This is what happens when an entire school community, staff, children and Finn Valley Music Studio gets behind my song idea, behind closed doors, coming together from miles apart! With the rapid spread of Covid-19 frightening the entire world, a lot of our youngsters are watching us, the parents and the adults, they are taking their lead from us, and their response to the crisis is reflected in how we respond. We must instill in the children that there is always hope. We are privileged that we have families and loved ones we care about, but sometimes it is hard to stay calm, focused and positive amid all the fear. I wrote this song, Our Song of Hope, so that the children could remember something fun, lively and educationally different as part of their home-schooling. It struck me that so many young people need to have their voices heard too, and that the majority of these youngsters really do want to make a difference and get through to other young people just how important it is to them that they choose to stay at home, for the greater good. They don’t need to worry or be anxious about academic scores, extra book-work and the normal curriculum during these troubling times. That time to shine will come again. Instead, our young people need each other, their families, a sense of security, love and the time to seize the opportunity to create new memories at home.
We did not allow the limits of social distancing to stop us, but embraced it to come up with an alternative plan to stay in touch and get the recording done. Every child involved learned how to download a recording app, use two phones, acquire headphones (and confidence!) and disappear into the hot press to record a couple of lines of the song delivered by mobile phone recordings of the melody, harmonies too, shutting out all outside noise to send to the school, which we then forwarded to Terry, a most encouraging, warm-hearted dad, who sifted through the tracks to put together, remotely, the bones, structure, flesh, dressing and final result. Our Principal and Vice Principal got the message out to the school community to send in artwork of shared activities enjoyed over the first week of the school’s unprecedented closure, and backed by the entire Management team, web co-ordinators and curriculum co-ordinators, teachers and parents, we succeeded this mammoth task over just four days.
I am blessed to work with such positive, talented, versatile people. I have had many occasions to be proud of the children of Lurgybrack over many many years, but this is definitely one of the most emotional, roller-coaster experiences of my entire career. I would also like to thank Hannah and Caela, who stepped in with echo harmonies at the eleventh hour; none of this would have been at all possible without Terry, who completely embraced the idea of not needing a professional studio-standard production, and totally got this simple message we wanted to relay, and without doubt, the superstars of the whole concept coming to such swift fruition, the amazing children of Lurgybrack. You are a different breed of Superheroes. Thank you and STAY AT HOME.
Is mise Múinteoir Brí x
