Jesus Loves Me image courtesy creative commons license flickr.com by Gtol Aug. 13, 2009Words and Music by Tami Jeppson Creamer and Derena Bell
First off, do you not love ALL the tips given in the sharing time outline for how to use music in primary!! (Found on page 26-27)
Did you notice my personal favorite sentence of all times, "ALWAYS SING THE WORDS OF A NEW SONG TO THE CHILDREN - DON'T JUST READ OR RECITE THEM." (pg. 27) Thank you!! Amen!! Pet peeve addressed and made clear. Phew! But I admit, this sentence also fills my soul, "To teach a song effectively, you must know the song yourself." (pg. 27) Preach on!! It's been said, so either we'll follow or be mediocre. Boo mediocrity! We will do great!
To learn a song, visuals always help! Let your artistic side go wild! These are ideas more for once the song is learned.
* I Know that My Savior Loves Me - spinner! Have a large poster board with a circle divided into 8 sections. Attach an arrow that can spin. In each section write a word that shows how the Savior loves us and that can be doubled as a way to sing the song. For example "Rain. Sing Staccato/short and choppy." or "Mountains. Sing big and grand!" or "Small kittens. Sing soft and gentle." or "Missionaries with Books of Mormon. Sing valiantly while marching." Invite children who sing to come up and spin!
* Have a picture of the Savior. Tell the children that as you hear them singing you are going to put up some pictures of friends who know that the Savior loves them. They might know a few of these friends!! Close your eyes and reach into a can and draw out a few pictures of children from the primary! Wow! The primary sang so well you'll draw out another 5 pictures!! Have a child come up, close their eyes and draw out some pictures! Keep it positive! See if you can get all the primary children pictures up!
* Invite 2 children to come to front while everyone is singing this song. Give them white boards/ dry erase boards (you can get at target for $1 or the dollar store) to draw on. They will draw something that helps them know that the Savior loves them. They can call on a few children to guess what they have drawn. Then they show their pictures! Sing again and invite a couple more children up!
* While singing the song have a large letter L , R, and B. When you hold up the L, R, or B they will either have to stand on their left, right, or both feet.
* Invite 2 children up. One boy can wear a stone necklace and a girl can wear a flower headband for verse one. For verse 2 have them switch to him wearing a tie and ribbon in her hair. The song has different times, places, and children - but the same love from our Savior! Sing the song and have the children listen for the different times (a long time ago - now), places (beautiful place gathered round' Jesus - here in a beautiful place) and children (each saw the tears on His face - lighting my path)
Did you notice my personal favorite sentence of all times, "ALWAYS SING THE WORDS OF A NEW SONG TO THE CHILDREN - DON'T JUST READ OR RECITE THEM." (pg. 27) Thank you!! Amen!! Pet peeve addressed and made clear. Phew! But I admit, this sentence also fills my soul, "To teach a song effectively, you must know the song yourself." (pg. 27) Preach on!! It's been said, so either we'll follow or be mediocre. Boo mediocrity! We will do great!
To learn a song, visuals always help! Let your artistic side go wild! These are ideas more for once the song is learned.
* I Know that My Savior Loves Me - spinner! Have a large poster board with a circle divided into 8 sections. Attach an arrow that can spin. In each section write a word that shows how the Savior loves us and that can be doubled as a way to sing the song. For example "Rain. Sing Staccato/short and choppy." or "Mountains. Sing big and grand!" or "Small kittens. Sing soft and gentle." or "Missionaries with Books of Mormon. Sing valiantly while marching." Invite children who sing to come up and spin!
* Have a picture of the Savior. Tell the children that as you hear them singing you are going to put up some pictures of friends who know that the Savior loves them. They might know a few of these friends!! Close your eyes and reach into a can and draw out a few pictures of children from the primary! Wow! The primary sang so well you'll draw out another 5 pictures!! Have a child come up, close their eyes and draw out some pictures! Keep it positive! See if you can get all the primary children pictures up!
* Invite 2 children to come to front while everyone is singing this song. Give them white boards/ dry erase boards (you can get at target for $1 or the dollar store) to draw on. They will draw something that helps them know that the Savior loves them. They can call on a few children to guess what they have drawn. Then they show their pictures! Sing again and invite a couple more children up!
* While singing the song have a large letter L , R, and B. When you hold up the L, R, or B they will either have to stand on their left, right, or both feet.
* Invite 2 children up. One boy can wear a stone necklace and a girl can wear a flower headband for verse one. For verse 2 have them switch to him wearing a tie and ribbon in her hair. The song has different times, places, and children - but the same love from our Savior! Sing the song and have the children listen for the different times (a long time ago - now), places (beautiful place gathered round' Jesus - here in a beautiful place) and children (each saw the tears on His face - lighting my path)
I just came upon your blog and I love it! Thanks so much for all of the help and the ideas!!
ReplyDeleteSo, the sentence about SINGING it to your kids gave me a near panic attack. I love this calling with all my heart, but singing in "public" is NOT my thing. I am good at this calling, except for that part.
ReplyDeleteI already feel nervous about singing it to them on Sunday... 5 days away. I'm praying for snow...
I've made a "melody map" where the staff is huge and you can point to the notes as you sing. I'm hoping this helps us learn the melody without the words first. I love this song, but it is ALL OVER THE PLACE! :)
to Melissa, I've had the best calling in the church (primary chorister) for 2 years now. I don't normally sing in front of people either, but I know it helps the kids if they can hear the song before they try and learn it.
ReplyDeleteSome of the things I have done, are having the primary teachers sing with me if they know it. Playing a CD of the song, having a family from the ward come in and sing it, or having the piano play only the melody makes it easier to sing the right notes. And our family always sings a song when we have family prayer, so if I am trying to learn a new song that is what we sing until the entire family learns it. Hope that helps.
Marvin Goldstein says "Primary music is what the scriptures sound like."
Sister RoseAnna- Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSister Melissa- You're so funny! If you are ever in Reno, NV we're getting together and going to have Karaoke Fevah!!!! All you need is a few round of Abba songs :) You will do a WONDERFUL job teaching the song, no worries!!
Sister Shantell- Well said!!!!!!! Thanks for the great ideas!
Your ideas are great (I love getting ideas from others, since I personally don't have many!)...just one thought, though. Be CAREFUL using dry erase markers. My daughter accidentally got some on her pants at my husband's work once, and it did NOT wash out. Luckily, they were old pants, but I'd sure be horrified if a primary child did that on their good church clothes.
ReplyDeleteI know that everyone has different talents, and for some, it is not singing. Sometimes our singing to the children could only make the learning harder since some of us can't find a tune. Something that works in this case is to download the MP3 music file available on the church's website here
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,8893-1,00.html
Then play this for the children to here.
Or you can recite the words as the pianist plays the melody.
Sister Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI took my computer and the played the song fot them to listen to before we learned it. That way I didn't sing but they were able to listen to it.
Sister Kailyn
Hi! Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteCan you give me a tip on how to make the "spinner" on the poster be able to spin? What do you make yours out of so that it will do that? Thanks a Bunch!
I like your site except for the quote that the only way to teach the children the song is to sing it. I don't believe that at all, so all those music leaders that aren't the best singers, don't worry you can still teach them the song just as well if you recite the music to them. It's more about knowing the material.
ReplyDeleteComing back to this a month later. With butterflies in my tummy I did sing the song to the kids. We have conquered the melody (which was hard!) This song is lovely. I fully admit that I do think it helped them to hear how it should sound rather then me say the words and them try to hear the melody with the piano... some of us have a hard time picking out the part we are supposed to sing! ;)
ReplyDeleteI really like the ideas of using a cd, a primary class or a family to present new songs! Thanks!
ABBA? You got me, I can belt it with the best of them. TAKE A CHANCE ON MEEEEEEEEEEE! :)
Below are links to an arrangement our ward is doing of "I Know My Savior Loves Me" in our fall primary program -- includes a violin and cello part:
ReplyDeleteScore (original version):
http://www.ashleyhallmusic.com/PDF/I_Know_That_My_Savior_Loves_Me.pdf
Score (shorter version):
http://www.ashleyhallmusic.com/PDF/I_Know_That_My_Savior_Loves_Me_(MQ3).pdf
MP3 sample (original):
http://www.ashleyhallmusic.com/MP3/I_Know_That_My_Savior_Loves_Me.mp3
MP3 sample (shorter):
http://www.ashleyhallmusic.com/MP3/I_Know_That_My_Savior_Loves_Me_(MQ3).mp3