make it successful

I know we all know this but students will want to join something that they view as successful- success breeds success. The hard part is how! For me I think the main keys to success have been:

• Combining chorus classes for rehearsals to make larger classes- when I first started, the 5th and 6th graders rehearsed separately. One grade learned part 1, the other learned part 2, they would have a couple of combined rehearsals before the concert, and perform together. As much as from a management perspective it can be intimidating, for upper elementary/ middle school age there is safety in numbers. Putting them together in one class for rehearsal made the students feel instantly more successful because they were each singing more confidently with more singers around them in rehearsal.
• Choosing appropriate repertoire- finding songs that are an appropriate level of challenge so they can sound good while sounding impressive is key to building success.
• Choosing relatable/ exciting repertoire- the students have to enjoy the songs and want to sing them for them to tell their friends they should join too! That doesn't mean only pop songs by any stretch, but it does mean finding ways to hook students and get them excited about the music.

This is just beginning to scratch the surface of this topic, and there is certainly a lot more to be said about each of the points above (maybe in future articles?) but these are the key points I have identified over the years as having the biggest impact on building my elementary choirs. If you've been through a similar experience, I would love to hear your top suggestions for what you have found has made the biggest difference for you, and if you have any questions, please leave those in the comments as well so we can all help each other! Want to peruse my other elementary choir articles? You can read them all here.

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"Finding Myself" Theme Elementary Choral Program

I am not really a person who plans concerts by theme, so my elementary chorus spring concert was definitely not completely tied to a specific theme, but I managed to connect everything together under the loose idea of travel/ identity. All of the songs were great fits to challenge my choirs while keeping them excited and motivated, so if you're looking for some new selections to add to your next concert I highly recommend these!

I always do more non-English songs in the spring concert, so the traveling theme came naturally, and I also knew I wanted to do the song "Who I Am" by Wyn Starks with my older students, so I settled on the loose theme of "finding myself" as a way to tie everything together. The music from different cultures and languages are representative of the different cultural identities we have in our choirs, so they are also a way of exploring our identities/ finding ourselves, and the two pop songs have powerful messages both about being confident in our personal identities and being authentic/ true to themselves, but also the importance of community and friendship.

For context, I have 2 elective pullout choir classes that meet during the school day for 30 minutes once a week. One is a combined 5th and 6th grade chorus, and the other is a 4th grade chorus. This semester I had around 45 in the 4th grade chorus, and about 80 in the 5th/6th grade chorus. I focus on beginning choral pieces with canon and partner singing with 4th grade, and more parallel harmony, a capella singing, solo opportunities, and a mix of traditional choral and pop arrangements with 5th and 6th grade. Here are the songs I used for our concert:

4th grade chorus:

Get On Board by Martin and Williams

J'entend le Moulin arr. by Dwyer and Ellis

Bonse Aba

5th and 6th grade chorus:

Akatonbo arr. by Robinson

Aya Ngena arr. by Gray

Who I Am by Wyn Starks

Combined chorus:

My Tribe by Blessing Offor

I definitely pushed both groups with these songs- we most certainly did not coast to the performance! But they were exciting to learn and they learned so much through the process (and performed them so well in the end). I shared my chorus program from the winter concert, where I did a "stars" theme, in this post (these songs were a lot less challenging since it was the first semester).

If you want to read more about how and why I use pop songs in elementary chorus, here are two posts on that (with a running list of all the songs I have done):

If you want to read my teaching process for canon singing and partner singing in 3rd and 4th grade, here are my posts on that:

And you can catch up on all my posts related to all things elementary choir here! I hope this is helpful for anyone looking for selections for their next concert!

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"Stars" Theme Elementary Choral Program

I don't do themes for my concerts very often- I find it too restrictive most of the time for me to get the perfect songs for my elementary choirs- but I just did a winter concert with the theme of "stars" and I was so happy with it I had to share! If you are looking for a chorus program for your elementary choirs, or just some good selections to add to your concert, these are great options!

I got the idea to do a stars theme because I found a couple of songs that referenced stars that I liked for my groups, and got excited about the possibility of tying into our school's PBIS theme of STAR behavior (safe, trustworthy, accountable, respectful). I think this theme is a great one for anyone to use, though, and could work any time of year as well! 

For context, I have 2 elective pullout choir classes that meet during the school day for 30 minutes once a week. One is a combined 5th and 6th grade chorus, and the other is a 4th grade chorus. This year I had around 45 in each group. I focus on beginning choral pieces with canon and partner singing with 4th grade, and more parallel harmony, a capella singing, solo opportunities, and a mix of traditional choral and pop arrangements with 5th and 6th grade. Here are the songs I used for our concert (plus a couple of bonus songs I considered but didn't end up using)

4th grade chorus:

Hushabye, Nanita Nana

Catch a Falling Star (I had them repeat the lyrics for the first verse in place of the second verse)

5th and 6th grade chorus:

Shooting Star

White Winter Hymnal (this was the only one that didn't fit the theme specifically)

4th, 5th, and 6th grade combined chorus:

Dancing in the Dark (4th grade learned the melody, 5th and 6th grade added an upper harmony on the chorus and had soloists for verse 2)

other songs I considered:

A Sky Full of Stars

We Are Stars

We Are All the Stars

Ad Astra

The students and I all enjoyed learning the songs, and it was the perfect level of challenge for my groups with only having about 10 rehearsals to put it all together (since our concert was at the beginning of December)! I will definitely be pulling some of these songs out again in a few years. 

If you want to read more about how and why I use pop songs in elementary chorus, here are two posts on that (with a running list of all the songs I have done):

If you want to read my teaching process for canon singing and partner singing in 3rd and 4th grade, here are my posts on that:

And you can catch up on all my posts related to all things elementary choir here! I hope this is helpful for anyone looking for selections for their next concert!

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Socially Distanced Elementary Choir

After 18 months of no in-person chorus, this school year I have my choirs back! And while that's super exciting, it also presents many challenges- in my district, we are currently required to maintain 6 feet distance between singers with masks on. I had so many concerns about how this would work going into it, but now that we are a few weeks into the school year I am feeling much better about it- here are my top tips for making it work when your elementary chorus is socially distanced.

1. Choosing Songs

As much as I want to dive back into the 4-part a capella singing we were doing pre-pandemic, we're not there yet (and that's OK). Besides not having the background from missing over a year of choir, students are also not used to singing that much in a mask- and that's tiring. And because they are so spread out, it's harder for them to hear the other singers on their part. So I think going with simple part singing, or even unison pieces, is the way to go.

Along with an uncomplicated arrangement, I'm looking for songs where the vocal parts are easy to sing- lyrical lines in a limited range that's comfortable for everyone. Because they aren't taking as deep of breaths through their masks, they don't have as much breath support to sing vocally challenging parts. The songs should feel comfortable and good to sing!

The other most important consideration for me is to choose songs that are engaging and fun. One of the biggest difficulties with socially distanced choir is that students won't sing out as much because they can't hear the other singers' voices around them as much. They're more likely to get to a place where they're not too self-conscious to sing out confidently if it's a song in which they are invested and enjoy singing.

2. Seating

I have chairs in 6-feet-apart rows, all facing straight forward, with the rows staggered so nobody has another person right in front of them. I also made sure to put all the students from the same class / cohort together. As much as I would normally prefer to split them up by vocal range, right now minimizing spread has to take priority! Obviously this means I have assigned seating, in which I am a firm believer whether I'm dealing with pandemics or not. 

3. Regular Singing Breaks

To keep energy up while they're singing in a mask, I build regular breaks for the students into the rehearsal. Sometimes that's me talking to them, sometimes it's listening to a recording or me demonstrating something, sometimes it's a random team-building game etc, but I've found that even with the relatively short 30 minute rehearsals I have, the students need time to build up to singing that whole time. Building in some breaks in singing helps keep them from wearing out.

4. Turn Up the Volume

One of the biggest hurdles with socially distanced / masked singing is kids not being able to hear the others around them. My way of combatting that is to turn up my personal amplification microphone and sing along with them, and use recordings that have the singing and accompaniment for them to sing along with. So far I think this has been the most important change that has helped my singers sing more confidently!

I hope this helps any other music teachers teaching choir (or singing in general music) with these protocols in place. It's definitely not ideal but I try to keep reminding myself how grateful I am to have chorus happening in-person at all! If you have other tips that have worked for you, please leave them in the comments. I'd love to hear them!

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Singing in Elementary Music

For many of us, after over a year of not being able to sing together in the same room because of the pandemic, we're finally getting back to some singing! Wow, what an incredible feeling to finally be able to sing together- it's certainly something I took so much for granted before and now realize just how important it is in my life! In honor of our return to singing, today I've compiled all of my top ideas and strategies for developing singing skills in elementary music.

Click each image below to see more details on each specific topic:

I hope this helps you find new ideas as you head back into the world of singing! We may not be fully back to singing like we were pre-pandemic, but I will take any little bit of hope I can take! If you are still completely unable to sing with your students: hang in there. We will get there! You can see my posts with ideas for teaching elementary music without singing (along with other pandemic teaching topics) here. I'm expecting to still have to be distanced and masked, and we can't sing for as long of periods as we used to or project as much as we normally would, but I'm grateful for the progress we have made. 

Read more "Singing in Elementary Music"