Something transcendent happens in a group when everyone’s voices are raised in song. Whether it’s around the spinet at home or on the stage of a concert hall, singers attest to the elation that accompanies the experience.
“When you’re singing, you’re using your body to create a sound, and once [singers] become comfortable around each other, they form a close-knit social bond,” said Megan Schuitema, director of choirs at Harrison High School in Kennesaw.
Keeping that communal spirit alive is a significant challenge for Schuitema and her fellow choral teachers across the metro area who are now charged with conducting those group voices via the internet. Prior to the move online, Schuitema met regularly with about 115 students who comprise a concert choir, a women’s chorale and the Harrison Chamber Singers, an advanced group that works on vocal skills and musical theory.
During a typical year, the Harrison singers perform two formal concerts, take their voices to area middle schools and enter competitions. “My top group has gone to events at Georgia State and Georgia Southern, and we’ve traveled to South Carolina, Chicago and, last spring, Seattle for a choir festival,” said Schuitema.
Plans for spring travel have been shelved, but Schuitema is working on ways to keep the music alive. One way is to post singing assignments, a soundtrack and directions on how to upload individual performances.
“Honestly, I’d never done anything like that before,” Schuitema admitted. “I had them download a track to listen along to because without that they couldn’t stay in time together. Then they recorded and submitted their videos. I had 77 in all.”
From there, Schuitema assembled each video with additional audio through Adobe Premier Pro – “A program I had no idea existed until about two weeks ago,” she said. “It took quite a while to figure out all the controls, but with some googling and my husband (a band teacher in Gwinnett County), I was able to mix it so they were all singing at the same volume. But it took eight hours to export!”
Junior Owen Davis, who leads the tenor section for the advanced ensemble, said recording and uploading his part was “unorthodox.”
“I’m just not used to recording myself,” he said. “It was a little challenging. I had to go through multiple recordings to see which was better. But the end result sounded beautiful, so it had a huge payoff. It did make me feel like I was at home but singing with all my friends.”
As happy as Schuitema was with the results, she prefers conducting face-to-face.
“It’s different when the kids are in the room together,” she said. “Doing it this way is not exactly what we wanted, and it won’t be that authentic, in-person experience. We also did a choir zoom social to simulate that choral experience.”
To view the Harrison choral video, go to harrisonhighschoolchoir.wordpress.com.
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Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.
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