"Made for Praise" children's choir curriculum info?

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"Made for Praise" children's choir curriculum info?

Date: January 29, 2013

by Heidi Vander Zouwen

Views: 1145

Is anyone familiar with the "Made For Praise" curriculum kits for church children's choir? Do the volumes build on each other so they can be used in order in a choir program?

I have recently started leading a Wednesday night music group and have been writing my own lessons plans, but would like to find a simple curriculum to make planning easier and give more structure to the program.

Several years ago, someone led music for the kids and left behind a "Made For Praise (For Younger Children), Vol. 5" curriculum kit. I have looked over the teachers' guide and like the program, but it seems a little too advanced for my current group of about eight Kindergarten-2nd Graders. (For example: Lesson 1 talks about syncopation, and we are still working on keeping a steady beat and recognizing quarter notes and rests. Also, many of the student worksheets require quite a bit of reading, and my kids are beginning readers).

I have found volumes 1-4 for sale online, but my question is, are these earlier volumes more elementary? Would it be worthwhile to look into buying Volume 1 or 2 to start off on this program?

Replies (3): Threaded | Chronological

Susan Martin on February 12, 2013 1:35pm

Hi Heidi!

I am very familiar with the "Made For Praise" curriculum! I used it extensively when I taught elementary music at a Christian School from 1998 to 2006, and I still use it today with my church children's choirs. There are 8 volumes of "Made For Praise for Younger Children" and 8 Volumes of "Made For Praise for Older Children." After volume 8, they combined next 5 volumes for both younger and older children.

To answer your question, the "Made For Praise" volumes do not indicate levels of music or music theory. The different volume numbers simply indicate the different repertoire and activities. In other words, the concepts in the volumes do not build upon each other. There are also 5 volumes of "Play and Praise" for preschool. When I taught elementary music I used the "Play and Praise" curriculum for my Pre-K (4-year olds) and Kindergarten classes. In fact, I usually combined these two grades for programs, etc. I used "Made For Praise for Younger Children" for my 1st and 2nd graders, and "Made for Praise for Older Children" for the 3rd through 5th grade classes.

It is a wonderful curriculum, but unfortunately most of the older volumes are out of print. I still have CD's, Accompaniment Tracks and students book for all the volumes, but have lost my teaching materials during several moves. I was googling online to see if anyone had it for sale when I found your post :-)

Heidi Vander Zouwen on February 25, 2013 5:50pm

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post! This is exactly the information I was seeking. It sounds like it might work best for me to just pick and choose from the lessons for my choir. I had noticed that it was difficult to find the earlier volumes for sale. I hope that you found what you were looking for. : )

Raymond Cox on February 26, 2013 3:22pm

You should check out the curriculum from the folks who publish the Celbrating Grace hymnal. It's a non-denominational, non-profit group. It is very well done, educationally sound, with music by well-known choral writers like Joseph Martin & Mary McDonald. Its fun without being 'cutesy' like so much contemporary Christian for children. Highly recommended.