Kingsmead College Glee Club have brought joy to the school community through their virtual song performance of For Good from the musical Wicked released online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDlvbuRmi8&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0FmruBvj6-5Ec_JblkV61Au2lEcGkhoJBxiL2LiBMLL6gHG-kciVgoTuo
Director of arts and music Elsabé Fourie said, “Our school community needed a message of hope and togetherness. They needed to be reminded that we are in this together and we are still a community, albeit apart.”
Learners submitted individual videos of themselves singing alongside a track from their bedrooms, bathrooms and even from a car.
Glee group teacher-in-charge Ashlea Martin convinced the Glee Club girls to get on board. Then the hard work started as Ashlea and her sound engineer husband Ralph eliminated sounds of hadedas and lawnmowers and lined up the tracks and videos.
Fourie said that this particular song was learned in the first term and contains the message that even though club members are far apart, they are not alone.
The process of putting together the video began on 28 March and concluded on 6 April when the video was posted to YouTube, just before school holidays began.
Fourie said the assignment was a great challenge for the girls as they are used to singing in a group where they can breathe together and pick up on each other’s phrasing.
“It’s very hard to sing your part all by yourself with only a track in one ear… Even finishing a word at the end of a phrase is hard on your own. Even a minuscule part of a second is an eternity in music. Music is a team sport. We need each other.”
Reflecting on the end product, which at the time of writing had over 550 views, Fourie said she was proud of the singers and all the hard work of the Martins. “It has been so welcomed and appreciated. The messages are streaming in from everywhere. It was exactly what we needed at this moment. I could not be more delighted,” concluded Fourie.
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