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

ARTICLE

This turned out to be too exaggerated for some of the ized concepts, and are more likely to produce the same
Bees. Many would use the crouch as an opportunity to sounds they worked so hard to perfect if the associated
fully sit on the floor, and the clap encouraged some of movement is kept for the performance.
them to yell the final consonant. We attempted to fix
the issue by explaining that they should crouch instead
of sit, and sing the consonant instead of yell, but a sim- Part Three:
ple adjustment in the movement (standing from a slight Lifting Them Up
bend and pulsing hands on the beat) proved to be much All of our singers deserve exciting and meaning-
more effective. ful performance opportunities. When a prestigious or
Another way to hone in on effective movement is to highly visible opportunity comes up, organizations and
involve the singers in the process. Young singers natu- school programs often send their top or oldest group.
rally move in ways that make sense to them, but they There is nothing wrong with giving top ensembles won-
will need guidance to refine their ideas into something derful opportunities, but our youngest and least-expe-
that will achieve the desired effect for the whole ensem- rienced singers should also be considered. In doing this
ble. Begin by playing or singing a large portion of the it is essential to set our young singers up for success
piece- singers can move either in their own space or through appropriate repertoire, effective and engaging
around the whole room. Ask them to match the music rehearsal, and high expectations enforced with kind-
using their whole body, then only their feet, only their ness and encouragement.
arms, only their fingers, only their face, etc. Each time As conductors of our young ones, we have the op-
you repeat the exercise, prompt students to focus their portunity to educate not only singers but audiences.
attention on one of the musical concepts you would When you think of a typical outstanding choral per-
like to emphasize within a phrase or section (or ask formance, what comes to mind? Polished, uniform ex-
them what they would like to listen for!). When you no- ecution, professional stage presence, impeccable tran-
tice a motion that could help the group, ask the sing- sitions? While these things have their place, it may be
er to demonstrate and have the whole group give it a time to redefine success on the stage in order to be truly
try while singing the short phrase. You can then follow representative of the work we do as educators, singers,
the same process as above to refine the movement into and human beings.
something that will help the singers best express and
achieve the musical goal.
Your singers can be beautifully expressive, and they
can also be very silly! Allowing moments of silliness
through movement can help establish a culture of fun,
trust, and validation. Young students are often told to
calm down or focus (which is sometimes necessary), but
providing a space for them to be themselves and ex-
plore the possibilities of musicmaking can both help
them feel affirmed as a goofy young person and aid in
their focus in the long run. Including movement in the
rehearsal in both structured and less-structured ways
harnesses our littles’ energy to help them achieve great
things in a positive and naturally motivating way.
Transferring the wonderful work you do in rehearsal
also becomes easier when you keep movements con-
sistent between practice and performance. Singers will
feel more comfortable with the familiarity and internal-

CHORAL JOURNAL November/December 2025 Volume 66 Number 4 37