One of the challenges of choral music for children is meeting fulfilling the complex priorities of what works for children singing in groups.
For example, when you hear music on the radio, and sing along, try to imagine that particular song in the voices of a group of children. Plus, they only have a piano and possibly a drum beat to accompany them.
The five top features that must all be considered are:
Relevance – Can you explain the lyrics to a six-year-old? Afterwards, will the story be relevant to the children?
Age Appropriate – is there bad language, sexuality or violence? Is the subject matter appropriate? If the song is about significant loss, it may be too much for the kiddos.
Singable – Can kids actually sing the notes easily? Kids sing in the treble clef high voice range.
Rhythms – Are the rhythms do-able by the group you are working with? The limitations include fast dotted rhythms and tied over rhythms.
Fun & Enjoyable– Is the song fun for a kid to sing to an audience. Will the kids have the joy of watching the audience react?
Here’s your Venn Diagram / Intersection set of the above constraints, drawn by our Choral Program Director.
In the pop genre, The Beatles have songs that would be wonderful group singing, but for kids, some would fail on one or more of the criteria above.
If you know the song Eleanor Rigby, it is a profoundly poignant song about the existence and death of lonely people. You might be able to explain this to grades 4 to 7, but definitely not younger than that.
Another example is She’s Leaving Home from the St. Pepper’s album. This song could be raised to fit young voices and the dualling voices in the chorus could be split across the two halves the choir. But, and this is a big but, the song is about the total disconnect between parents and child. This could raise some serious concerns with some of your choristers.
Remember, you don’t know what’s going on at home for your young singers.
In 2025 our Choral Program Director led children across multiple schools. This is a sample of song choices that vary stylistically, linguistically, and thematically. Junior is considered grades 1 to 3 and Senior covers grades 4 to 7.
- If I planted a garden – by Sally DeFord – (Junior & Senior)
- I have a dream – ABBA – (Senior)
- The One (Girl) I mean to be – from “The Secret Garden” – (Junior)
- Hang on Little Tomato – by Pink Martini – (Senior)
- Butterflies – by Lillian Smith – (Junior)
- Spider’s Web – by Charlotte Diamond (Junior)
- Flying Free – by Don Besig – (Senior)
- Song for Yotin – by Sherryl Sewepagaham (Woodland Cree) (Junior and Senior)
- Xiao Yin Chuan (Little Silver Boat) – Mandarin song (Senior)
- La mer – French song by Charles Trenet – (Senior)
- Dunje Ranke – Traditional Serbian Folk Song – (Senior)
- The Aba Daba Honeymoon – by A. Fields/W. Donaldson – (Junior)
- Fruit Canon – Fun musical round – (Junior and Senior)
- Mary Anne – Calypso song from Trinidad – (Junior)
- We go together – From GREASE – E. Roy (Senior)
- Rock Around the Clock – by Max Freedman – (Junior)
- Everybody – by PINKZEBRA – E. Roy (Senior)