Singing time!

At church, my new calling is to be the Primary pianist. It is so fun!!
I mean, the actual playing of the songs is pretty straightforward. I play, they sing. But then I get to watch Primary, and that part is hilarious!
Last week, my family was in town for Penelope's blessing. My niece, Rachel, got to go to Primary, and she was a hoot! She doesn't do so well at the whole sitting-in-her-chair-and-being-reverent thing. She is four. She loves to be involved and interactive. From where I was sitting, I was able to catch her eye and motion for her to zip her lips and toss out the key. She did that, and for about 20 seconds, she was quietly listening. We repeated this several times throughout Primary. I didn't expect-- or want-- her to be silent. But once she got too distracting for the other kids, I'd motion for her to zip her lips, and she'd do it. So cute!
But then the kids are supposed to sing, too. She doesn't go to church very often, so she doesn't know any of the songs. So while her teacher beside her was singing, Rachel would (loudly enough for me to hear it) tell her teacher to "zip your lips." Oops. ;)
Then as part of the game to keep the kids focused on singing, they had to answer some questions. The teacher would read the question, and before anyone had a chance to answer, Rachel would answer it. Once, the question was, "Why did God give us families?" The answer was supposed to be from the line of the song the teacher was about to read (To help us become what He wants us to be), but before she had a chance, Rachel had announced that the reason was "So we won't be alone." Yes, that's true, too. So she said that answer a few times. Then the little kid next to her thought that made a lot of sense and started saying it, too. The kid whose turn it was to answer the question, even after hearing the song lyrics, thought the best answer was, "So we won't be alone." Rachel's quite persuasive!
My favorite part of watching Rachel in Primary was when they decided to change gears to quiet down and say the closing prayer. The song we would be singing as the reverence song would be "Whenever I hear the song of a bird." Most of the kids didn't know this one (I know! Tragic!), but I could hear Rachel singing over everyone else the whole time: "TWEET TWEET TWEET TWEET!!"
Rock on, Rachel!
This week, it wasn't quite so amusing. There was one point where, while singing "I am like a star shining brightly," instead of waving his twinkle fingers like the little kids, one of the older boys waved his scheming fingers and looked just like that evil asylum owner from Beauty and the Beast.
My favorite part of this week involved bribery.
We have a fairly small Primary. I think there are about 20 kids. When they sing, it usually sounds all right for the first verse. Then any other verse sounds like, "mumble mumble mumble." The older kids know the words, but they sing silently. And the little kids don't know the words.
Or so I thought.
Today, since the Primary program is coming up, they needed some serious practice. Whenever we sang one of the program songs, if they sang it well, each kid would get one Skittle.
That. worked. wonders!
While it wasn't necessarily beautiful, we had a whole chorus of kiddos singing their pipes to the max. There WERE parts where they didn't know the words. But today made it quite apparent that they just get lazy about the parts they do know.
My favorite part was when they sang "How Firm a Foundation." They rocked the first verse. Then the next verse, they struggled on a few lines, and it sounded like this:

Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not afraid.
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause sadfk;lj thee to stand s;fkajdf
Upheld by my righteous
Upheld by my righteous
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.

I love Primary!