“Hello from Carnegie Hall,” Oak View Middle School Band Teacher Lori Pirzer says as she stands in front of a virtual backdrop image of the legendary music event venue located in New York City.
“And welcome to the Oak View Middle School Spring Virtual Concert. The concert that you are about to see will feature our beginning band, our first-year students who started playing in September, our concert band which is made up of second-year students, and our symphonic band which is made up of third-year students and a few second-year students,” Pirzer says.
“To achieve this concert, the students had to record themselves playing with a click track ant home and send me the video to be compiled into one great big virtual ensemble.
“There are a lot of challenges in putting together music this way as the students discovered, but they did a fantastic job persevering through those challenges to make the final product that you are about to see.
“So, while this is not the way we hoped the year would end, this is a fantastic way for our students to have their Spring Concert and for eighth grade students to play together one last time through the magic of video,” Pirzer says.
I hope you enjoy what we have put together for you!”
And then the “Eagle Summit March by Mark Williams and John O’Reilly begins as dozens of students pop up together on the screen even though they played their parts separately.
For 10 minutes, students play their very best. Songs on the menu include a hearty “March of the Dragons” by Mike Collins-Dowden and the adventurous “Marche Diabolique” by Brian Balmages.