The Young Elementary School Chorus: An Introduction to Choral Singing

Erie, Pennsylvania. rade configuration and grade divisions often dictate the structure of school performing groups. Traditionally, elementary schools have served kindergarten through sixth grade, and students in grades five and six have had the opportunity to join the chorus. Sometimes younger children performed with their classes or grade levels in special school programs, but they rarely belonged to an organized chorus. Today, space and other needs imnpose changes in the upper elementary grades that can radically split elementary choruses. School systems may place sixth graders in middle schools, either alone or with seventh and eight graders. In this configuration, elementary chorus membership usually includes fourth and fifth graders. Although this produces some necessary alterations in the chorus curriculum, these changes are not catastrophic. But what about when schools move fifth graders across town, away from grades K-4? Can the elementary chorus survive in this situation? Can third and fourth graders learn to produce musical sounds that are worth the teacher's effort to organize a chorus? After twenty-four years with third and fourth graders, I have come to believe that this age group can do amazing things in a chorus experience.