The Song of The Heart

Mary Judy, a chorister friend of mine from Logan, Utah sent me a great e-mail describing what she did for their program review. I thought it was a good idea and that you all may like it too, even for next year if you are now finished with your program. I just loved her idea of singing from the heart! I'm posting Mary's e-mail as a "guest post." She sent a pdf file with these little boxes ready to print out and make, but I don't know how to post a pdf file to the blog. I'm sorry that I don't have more time to experiment and figure out how to do that. I hope you can see how to adapt something just from looking at the picture, or, since Mary includes a link to the box, perhaps you know how to create it from the original. Mary also graciously offered to send the pdf file to anyone who would like to print the boxes she prepared. Her e-mail address is: mary.judy@gmail.com . Thank you, Mary!

"I just saw your post with reverence ideas for practicing for the Sacrament program. I did use the music measles idea earlier in the year and it was a big success. I had our primary presidency pass out the dots to the children as they sang well. They in turn put them on their teacher. At the end we had the teachers come to the front and sing a verse from "Follow the Prophet." We were then able to see which teacher had the most measles. Two teachers had measles all over their glasses and were "blinded by the music" haha! The children loved seeing their teacher's sing. It was really fun.

On our last Sunday practice before the program I decided to emphasize the importance of singing from their heart. I found an oversized pair of glasses at our local dollar store. The lenses were heart-shaped. As we sang our first song I had our Primary president choose the class that was watching me, and singing with their whole hearts. We then had their teacher come to the front, stand next to me, put the glasses on and watch to see which other class was paying attention and singing with their whole hearts, It worked well because they looked a little silly but the children were trying really hard to watch me as we practiced standing up together and singing.

I made the attached heart-shaped boxes, punched two tiny holes at the top and threaded some white yarn through them to make a necklace. I had them printed in black and white at our local printers. I think it only cost me about two to three dollars for fifty necklaces (25 copies). I could have printed them on my home printer but it isn't a laser printer and when the ink gets wet my copies smear. I also could have put some candy in them, but I opted to leave them empty. I thought of them more like a locket. I wanted them to represent the children giving their hearts through their voices. (The song of the heart is a prayer unto me.)

I found the pattern for the heart box on Martha Stewart's web site. I reduced it so I could get two boxes on one sheet of paper. Like I said, I wanted them to be more like an over-sized locket. If you go to her site she has a video you can watch to see how she folds it. Martha mounted her template on heavier paper and scored lines down the middle. I printed my pattern directly on to regular weight paper without scoring the paper. I cut them on the solid lines and folded on the dotted lines. I also added the picture from the front cover of our primary program for this year. The painting is by Dale Parsons. "

I'm probably going to make a simple red heart necklace out of construction paper. These wouldn't be as nice as Mary's boxes, but I'm hoping that the children will catch the point. I'll also make some red heart shapes to attach to my glasses to watch for beautiful singing. Maybe I could make cardboard heart-shapes to attach to a stick, kind of like opera glasses. I hope you can see the wonderful possibilities in this idea.

Teaching Method - Dramatization

You might think dramatization wouldn’t work as a method for teaching a song, but for some songs it works perfectly. Recently, I needed to teach the third verse to “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus.” Since I had to review two other songs that the children had just learned, I didn’t have much time to spend teaching. I needed something that would fix the images of the song in the minds of the children so that I wouldn’t need to keep going over it. After considering several other methods, I decided to dramatize it.

I invited two children to hold the ends of a length of blue fabric from the costume box and showed them how to move their arms to make a “rolling sea.” I found a small box for a boat to toss on the fabric during the tempest. I held up the picture of Jesus stilling the storm for the phrase about the “Master, ready and kind.” Then I used simple hand actions for the words “chided” and “hushed.” After we were set up, I simply sang the song and it worked great. We talked about the old-fashioned words and practiced the phrase with the hand actions and they were already singing with me after one more time through. I was thrilled to have it work so well with so little time spent teaching.

Last Christmas I used dramatization to teach “Once Within a Lowly Stable” and it worked just as well for this song. I took some simple props: a scarf for the loving mother, a doll for the baby, a shoe box lid and some yellow yarn for a manger, and two simple, hand drawn sheep and ox “masks”on sticks. I set up a simple tableau by inviting two children to stand and hold their arms in an arch to form a stable. Two other children knelt on either side of those children and held the sheep and ox masks in front of their faces. Mary knelt on the floor under the arch and placed the “baby” in the “manger” at the appropriate time during the song. Then I simply sang the song and pointed to the props as I sang. The children listened so well that they were singing with me the second time through. Dramatization is a really fun way to teach a song!

Tutorial - "Title Toss" for Program Songs

I wanted to do a “Title Toss” to review all of our program songs, but I didn’t want the poster to look like my other one. So I decided to do it by hand and in color. I thought I would take pictures in case anyone is interested in the process. After my daughter saw the finished poster she commented that it was a little weird that we were singing "Hinges" and "Once There Was a Snowman" in the program. I just laughed and assured her that those were rest songs, not intended for the program! BTW, the "wild" spot is useful as a favorite song spot, or to repeat a song that you want to sing again. Yes, I know it shows a LOT of songs. I was presented with the program list a couple of weeks ago, and am kind of scrambling to have them all ready before November. We are singing more than we are talking this year. I think the kids will enjoy it. We'll just do the best we can.

These are the materials I used for the poster: song titles printed in different fonts, poster paper, scissors, pencil, eraser, markers and colored pencils or crayons.

I wanted the song titles to look different from each other on the poster, so I used the computer to print out titles in different fonts. I cut the titles out and arranged them on the poster paper.


I used an ordinary pencil to scribble on the back of the title, laying down a nice layer of graphite. Don't scribble with the paper on the poster or you'll accidently transfer some of the computer ink onto the poster. Do this step off to one side.

Then I turned the paper over and made sure it was in the right spot. I lightly traced over the title so that I could see a graphite impression on the poster paper. My mother taught me this handy transferring trick.

I used a colored marker to trace over the graphite impression.

I drew small freehand illustrations for some of the song titles with a pencil and then traced over the pencil lines with a marker. If you hate the way you draw, you could copy and trace clipart images the same way you did the song titles.

Once the marker ink was dry, I erased all the extra pencil marks.

I used colored pencils to put a little color shading on the illustrations.

I can use the song title poster on the floor and have a child toss a beanbag to choose the song. On another week I could hang it with magnets on the chalkboard and play “pin the note on the song.” The poster will be useful next year as well, so that the kids won’t forget this year’s program songs.

Choose and Review - Missing Word Puzzle

Choose a word from the monthly or weekly theme. Or use a general word that describes what you are thankful for like primary or gospel. Write each letter from the word on a piece of construction paper. Select several songs to review. The number of songs should match the number of letters in your chosen word. On a slip of paper, write a line from each review song, but pick a key word to leave out. Find a picture that matches the missing word. For example, the phrase “I have a family here on ________" would go on a slip of paper and you would find a picture of the earth to illustrate the missing word. Attach the letter papers to the back of the pictures. Put the phrase slips into a can or basket.

When you are ready to sing, randomly post the pictures on the chalkboard. Invite a child to choose a slip, read the line (or read it for them), find the right picture and hold it while you lead the song. Then return the picture to the chalkboard with the letter side facing out. After all the pictures are chosen, challenge all the children to unscramble the word.

If you are clever, you noticed that my picture shows words on the back of the pictures instead of letters. I wanted to use this “Missing Word Puzzle” for a program review in October and couldn't think of a word with as many letters as I have songs to review, so I am using the words from the scripture for October instead.

Program Practice

I feel real sympathy for the kids during the practices for the sacrament meeting program. I know it is necessary, I just wish that it could somehow be easier on the children. It must seem like a nightmare to them. Think about it - two hours of sitting in chairs that don’t fit while watching adults talk to each other and shuffle children, with intermittent breaks of singing songs that you’ve sung over and over and over again. And sometimes getting reproved, with love, of course. It feels like a ordeal to me too.

So I am anticipating some restlessness, and trying to think of ways that I can redirect attention and forestall problems where I can. I’m not much into bribery and treats, so my ideas are pretty simple really. Our practices happen on Sunday during primary time because everyone lives too far to come in on an extra day. So I need quick reminders that are themselves reverent and appropriate for Sunday. I have my reverence feather, a couple of secret pictures, and some reverence riddles prepared (see this post) for one of the weeks.

I’ve also prepared a “secret sack” with different pictures of body parts to point out reverent actions. When needed, a child is called on and he or she takes a picture from the bag and asks, “What should you do with your _______ to show reverence?” Allow everyone to respond by showing the action and then move into the song. I’ll just do one when it seems necessary.

Suggested points: Mouth or Lips - speak quietly, smile, sing songs, remain closed when someone is talking, etc. Eyes - Look at the one who is talking, close during the prayer, watch my face during the song, etc. Hands - Keep still, raise to take part, keep in your lap, folded or at your sides while we sing, etc. Arms - fold during the prayer, keep still, raise to take part, etc. Feet - walk quietly, remain still, etc. Ears - Listen to what is being said, etc. Head - Turned toward me, bow during the prayer, etc.

I’m also going to try Matilda’s measles idea one week. I expect the kids will want to sing well enough to get a spot. How does your primary handle the program fidgets? Our program isn't until November so I have a couple of weeks to make plans or to change my mind. Does anyone have any other good ideas for me?

I know something like this takes a bit of time, but it surely doesn’t take much more than stopping to scold every few minutes.

Choose and Review - "50 or Less"

"50 or Less" is a cute variation of "Name That Tune" and comes directly from the Sharing Time Ideas (#3 on pg. 57) in the May 2002 issue of the Friend. List ten songs you need to review on the board. Some kind of illustrative picture or drawing will help the juniors who don't read. Invite a child to suggest how many notes the primary may need to guess one of the songs. The pianist then chooses a song from the list and plays that number of notes. If the children don't recognize the song, the pianist should add one note at a time until the children can identify the song. Write the number of notes it took next to the song and then sing the song together. Repeat with the other songs. The goal of the game is to keep the total number of notes at 50 or less.

The "bidding" on how many notes it will take to guess the song gets easier as you get to the last few songs, because the children can see which ones are left on the list. You can make the game a little more difficult by simply listing numbers from 1 to 10 on the board and have the children guess the songs cold. This keeps them guessing until the end of the game. It is also a bit more of a challenge for the older kids who are more familiar with the songs. Try it both ways and see which your kids like best.

Choose and Review - Scrambled Scripture Puzzle

Honestly, I am so thankful to the folks at The Friend magazine for all their wonderful ideas. I was recently browsing through my old issues and ran across this Funstuff puzzle by Rosie Centrone (February 2007 issue, pg. 26). It will work perfectly for a review singing time this next week because it matches the monthly theme so well. The scripture “Let the affections of thy heart be upon the Lord forever” is a beautiful reminder to the children. This thought comes out of Alma’s wonderful counsel to his son Helaman about obedience in Alma 37:35-37. I especially love this scripture passage and can easily testify to the children of the blessings that come from obedience and trust in the Lord. I have many fun song review activities that I could do, but I love it when I can make the activity match the theme.

I will make a heart for each word in the scripture to post on the board and assign one of our review songs to each heart. There may be too many words in this thought to have time to sing a song with each one on a normal week, but since I'm beginning now to review our program songs, I will have some extra time. I could post the cards randomly on the board and then we could unscramble the phrase at the end. Or, I can post the heart cards in the right order to begin with and let the children simply turn the cards over.

To adapt this idea in the future, I would just use a scripture that matches the monthly theme together with an appropriate symbol such as autumn leaves, stars, flowers or Christmas ornaments. If the scripture was long, as this one is, putting a song randomly on some of the symbol cards would work just as well. The children could turn over more than one at a time and we could stop to sing if a song appears. Or, I could also double up the words on some of the cards. I’ll write this idea on my master list as “Scrambled Scripture.”