C is for Chimes

      This week for Blogging Through the Alphabet the letter is C. Marcy from the blog Ben and Me is endeavoring to blog through the entire alphabet and invited others to join her. Visit Marcy’s blog and read her C word and then visit the other blogs that are participating.

     Chimes! This week my chosen word is Chimes. Our church has a children’s chime choir. Ben and Rebekah are members and Sarah is a helper. This has been a new experience for my kids but they really love it.

     Ben and Rebekah love to go to chimes. They run in, see their friends, play a little bit, then get to work. The Chime Choir this year is a very young one. They range in age from 6 to 11. The  two 11 year olds have played before, but the other 8 are brand new. The director is gently teaching them the staff, what notes are on the staff, music timing, and watching her. It is so fun to hear the Chimes  play, and see the smiles on the kids faces when they  get to the end of the song.

     Because the players are new and fairly young, we usually have a couple mothers and my daughter Sarah around to help. Sarah plays piano and Hand Bells (can you guess what my H word will be). The little girls who are six love to have Sarah help them.  The Chime Choir director, who is also my kids piano teacher, the Hand Bell Choir Director and Pastor’s wife, relies on Sarah to help both before and after Chimes by getting out and putting away the chimes and music.

     Chime Choir has really stretched Ben and Rebekah in their music playing. They both take piano lessons, and chimes is another way to access their musical training. I like that some of the problems they are having with timing while playing the piano can be worked out through playing chimes. Learning to count and stay in rhythm is learned through chimes. If you play your note early, you mess the rest of the choir up, so timing becomes very important. My kids have learned to watch their music and follow along so they know when it is their turn to play their note.

     The best part of Chime Choir though, is that the kids have the opportunity to add to the church’s worship through their music. They are learning reverence and the joy of raising songs of praise to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Chime Choir is one way that this is accomplished.