Choosing a top-ten HIT for your elementary school graduation could be a top-ten MISS!
Selecting songs for the graduating class (or chorus) can be tricky. If you ask your students to suggest songs, they will most likely choose Top 10 Pop Songs of the day. If you can find one with appropriate lyrics and message, it might work. However, be aware of a few pitfalls of choosing a pop song the kids love.
- Some of your students may love it, and some may not. Further, if the original version is sung by a female vocalist, your male students may object, saying it’s a ‘girl’s’ song. The reverse may hold true if the original version is sung by a male vocalist.
- A song that sounds good when performed by a solo vocal artist may sound awful when sung by a graduating class (or chorus). All the flourishes that a vocalist (such as Mariah Carey) does might sound awful when performed by 50, 100, or more students.
- If you are playing the accompaniment on the piano (or keyboard), your students will inevitably say "That’s not how it goes" or "It’s not supposed to sound like that!" Children are used to the CD/MP3 they love, which was done with professional musicians, computers, and recorded in a million-dollar recording studio. You can not match that with a simple piano accompaniment.
ALTERNATIVES:
I suggest you choose songs your students have no prior knowledge of. Since your students were mostly likely born around 1999/2000, that leaves a whole world of possibilities. Personally, I love Broadway songs from the 1970’s. By and large, they have a pop-rock feel, and they’re mostly unfamiliar to my students, which makes them fresh and new. Of course, using a pop song from the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s is also great idea. If you’re feeling creative, try changing the lyrics of an old pop song, thereby turning it into a fresh, rhythmic, and exciting graduation tune. For example, I once took the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hit "Working My Way Back To You," and made it into a kindergarten graduation song called "Working Our Way Up To First Grade." It was a big hit! And finally, commercial octavos of original songs are always a good choice.
If you are looking for some fun and original graduation songs, as well as all the standard graduation ceremony music, check out my
Graduation Complete Piano/Vocal Songbook with Accompaniment/Rehearsal
Listen to Pomp and Circumstance from Graduation Complete in the audio player, below.