I'm a Mr. B. Wannabe

Yesterday, I started toying with the idea of starting a choir at my school.  The word "arts" is in our school's name; it's only right that we would offer a choir.  Since I've arrived at the school, we've been lucky enough to add a strings program, college-level art classes, and school plays and musicals--all thanks to very talented colleagues of mine.  But no choir yet--and I'm making no promises to start one, especially since I'd need to stop coaching track in order to lead a choir.

Regardless, I was inspired enough that, before I even rolled out of bed this morning, I tuned in to the PS 22 Chorus YouTube channel on my iPad.  Gregg Breinberg is my inspiration.  This guy has turned Staten Island fifth graders into superstars because they are so darn good at singing pop songs.  He arranges everything from Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" to Jay-Z's "Run This Town" for his group.  Watch some of the videos: these kids are having so much fun!

I've watched the choir's performance of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" so many times that I know Mr. B.'s harmonies by heart.  And that came in handy today when I learned that our music teacher was out on jury duty.  I'd been assigned to sub for science today, but I swapped with another teacher so I could do sixth grade music instead.  My guitar was in school so I could put it to use, strumming four of the ten chords that I know.

Now, sixth graders are young enough to believe and do most things that you tell them.  So I knew this group would sing for me, even though this was a general music class, not a singing class.  And, just to be sure, I padded my resume by telling them how, prior to teaching, I'd been a substitute guitarist for Oasis on one of their U.S. tours.  Not one of them was skeptical, but they did ask me why I decided to be a teacher instead of a rock star ("It's more fun!").  So we sang "Viva La Vida" about a dozen times through the forty-minute period. We learned the verses, made sure we had the melody of the chorus, and then split the group for the harmony. I did my best Mr. B. impression, dancing around the room with the guitar and telling them, "You sound like you're having fun...so you should look like you're having fun!"  A few times, I was able to take a breather, just strum the guitar, and watch these kiddos sing so beautifully before my eyes.

Before we sang it one last time, I confessed that I wasn't really a rock star.  They were aghast for a few seconds and then they happily dove back in to singing.