No, seriously. Get Sing the Faith: the Small Catechism Set to Music. As good as this is, the sales should be so brisk that CPH would have a difficult time keeping enough in stock.
The description of this product at the CPH.org website is not hype. It’s no brag, just fact.
How can that be? Because of an old, tried, and true principle of pedagogy (the knowledge or study of how people learn). “Words paired with music are more easily learned and remembered.” That’s what CPH says, and it’s true.
With Sing the Faith, the words of the Small Catechism are set to original tunes in order to teach and aid memory of these important words.
Each of the 67 upbeat songs covers a portion of the Ten Commandments, Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Confession, the Office of the Keys, the Lord’s Supper, and prayers.
Sing at home, in the car, at school or at Sunday School. Sing here, there, and everywhere.
But enough with the sales pitch, even though, as I said, it’s no brag, just fact. Here are user comments from Amazon, that track with what my family has experienced.
My son struggles so much with memory work! This has helped TREMENDOUSLY! The elders enjoy him singing these songs to them! 🙂
This is that best teaching tool for the catechism for all ages and the music actually sounds good and is catchy worth a purchase and great for car rides with young children.
I like it, it works for me. We are trying to teach our daughter the Small Catechism and this seems like it will work. She likes the tunes. I hear there is also an accompaniment book that goes along with it. Might not be necessary, but if you are teaching the tunes, it could help.
Every point has its own song. Each commandment has its own verse and song. It’s cheap, get it and try it.
Want to memorize something lengthy and detailed? Put it to music and sing it. Better yet, before you know it, your 6 year old child is learning the catechism by heart, because as the ancients knew, anything put to rhythm and a tune is far easier to retain. This album is a brilliant idea, and it is working to help my homeschooler learn the material far faster than I would have ever hoped.
Usually when items are put to music (especially in Christian circles they are…”hoaky.” Maybe too “broadway” or a little too “sugary” for my tastes. While all these cuts are sung by children, and when I first listened to it I wasn’t sure, but the quality of the melodies (as well as the harmonies) convinced me not only to pick it up, but also to advise the parents of my confirmation students to pick it up as well. The next step will be figuring out ways we can include parts of it in our worship service (yes, there is a songbook, too). Highly recommended.
It’s true, the children’s voices singing in these recordings do at first make the songs seem juvenile, but the second time through, when you start singing along, you realize, it was only the youth of the voices, not the composition or arrangement of the music, that made you feel that way the first time through. From the second time on, you realize that this is music you will like to sing even into old age. This is adult music too. This music spans generations. A genius is behind this, and I think I know who.† And that is going to give you the blessed words of the Catechism even when you have become infirm in other ways.
Here’s an entertaining comment that CPH.org has the integrity to let stand on its site:
Great resource – in a convenient 1980’s format.
This really does help kids learn the small catechism by heart. Catechumens who listen to this learn it more quickly, more completely, and more permanently than catechumens who do not. However, few homes even own CD players today. The only one in our house is on an old laptop. I’ve had to rip it to mp3 so the kids can listen on their tablets. CPH should offer it as a download. And they should think about offering a bulk-price so a church can buy it once, and then give the mp3 files to families in their church without worrying about extra payments. This format is almost unusable. You may as well sell the Lutheran Confessions in cuneiform. I pay for the CD and the shipping, to avoid copyright issues, then rip it and give it to families on SD cards so they can actually listen. Downloadable could make this the go-to method for learning the catechism. CD’s reminds me of a quaint bygone era. But they don’t help me teach the faith. (Make it available on MP3, and the rating goes from 3/5 to 6/5) UPDATE: Apparently, it’s available on Amazon as an mp3 download.
Do note, the reason that commenter was critical is that, if only he could have bought these recordings in Mp3 format, he would have rated them 6 out of 5!! This is an A+ product. The criticism was, for such a fantastic product, the CD format is an obstacle. Maybe if a few hundred more of us encouraged them along that line … ? In the meantime, we can get over the obstacle, as the commenter noted.
At Amazon, there are snippets as samples. At CPH.org, they have all the complete tracks available to sample.
A favorite section of mine is the Third article.
The Third Article
Meaning One
Meaning Two
Meaning Three
Do yourself and everyone around you a favor. Get this and use it.
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We’re using these in our worship services to re-learn the catechism between now and October, 2017. The biggest complaint I’ve heard is that a few of the melodies are rather challenging (I must admit, I agree– but only a few of them.) The older members have also objected because what they learned is different from the current translation, which is the one used in these songs. Definitely recommend, however!
I have to say, I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of allowing churches to purchase the rights to distribute this album as mp3’s to families! Wouldn’t it be awesome if families could download these songs for free onto a phone from their church’s website?! Please, CPH. This is a marvelous resource, but there needs to be a way to make it more accessible!
When we learned about the product, we were apparently still in the dark ages of using CD’s and the obstacle then was, “Which track number corresponds with which of the 60-some parts that have so beautifully been made into song format?” So I modified a free PDF version of LSC and placed the track numbers right next to each part, so I could easily go to the corresponding track. But we had been motivated to teach our kids the catechism by heart way earlier than we had been taught. A 2.5 year lay mission trip to Japan where you might see ONE conversion the whole time you’re there teaches you quickly that the easiest way to evangelize is to catechize your own children from the time they are conceived! And conversely, DON’T let the current culture of death catechize them for you by default!
Now, I’m just a homeschool mom, in a church where there are currently about 4 families who regularly bring their kids to Divine Service and Sunday school! I want to encourage them to be catechizing their children at home, but unless I can put this resource in front of them in a more convenient way, it’s very difficult to “make the sale.”