Has your primary ever been asked to sing in sacrament meeting with only one week’s notice? Or maybe you don’t want to devote all of singing time to practice to sing in sacrament meeting? Never fear! I have a few tips and tricks to help you prepare to sing in sacrament meeting without much practice in singing time!
Spring usually means your primary may be asked to sing quite often in singing time! With Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day usually all in a row. I want to share some ideas I use to prepare to sing in sacrament meeting!
No one wants to prepare months in advance to sing in sacrament meeting. But we also want the kids to feel prepared and able to sing when asked. It’s quite the double-edged sword.
Check out my ideas to help aid you and your primary to sing in sacrament meeting without stress and especially, without using all of your precious singing time!
Prelude and Postlude
Use transition time (the time when children are coming or leaving primary) to practice for singing in sacrament meeting. This is basically FREE time! Utilize it to your advantage!
Have your pianist play the song(s) as prelude. This will help reinforce the melody with the children. Plan to have the songs played a few weeks prior to singing in sacrament meeting.
Gospel for Kids App
If your pianist isn’t available to play the songs, simply use the Gospel for Kids app instead! Play the song(s) on your phone using a speaker and VOILA! Instant practicing while you, your pianist and primary presidency set up for primary!
You can check out more details HERE on this app.
Practice at Home
Ask primary families if they can practice their upcoming song to sing in sacrament meeting at home. And no one in the family even has to be musical! If they have access to a phone, they can easily practice!
The week before your primary is to sing in sacrament meeting, share a link to your song via YouTube, church website links, etc. with your primary families. Your primary presidency has capabilities to email all primary families – utilize that feature!
Suggest children watch or listen to the song in several ways:
- each night as they prepare for bed
- drive to school each morning
- during family scripture study and family home evening
- while they eat breakfast or dinner
- getting dressed for church
Sing what you Teach
You might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone and sing the same song in sacrament meeting what you are already teaching in singing time. Usually during Easter, one of the song choices for that month directly relates to Jesus Christ. So sing it in sacrament meeting!
No one will even remember, come program time, that you sang the same song for Easter! Same goes for Christmas.
Post the Words
There is nothing wrong with having the words for the children to use as they sing in sacrament meeting. Next time you watch the Tabernacle Choir sing, notice how often they use their music!
I post the words every time we sing in sacrament meeting! Check out how I do it HERE.
An added bonus to posting the words is every pair of reading eyes is on you!
NOT a Performance
Remember, singing in sacrament meeting is not a performance! The primary is a group of young children sharing their testimonies through song. No matter how singing in sacrament meeting goes, everyone did their best – including you!
Regardless of how much practice you and your primary have been able to do, the Lord will be pleased with your effort.
For my primary, I only take the 1 week before we sing in sacrament meeting to practice. That’s about the only amount of time I feel like I have to devote to it. But using the ideas suggested above, we always sound great!
Is it ever perfect? Absolutely not! But gratefully, that’s never mine and Heavenly Father’s intent!
How do you prepare?
I’d love to hear more ideas about how your primary prepares to sing in sacrament meeting! Leave a comment to help everyone out! Check out more comments on my FB post HERE as well! Ideas include:
- Use small groups such as families, Activity. Day boys/girls, youth, etc.
- Plan ahead with the Ward Music Chair at the beginning of the year so nothing comes as a surprise
- Sing something familiar (nothing wrong with repurposing a song learned a previous year)
If you liked this post, you may be interested in my singing time organization series HERE.
