One of the favourite dance moves of any show choir is a pivot – a simple turn a dancer and singer would do. This year, despite not being a Show Choir, our choir pivoted all the time. With each round of restrictions we pivoted again, and again, and again. Students took every change in stride, adapting with very little notice, sometimes finding out at noon that “effective immediately singing is no longer allowed indoors”.

When we did get the opportunity to sing, we sang. We sang loud and strong. We sang outside when the snow began to melt, and once we were allowed to sing inside, would choose to move outside after the half hour of indoor singing was completed so that we could sing longer. There were lovely little moments when students had those genuine choir experiences they remembered where their hearts were filled with joy when singing in harmony with others in the room.

Despite the changes throughout the year, we picked up a few things that really helped us grow as singers. We began to listen to other voices around us. We developed our knowledge of music theory. We learned instruments such as piano and ukulele and we took opportunities to explore composition.

We missed performances, and trips, but we cannot wait to sing together again soon. Throughout our period of remote learning, we tried creating a virtual choir, and enjoyed being able to hear “what we would sound like” as a choir together.