Elementary and middle school chorus teachers: As soon as it's even remotely age-appropriate, have your chorus classes sing tunes to which they can relate. Certain pop hits from previous eras might go over well. When I was in sixth grade, the chorus teacher led the class in playing the piano and singing selections from "The Muppet Movie," Joey Scarbury's "Theme From 'The Greatest American Hero' (Believe It Or Not)," and Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger," which was still a hit when we sang it.
The wrong approach is for classes to sing any song specifically for kids that's too contrived. (My brother still remembers a cringe-inducing song about going home from school and raiding the refrigerator that one of his chorus classes sang.) When a songwriter's lyrics suggest that (s)he was never a kid or sound overly stilted or sugary, that's a tune that's best avoided.
About 12 years after that sixth grade chorus teacher's class, I was working for a pre-Internet news processing service. I was working on the obituaries section one night and was startled to see that teacher's obituary as it came across the wire. I thought back to that class, the songs we all sang, and how she always remembered the age range of the students she taught and the music that spoke to them. That's what makes a good chorus teacher.
