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Lifting Up the Littles: Highlighting your Youngest Singers Through Commissioned Works, Effective Rehearsal, Performance Opportunities, and Student Composition

so easy to feel less important when you conduct the that children’s choir conductors around the world can
littles. I am here to tell you that your work is just as proudly program.
difficult, just as artistic, just as valuable as those who One of my colleagues in my master’s program, Matt
conduct the most prestigious groups in our field. Carlson, happened to be a great composer who was
interested in writing exactly what I was looking for: ac-
cessible music for less available voicings that was still
Part One: just as crafted as the most complex SATB divisi piece.
Collaborative Commissioning Matt’s skills and aesthetic were just as much an impe-
Commissioned works are usually reserved for the tus for this project as the need for a great Bumblebee
“top” groups, but what if our kindergartners have this piece. If you don’t already have a colleague in mind as
opportunity? What if they get to feel the same excite- a composer for your commissioning project, reach out
ment and sense of ownership that comes with perform- to other children’s choirs, your state ACDA board, or a
ing something that was created for and with them? local college or university. (You could also reach out to
In 2018, I was preparing for my master’s recital. At Matt!) Chances are, somebody knows somebody who
the time, I conducted the Tucson Girls Chorus Bum- would be a good fit. Be sure to listen to some of the
blebee Singers (grades K-1) and Mariposa Singers composer’s previous works to get a feel for their style.
(grades 6-8). For the Mariposas, I had a hard time nar- For “Now We Have Rivers,” Matt and I were both
rowing down repertoire since there is so much age-ap- open to each other’s input throughout the process. He
propriate, high-quality, engaging music available for was the expert in composition; I was the expert in ex-
middle school treble choirs. I encountered the opposite actly what my choir needed to be successful. We also
problem for the Bumblebees. While there are many agreed that this piece must be well crafted and provide
accessible pieces out there for our youngest singers, I a vehicle for the Bees to tap into their fullest potential.
personally found too many of them to be either formu- Most importantly, we agreed that the project would be
laic, intentionally silly, or in need of much adaptation a collaboration between each other and the singers.
to actually work for the group. There is nothing wrong Including your young singers in the composition pro-
with programming silly songs or pieces with similar cess can be daunting, but if we position ourselves as
forms (and I do program these things!). For this situa- facilitators and allow our students to have a voice, truly
tion, however, I was looking for something that would beautiful things can emerge.
engage the Bees on a different level. The first step was settling on a topic. Start with what
Depending on your situation, you may need to ad- you know! For the Bees, we decided to write about
vocate for a commission. In my case, the TGC Director something unique to our home in Southern Arizona:
(Dr. Marcela Molina) was fully open to the idea from the monsoon. Each summer, it is scorching hot for a
the start. If your administration or director needs some couple months and then this glorious series of storms
convincing, you can emphasize the huge potential and rolls in and gives us rain, cooler weather, and familiar
unique skills that younger singers possess—their imag- scents of the earth.
ination, energy, openness, big hearts, and much more. Singers writing or contributing to the text is an ac-
These qualities will certainly shine through a musical cessible and powerful way to involve them in the pro-
project and highlight the organization or school as a cess. After spending some time talking about the mon-
whole. Additionally, younger singers are the future old- soon and some of the ways it looks, sounds, smells, and
er singers, and experiencing the sense of ownership and feels, we asked the singers to write a haiku about the
validation that comes with a collaborative commission monsoon with the help of their parents. We opened
project helps retain singers and parents. A commission this portion up to all K-8 TGC singers. This was for
for elementary singers also provides an opportunity for both the practical reason of gathering many options
growth and impact beyond the particular ensemble; from students of various language skills, and for the
you are adding a much-needed piece to the repertoire social/emotional aspect of collaborating across choirs.

32 CHORAL JOURNAL November/December 2025 Volume 66 Number 4