How to Teach Songs to Children and Adults

I love singing in groups. My first memories of group singing are from church, but my love for singing really developed in Girl Scouts. We sang in troop meetings, at special events, and especially at summer camp. Only rarely did we bother to use songbooks; we were taught to memorize the songs, and I still remember them and sing them with my own children.

It's not too difficult to teach people songs by heart. After all, we memorize songs all the time, when we hear them over and over on the radio or on our stereos. It's all a matter of repetition.

How to teach songs to children and adults: but why?

Song lyrics are widely available in a variety of formats. You can buy and use songbooks; churches use hymnals, and Girl Scouts and other youth organizations offer their own songbooks. If you have the appropriate permission, you can also make photocopies of song lyrics or project lyrics on a screen. So, why bother teaching people to memorize songs?

Well, one reason relates to the "appropriate permission" I mentioned above. Song lyrics are copyrighted material. Some older songs are no longer under copyright and are considered public domain material, but most are copyrighted, and legally you do need permission to copy or project the lyrics, even if you're not selling the material or charging admission to use it. Churches can get blanket permission for most of their music through CCLI (for a fee), but it's often more difficult and more expensive for individuals and other organizations.

It's also aesthetically pleasing to have people know the songs they are singing. Have you ever looked at people staring blankly at a screen and singing, or burying their faces in a book while singing? It doesn't do much for the communal spirit, and it usually doesn't look much like people are enjoying themselves.

People can put more passion into their singing, and get more enjoyment from it, if they don't have to worry about following printed words. People are more free to clap, sing, dance and do motions when they don't have to hold onto a piece of paper or book.

How to teach songs to children and adults: Whole, Part, Whole

This is a tried and true method that I learned and still use in Girl Scouts:

1. Sing the whole song through once. Invite anyone who already knows the song to sing with you.

2. Break the song down into parts. If it's a short song, you may only have one part. With a longer song, you'll teach one verse or chorus at a time.

3. Teach one part line by line. You sing a line, and then everyone repeats after you, all the way through the verse.

4. Lead everyone in singing that verse or part all the way through together.

5. Move on to teaching the next verse line by line, if desired. You may want to teach only one verse at each sitting, rather than teaching the entire song at once.

6. After teaching all of the parts or verses, lead everyone in singing the entire song together. By this time, everyone should be able to remember most of the song.

7. Keep singing the song on a regular basis, so that people will remember it.

How to teach songs to children and adults: Enjoy yourself!

Singing is fun! Choose songs that you know and love and want to share with others. You can sing in all kinds of groups: church groups, youth groups, scouting groups, or just informal gatherings of family and friends. Music is one thing that really brings people together in community.