Now let’s move on to the inside!
Front Pocket:
Inside Rings:
I’ve mentioned before that I post the words to a lot of songs we sing in primary. This may include our wiggle songs during transition time if needed or whatever. I also post words to the song I’m teaching for singing time (these words, however, are not always displayed depending on our activity). Check out my Posting Words page HERE for more details!
- Scripture Power
- I’ll Follow Him in Faith
- If the Savior Stood Beside Me
- The Family is of God, My Eternal Family
- I Know That My Savior Loves Me
- If I Listen with My Heart
- As a Child of God
- I Will Walk with Jesus
I can’t tell you how many times these have come in handy. Like the pianist needing a copy for prelude, a teacher randomly asking me if I had music because they want to sing it in their class, etc. You can find most of these HERE if you need.
Miscellaneous Items:
I like to keep a list of all the songs in my Wiggle Worm jar handy (find my jar HERE): And just any other random items that I like to keep. Class lists, substitute names and phone numbers, etc.
Back Pocket:
Here’s where I keep my “Hot ‘N Cold” note. I can rely on this little guy in times of need. Like if my singing time activity is falling apart (tell me I’m not the only one!!), I have extra time, etc. You can see how I use it HERE.
Back Cover:
This is where I keep a list of the current year’s suggested music for singing time. I create this list when I make our primary’s CD each year. You can find the current year’s it HERE.
And that’s that! I would strongly suggest primary music leaders arm themselves with a handy, dandy binder. I even put one together for my pianist…her front and back covers are the same as mine and the inside contains any music we sing/have sung that’s not in the Children’s Songbook.
These posts are part of my Singing Time Organization Series. You can find all my posts in this series HERE.
18 thoughts on “SINGING TIME ORGANIZATION SERIES, Part 2 – Singing Time Binder”
Love your blog…I'm a new chorister and need lots of helpful hints like this. How you print the words to each song is great and I'm giving this a try this week.
I've been reading your blog for a few months and I love it! Thanks so much for posting all of your great ideas!!
I like your organizational tips. I am organizationally challenged and it makes all those who have to work with me suffer. I like your ideas and think they will help. Will you post your template for Singing Time Schedule? I am computer challenged also 🙁 (I looked on primusic but didn't see it there either)
Mary, if you go to my Staying Organized Part 1, I posted my template. Just high light the template portion, right click on it, copy it, then open up a Word Document and paste it there. Or you can just re-type everything in a Word document as it's VERY simple.
I hope that helps!
~Camille
Thank you thank you! I love everything I have read on your blog and it is sooooo very nice to have a place to help us new choristers get started.
I would LOVE to see your Staying Organized Part 3. I need all the help I can get in getting (and staying) organized. 🙂
I'm finding more and more stuff on your blog that I would love to use. You have such great ideas and I'm glad I have a spot to turn to for new activities!
Thank you so much for this Camille! I just called as the Primary Chorister TODAY and I'm . . . nervous. BUT I do feel better after visiting Pinterest (which is where I found you!) and watching the Church's training videos. Now I feel inspired and hopeful.
Thank you for giving me a place to start!
Oh, I'm so excited I found this!! Primary Chorister is my dream job, but I have felt unorganized…this is going to save me!!:) Thank you!!
I like how you type out all the words in your binder. Do you do it differently for Jr. Primary since they can's read? Or is it mainly for the teachers?
I do it the same for both Jr. and Sr. Some of the Jr. primary can read, or are learning so they feel old when they can read it.
But yes, it's maily for the teachers and myself! When I step in front of the music stand, it comes in handy because the type is much bigger than my book and I can be all over the front teaching and still have the words available.
~Camille
I know you this is an old post, but I just found it and I think it's great. I need all the help I can get. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!
I would LOVE to see the Staying Organized Part 3 with all the visual aids being organized. I need help with this!!
Hi Sabrina!
If you check out the link at the very bottom of the post, you'll find it there!
~Camille
Thanks for the help! I need to be better about just keeping with me what I need. I am going to break my shoulder lugging my bag in. One question though? I looked through your wiggle worm songs and I was wondering if you post words to some of those songs? If so do you keep them at church? I know there were several of your wiggle worm songs that my primary does not know but it would be nice for them to learn. I guess my bag is so heavy because I am not organized enough to have planned out exactly which songs I need each week and want to keep everything on hand.
Hi LIse!
There ARE several Wiggle Worm songs that my primary doesn't know. That said, when I pull them out, I usually skip them (slyly of course!). If I had it completely together, I'd keep a binder in the closet that had every single song available to post words in order by page number (written on the back). Then each Sunday, I could post the words to any song in the songbook at any given moment! Wouldn't that be ideal?
Maybe to simplify that idea, I'd suggest starting with just the Wiggle Worm songs – keep them in a binder near the jar so when you pull out the jar, you can pull out the words as well. I hope maybe that would help!
~Camille
Curious where you stand when you’re doing your primary program or any time you sing in sacrament meeting so that they can see the words?
Hi Amy!
Great question! I may do an entire post to this question as I see it a lot. But here’s my condensed answer…
During the program, our primary is big enough to fill the choir seats with a few chairs in between. So it works best for me to stand right in front of the first pew off to the side by the piano.
We have a riser that’s big enough to fit my music stand and myself. When it’s time to lead the song, I stand on the riser, raise the music stand so it’s just above the privacy wall (can I call it that??) and so the kids can read the words. When we’re finished, I lower the stand then sit back down on the first row.
When we are simply singing in sacrament meeting, the kids stand around the pulpit and privacy wall. Then I sit on the first bench, off to the side near the piano. I’ll stand so I can see the pianist to start but then I sit down so I don’t block any of the kids. I usually hold my binder that holds the words that I’m posting.
I hope that helps a little!
~Camille