So, maybe you have started a children's choir, a school choir, or a new choir at church - or maybe you would like to know how to? Either way you need some great choir music for the kids to sing. With so much choir music available for children and adults it can be difficult knowing which choir music to choose.

I run a school choir, but the ideas here are not limited to school choir music - children in any choir will enjoy the suggestions set out below - and you will enjoy leading them and listening to their performances!

Exactly what choir music you need to sing will depend on the type of choir and the level of musical experience both you and your singers have. But the following suggestions of tried and tested childrens school choir music will take some of the guesswork out of the process for you, and should give you a relatively quick and effective return for your, and your singers' efforts.

Good luck and happy singing!

Singing is great fun, and good for body and soul, but for the best results you need to warm up, just as you do before any exercise. To find out more about learning to sing and improving your singing try here.

You probably have kids in your school choir who are busy at other times of the week with lots of different sports and hobbies. Warm up time is a good opportunity to talk to them about how useful singing is for their other activities too. Explain how the breath control is useful for swimmers, and wind instrument players; how the relaxation techniques help anyone who gets nervous at a gymnastics meet, or before an exam; how learning good posture is great for dancers, divers; how singing makes you live longer! Go on sell it to them!

Try these books for some good ideas to kick off your choir practices.

The best music for your choir to sing is choir music that you enjoy. That means music that the kids enjoy singing, and also music that you enjoy conducting and leading.

Of course, everybody's taste is different, and the only way to find out what you like is to try lots of different styles and genres of music.

Try to keep an open mind. You do not have to choose traditional school choir music, just because you are dealing with kids. The pop ballad you loathed as a teenager might sound fantastic in two part harmony from a group of school children. Equally don't assume that kids will reject the type of school choir music that you recall from your own childhood, and don't assume that they only want to sing kids music. Children are much better than adults at coming at something free from any preconceptions. They will embrace hymns or 'serious' music if it is well taught and has a tune and overall effect they enjoy.

My lot seem to relish being treated as more mature musical beings, and put real feeling into some of the 'adult' stuff we do - folk songs, songs from old movies and shows - Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern etc. Steer clear of too much of the vapid 'we are the children of the world' pap that some anthologies for kids choirs seem to assume they want to sing. My kids no more want to sing about greenhouse gases than they want extra algebra homework.

Of course it's not all serious stuff - some humour and novelty songs work well too. Try 'Our Dustbin' or 'Scooby Doo' from the Junior Voiceworks series. We also enjoyed 'A cat Called Alexander' from the same series, with improvised meowing after each verse.

As a starting point  for school choir music the Voiceworks series is a great place to begin - you get a long of song for your money, and the books whilst they seem expensive, are photocopiable, so you get whole choir's worth of music 33 times over for each book. Great value for money for schools who are offering an after school or in school activity on a limited budget.  Works well for any community group with restricted finances. Other sheet music which does not come with photocopying permission, you should really buy a full set for each choir member and the leader and accompanist. After all, somebody is trying to make a living writing the stuff, and it is rude, not to mention illegal to rip them off.

Other suggestions include, Sing for Pleasure's Junior Song Books, which are fabulous and have enough simple rounds and part-songs (many with actions) to keep your choir busy for several years!

Alan Simmons Music produce many song books suitable for top primary age children. A lot of Alan's music is catchy and humorous but also includes beautiful ballads such as 'Butterfly' and 'Creatures of the Deep'.

Doreen Rao's Choral Music Experience (Boosey) has some excellent pieces. The first junior anthology is the place to start.Also Jan Holdstock's music is very good for this age group - very singable - especially her rounds.

Finally, Alfred Choral Publishing is the place to go if you want a bit of schmaltz (especially at Christmas!). There are also good arrangements of songs such as 'Bye Bye Blackbird' and 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' in this series.


One tip - keep the sheet music together centrally. Don't give it to the kids to take home. Let them have the photocopied sheets if you wish, but the reality is, they won't practice in between choir sessions, but they will unfailingly lose their music or spill breakfast cereal on it. If you want a nice crisp set of music for performance, guard it with your life!