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I've become an assistant director of our church youth choir, and so far I'm loving it. But we need a name. Argo Christian Fellowship Youth Choir is a mouthful and doesn't fit well on flyers advertising our classes. Plus, we use the word "youth" to describe our middle and high school ministries and this is for younger kids. We have two divisions - one for 4 year olds through 2nd graders, and one (the one I work with) for 3rd - 6th graders.
Any suggestions? Maybe some of you have choirs for young people at your church and can tell me what they're called to help us decide?
Oh, and if someone trolls in the thread making derisive comments, let's just agree on the outset not to respond to it. I realize that youth choir isn't important to some of you, if that's the case, visit other threads. I'm hoping, though, that there are some hatrackers who would be willing to help me come up with something.
Also, if there is anyone out there who has ever worked with hand bells, could you share some experiences? We're thinking of trying one easy hand bell number for Christmas with out group, and perhaps even moving into an adult handbell choir at some point, and I'd love some suggestions or shared experience about how the best way to go about starting up a new handbell choir would be.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Oh, and if someone trolls in the thread making derisive comments, let's just agree on the outset not to respond to it. I realize that youth choir isn't important to some of you, if that's the case, visit other threads. I'm hoping, though, that there are some hatrackers who would be willing to help me come up with something.
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The younger choir at the church I used to attend was called Kids For Christ (KFC), which the kids seemed to love. (They used to think it was hilarious to suggest getting Kentucky Fried Chicken for the parties. That joke NEVER got old for them!)
KFC was fairly easy to come up with cool artwork for -- blocky alphabet-y type clip art is out there and not too hideous.
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
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I was in a handbell choir, and it was a lot of fun. I don't know how you would go about starting one, except that they're expensive. The bells are quite a bit of money, and you also need padded tables. If the resources are available though, it's a lot of fun and they sound great.
The other possible difficulty, particularly with younger bell choirs, is that it's quite a commitment. You really need everyone there all the time, unless someone wants to start learning multiple bells, which is a big step for beginners.
The adult bell choir I was in didn't have many problems, but the youth choir was tough work because kids would get busy with school sports and have to quit, or they'd graduate and move and we'd need to find and train new people frequently, so we never got very good.
I'd recommend "Jinglin' for Jesus" as a name. Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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MightyCow you're not kidding about the costs of the bells! Fortunately, there are already a set of kids' bells in the church so I don't have to buy those, but if we want to start an adult handbell choir we're going to need to do some serious fundraising.
I don't think we'll get to the adult handbell choir for a year or two, but I'd love to do it eventually. I get what you're saying about the commitment aspect, that's something to think about. We do have a core group of kids that we can pretty much count on to always be there, but it's much easier to plug in visitors into singing than it would be to something like handbells where specific parts have to be learned and lots of rehearsal is needed. I'll have to continue thinking on it.
Sharpie, I can see our group thinking KFC is a great joke too!
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I was in a youth handbell choir. It was really fun, I think we used music designed for beginners. We had 2 one-hour practices a week, and that was just about right for learning and practicing a new instrument. I was also in the kids' choir. But we were just LCPC Youth Choir. No cool name. So the only thing I can come up with is something like Argo Children's Christian Choir, which could be abbreviated to "The Triple 'C'." Which kinda sucks. So sorry, no help here.
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One of our choirs is called "Frankie and the Holy Rollers" as Frankie is the leader. Just plain Holy Rollers works too.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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How about 'Calico' for a choir name? I know it's not very spiritual or Christian...but it's a cool name.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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For some reason, I'm stuck on "The Young Argonauts." Then again, I've been reading Apollonius. Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Okay, here are some example names from my church. We are Methodists, so a couple have might not apply to other denominations.
We have four vocal choirs. They are The Sanctuary Choir (adults), The Chapel Choir (youth), The Altar Choir (older children), The Wesley Choir (children).
We've also got nine handbell choirs: Alleluia Ringers (beginning adults), Mitchell Ringers (adults), Peace Ringers (young adults), Jubliee Ringers (junior high youth), Celebration Ringers (senior high youth), Carol Ringers (advanced senior high youth), Rainbow Ringers (grade 3-4), Praise Ringers (grade 4-5), Chancel Ringers (grade 5-6).
I've never done any of the handbell stuff myself, but it is very popular, especially among the youth. They sound great, especially when they get together with one of the vocal choirs for a joint piece.
Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
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Chanticleer, after Wangerin's brave and sturdy Son of God.
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Edited to add: link is to Wikipedia, had to tinyurl because of percentage signs in the url. I also see that Chanticleer is the name of an orchestra out of San Francisco which credits Walt Wangerin, Jr., for the title. Huh. Never knew that. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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Chanticleer was/is used often in literature for an anthropromorphic rooster. But, since it means clear singer or sings with a clear voice, it might be appropriate. How about Chantelles or singers.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I went to a Methodist church too, but we only had two choirs, and neither had names - it was just "the adult choir" and "the children's choir". And no handbells, either.
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They say we have over 1000 members, although I would have to guess that about 300 or so regularly attend services. There is a pretty strong emphasis on music as a way of expressing/spreading the good news. Especially the handbells... They have concerts at the church every once in a while and regularly travel places to perform. Part of that is probably thanks to a very dedicated music director who has been around much longer than I've been alive.
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I don't have any suggestions for the choir. If you get the handbells going, I suggest "The Ding-a-Lings." Posts: 1877 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I think the choir in the elementary school I attended in 8th grade was called the Caroliers. The choir in academy (high school) was called the Madrigals.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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The kids themselves picked the name. To understand you, you need to know that our church is a fieldstone building and is commonly called the "Little Rock church" so one person suggested a name playing off the word Rock and the kids unanimously voted it in.
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Just watch out for Nazis masquerading as Hollywood actors...oh, and get me an autograph from Ms. Connely please? Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Actually, CT, "CHanticleer" is originally from the Canterbury Tales. We got to read that story in English last year. There was also another movie for kids, "Rock-a-doodle," about a singing rooster named Chaunticleer. But I think Canterbury Tales outdates that by... well, by quite a bit.
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Actually, it is a lot older than that. But the Canterbury Tales Chanticleer story is probably the one that is read most these days.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I know of Canterbury Tales, Tinros. I was referencing Wangerin for his explicit reference to a Christ figure, since Belle was rooting around for names for a children's church choir.
As you probably know, Canterbury Tales itself is predated by a yet more ancient French tale of Reynard and the Fox, on which Chaucer based this section of the Nun's Priest's Tale. [Edit: As AT notes, above. ] And so the actual beginning of the name "Chanticleer" probably goes far further back than you or I can ever trace. However, we can still enjoy it now.
Wangerin published The Dun Cow (which references Chaucer and older tales in many other ways) in 1978, the same year Chanticleer the male vocal ensemble was formed. On their official webpage, they pay homage to Chaucer, but elsewhere I saw one of the founding members give credit for the inspiration of the name to Wangerin [as he was reading him at the time of the initial meetings]. No matter.
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Fortunately, there are already a set of kids' bells in the church so I don't have to buy those, but if we want to start an adult handbell choir we're going to need to do some serious fundraising. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
It was really fun, I think we used music designed for beginners. We had 2 one-hour practices a week, and that was just about right for learning and practicing a new instrument. I was also in the kids' choir. But we were just LCPC Youth Choir. No cool name. So the only thing I can come up with is something like Argo Children's Christian Choir, which could be abbreviated to "The Triple 'C'." Which kinda sucks. So sorry, no help here.
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