13: Music and worship

“I’m not much of a musician and I struggle to do much singing with my group but they do enjoy it when we do. How can I make this more fun – for me as well as them?”

Music has always been associated with children’s work in the church. Sunday groups, mid-week groups, missions and clubs usually include a time of singing for the children and this time may be labelled in the leaders’ minds as ‘worship’.

Are singing and worship the same thing? If worship is about proclaiming God’s worthiness and greatness, about meeting him face to face, listening to him, talking to him and spending time with him, then many of the Christian songs that children are taught have nothing to do with worship at all!

Look through the songs that you frequently use with your group and ask yourself the following questions:

• What is the point of the song?
• Who is being addressed?
• Is the focus on God or ourselves?

A song is not useless just because it is not a worship song, but it’s as well to know why the song is being used – to teach something, to reinforce a point the children are learning or to respond to God, for instance.

As a rule, 3 to 4s can’t read, so introducing new songs is not easy. Those we choose must be easy-to-learn. It’s hard for children to pitch notes, so big leaps up or down in a tune are difficult for them. The best kind of song for this age group has repeated phrases, a simple tune and a snappy rhythm.

If you are not musical, get a strong singer, preferably with a keyboard or guitar backing, to make a recording of the song you want to teach. Remember that 3 to 4s need to sing more slowly than you think, so do not let your musician record it at too fast a tempo. On the other hand, don’t let it drag or your group will get bored easily. The song should be played through several times with a suitable pause between each performance. If you play your own instrument make sure that you can face the children throughout the singing of the song and give them eye contact. This helps them to maintain concentration. You need to be able to know the music well enough so that only an occasional glance at it is necessary.

 Once you know why you've chosen the song and are sure that it is sing-able, the best way to teach it is to sing it through to the children. Give them something to do while you sing. For example, you could get them to pat their knees in time to the music. (You will need to lead this yourself, of course.) Or you could ask them to listen for certain words or phrases, eg 'Jesus loves me', which are repeated in the song.

Next, sing the first line and get the children to repeat it with you. Sing the second line and repeat in the same way. Then sing the first and second lines together and get the children to repeat them both. Do the same with the third and fourth lines. Actions, clapping and movements help to keep them interested, even when they are not able to sing the words themselves. Better still, songs with repeated phrases help the children feel involved in singing the parts they recognise.

If you want to use a song in worship, the teaching will need to be done first so that the focus can be on God during the singing, not on the performance. Of course, it may not be necessary for the children to sing the song themselves, just to participate with actions, clapping or dance, or join in with repeated phrases. This is just as meaningful for them as the singing of the whole song is for older children.

Singing does not equal worship and banging percussion instruments does not equal praise. Helping children to praise God entails more than giving them shakers to play at random.

Everyday articles, which can be shaken, banged, or twanged, can be used to enhance worship time, but it is better to avoid anything very noisy as it simply drowns out everything else including the voice of the person asking for quiet!

Children can learn how to use percussion instruments too. This can be achieved by playing games in which they have to stop playing at a given signal, eg when you raise your hand, or fold your arms. Another game could teach them to put the instruments down so that their hands can do other things, eg clap, wriggle fingers – a valuable lesson that helps to avoid irritation when using the instruments in worship. They can learn too to hold their instruments still, how to play them quietly – and loudly. And they can begin to play in rhythm, by using word rhythms, which they can copy. Once learnt, these simple skills can be used to enhance the children's worship.

Children like to participate in musical activities, but sometimes listening to music can be a very meaningful worship experience. Choose quiet music to evoke wonder and thankfulness and lively music to express joy. Music without words is preferable for listening activities.

Quieten the children to prepare them for listening. Begin to talk more quietly and more slowly. Then remind the children of what they have learnt about God that day. Ask them to listen to the music, but don't expect the activity to last for long. A few seconds of stillness can be quite an achievement, so do not think the activity was not a success because it did not last long. Move on to something more active as soon as the children begin to get restless.

Using music in worship can add greatly to children's experience of God. You may see activities in your Tiddlywinks books which you have never tried before. It's easy just to go for the ideas that you know work well. That feels safe, of course, but why not try out something new from time to time? Even if you do not think of yourself as musical, let the fun of music-making into your worship.