Tips for Using Music with Your Middle Schoolers

Since most kids in middle school are beginning to develop varying (and sometimes quite sophisticated!) tastes in music, it can be a challenge to find music they will respond to in the church school setting. Keeping up with constantly changing trends in their music can also be a challenge. So here are a few pointers that may be helpful for getting to know their music and using it in your sessions.

• Check out local Christian pop and rock stations. Call in or check their websites for the top ten songs by Christian artists. Listen to the stations’ broadcasts in your car to find what your middle schoolers may be listening to. Learn the stations’ call letters, talk with the kids about these stations, and encourage them to check them out, if they haven’t already.
• Go to your local Christian bookstore and listen to sample recordings of current pop and rock songs. Many music stores will also have a “contemporary Christian” section with song samples you can listen to.
• Many Christian bookstores also sell magazines that feature music, musicians, concert information, and more. Some of your middle schoolers might know of these magazines or appreciate paging through some when you have extra time in your sessions.
• You can also search the Internet for Christian music stores, radio station websites, and artists’ websites. Most of the music store sites will offer clips of songs that you can download and listen to, and many of the radio stations offer live-feeds so that you can listen to their programming online. The artists’ sites usually offer news and background about the artists, downloadable song clips, and current concert information.
• A good CD to own is the yearly WOW CD, which includes the past year’s top 30 Christian pop and rock songs. Another good one is the annual Dove Awards album. You may be able to plug a number of the songs from these CDs into the sessions you teach.
• Of course, there are many contemporary worship and Scripture songs that your kids will know and that some of them will also respond to. You’ll find suggestions for using these kinds of songs here and there in Walk With Me sessions. Keeping up with WOW Worship and WOW Gospel CDs may also help you plug additional songs into your sessions.
• Remember that middle school kids probably won’t sit in your room and sing together. Most of them don’t think that’s a cool thing to do! They’ll be much more apt to listen to CDs you bring in and to discuss what you’ve listened to as a group.
• If the kids do sing, their singing will be pretty soft. That’s OK. Be encouraged that they may be thinking about the words.
• Encourage your group of middle schoolers to bring their own Christian CDs and to share them with each other. I’ve found that many of the kids like what’s currently popular, even if they’re not familiar with some of the artists (many of whom sound like their secular counterparts). The more kids you can turn on to Christian music, the better! One way to do so may be to play CDs as background music during activity times.

There’s lots of good Christian music coming out all the time, and your middle schoolers will appreciate your efforts to listen and learn along with them.

—Sherry Merz, music editor