Choirs During COVID
During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Iowa City West Choir Students have not been silent during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a shift to almost 50% of our choral membership participating completely online, students have been making their voices heard in new and innovative ways!
Virtual Choirs
In an effort to continue to make meaningful music while such a significant part of our constituency is participating at home, students recorded their individual tracks to contribute to the common good in the creation of virtual choirs this year. “I Believe” was done in collaboration with native Iowa composer, Elaine Hagenberg, seen conducting in “You Do Not Walk Alone” and West Singers collaborated with the West High Orchestra department in their performance of “I Believe”
You Do Not Walk Alone, Elaine Hagenberg
May you see God’s light on the path ahead when the road you walk is dark.
May you always hear even in your hour of sorrow, the gentle singing of the lark.
When times are hard, may hardness never turn your heart to stone.
May you always remember: when the shadows fall, you do not walk alone.
- Irish Proverb
I Believe - Mark Miller
I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when I don't feel it.
I believe in God even when God is silent.
- Text found on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, Germany during World War II
Virtual Show Choir
To fight community spread of COVID-19, Good Time Company had it’s Spring Swing Show in a Virtual format through Zoom. If you would like to see their ballad, as well as the choreography of their 2021 show, check them out below!
A former student submitted this offering entitled “Everyone at home watching the show choir performance.”
Showtime had several students rehearse at West High as well as online. This picture is representative of the in-person contingent. Way to go, Showtime!
Chrome Music Lab Composition Projects
Students created compositions using Song Maker, a part of the Chrome Music Lab software bundle. Students were encouraged to play with different melodies, instrumentation, tempos and percussion. Additionally, students were encouraged to submit projects that had a visual element that would accompany the music making. Below are a few student examples from this project.
Electronic Music Enhancement
Students were taught how to import existing music into a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) called Bandlab and were instructed to enhance an already existing piece of music (“Gloria” by Kanye West) by utilizing a series of loops and percussive sounds found within the cloud-based platform.
Safe, Limited Ensemble Singing
Due to the aerosolization that takes place during the singing process, our singers have had to not only wear masks when singing but also spread out as much as possible and limit the amount of our singing during each class periods. Through these techniques as well as rehearsing in a variety of environments to maximize physical distancing, our students have had the ability to also engage in group singing in a safe way.
