Bishop Stang’s Virtual Performance Is Sure to Make You ‘Happy’
Only through the darkest of times will you find a beacon of light.
Not sure if that's an actual quote from something, but it fits perfectly for this story that comes straight out of Dartmouth.
Bishop Stang's music program students might be home singing the blues, but their high hopes have elevated my spirits. Throughout the past couple of weeks, people worldwide have been practicing social distancing by staying home, including students from school.
There's a video conference app that has become wildly popular over the past month and is the perfect platform for teachers to inform their students, businesses to hold meetings and even a choir to perform some a capella.
This is exactly what these students from Bishop Stang did.
Through the power of social media, the 16 students linked together with the help of their music director Melissa Murphy and performed a rendition of the 1967 hit song "Happy Together" by the Turtles, and its message is exactly what we needed during this time of COVID-19 coronavirus concern.
"While we would be happier together, members of our music program are making the best of this situation, and bringing us some joy! #makeajoyfulnoise"
It turns out that this wasn't the first time the students sang this song. Some of them had performed this song at Disney World about a month ago.
"It was a fairly easy song to learn so I reached out to all the students in my choirs and stated we had a 'musical experiment' of sorts if they were interested in joining," Murphy told Fun 107. "I placed the four-part tracks on our Google classroom that had a metronome beat embedded in each track. They chose the part that they were comfortable singing, learned it and made it happen."
The technology of today continues to amaze me.
It was a simple statement by a group of "happy" kids who are simply aiming to make the SouthCoast (and perhaps the world) smile, even it was for just a few minutes.
Well done, everyone.