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We Are the World
Fortunately, this question was aimed at Neill Thacker, Head of Expressive Arts at the British International School Shanghai’s Puxi Campus. His involvement in the Shanghai music scene made him the obvious “go to guy” when the event organizers needed help, and he was quick to reassure them. “No worries mate”, he said (or something like that – he’s an Australian). After a while, the magnitude of the task we’d taken on started to hit home. Singers from year 3 to year 13 joined in, as well as a good number of staff, who were certainly keen on the grandstand seats that came as part of the trip. Many of them were surprised to discover that they could sing, and conductor Thacker only had to tell a few of the ‘croakers’ to ease up on the volume at rehearsals. We were joined by a number of children from elsewhere, and our students did well to make them feel welcome. The theme for the day was linked with World Expo 2010 – due to open in just a few days in Shanghai. Our main song was an old favourite, “We are the World”, and we threw ourselves into the lyrics with enthusiasm. Less familiar was the Expo song, “Better City, Better Life”, with Chinese verses and an English chorus. It required a certain lack of inhibition as we jumped from side to side, doing “jazz hands” and trying to copy Neill’s surprisingly nimble dance moves. Dire warnings about what would happen if we scratched at the wrong moment (when the TV cameras were pointed at us) were interspersed with singing lessons. We had to be taught to sway – not as easy as it looks for some of us – and we had to learn a number of other ‘moves’. If it was nerve-wracking for those of us in the choir, we could only listen in awe to Simone Colson and Ayaka Izumi, two of our students in years 10 and 9 respectively, who joined a handful of professional singers to take on major solo roles. With the prospect of singing to a crowd of 80,000 at the track and more than 100 million on TV, you’d have thought they might have been nervous. If they were, it didn’t show, and they stayed calm and professional throughout, giving a fantastic performance on the day. Even our youngest students coped really well with all the waiting, listening and rehearsing involved, and the smooth running on the day was testament to how hard everyone had worked at rehearsals. The performance was great fun, singers and supporters had a great day out, and the British International School was rewarded with British success on the podium, as we watched Jenson Button take the chequered flag with Lewis Hamilton just behind. It’s hard to argue with “Better City, Better Life”. |
“We need 400 children to form a mass choir to sing at the opening ceremony for the Chinese F1 Grand Prix. Any chance?”