As the Primary Chorister in my ward it is my duty to provide about 15 minutes of singing time every Sunday, and 45 minutes of Sharing time on every fifth Sunday. I thought it might be nice to provide a semi-regular accounting of the activities I do as a public service. If I remain in this calling for an extended period of time (which looks very likely) then this may end up being a good sized repository of singing time ideas for other Choristers or for family home evenings.

So, here goes. This Sunday we learned about Fermatas. For those unfamilar with it, a fermata is a symbol used in music that indicates the note should be held for longer than the note value would indicate- How much longer is at the performer's or conductor's discretion.

For the activity I drew a fermata on a piece of construction paper. I explained where the symbol comes from and what it means to the children. Then I explained that while we sing the songs I'll hold up my fermata sign and when the sign is up they should hold that note until I put it down. (It is very important that the pianist be able to see you clearly for this one if you want him/her to hold the note with the children.) We then spent the rest of the time using the fermata sign while singing the songs we've been learning.

As an example, a song might go something like this:

"Listen to the [sign up] sti----------------ll [sign down] small voice, listen! Listen! [sign up] Whe--------n [sign down] you have to [sign up] ma--------ke [sign down] a choice, He will guide [sign up] yo----------u [sign down], Always."