Composing A School Anthem
I was invited to visit the school and work with three classes to compose a school Anthem to celebrate 60 years since the founding of the Teresian School.
This project was co-ordinated by school Matet Goyando who introduced me to the three classes of second third and fourth class.
Together with each of the class pupils and collaborating with class teachers, song lyrics were developed, inspired by the theme of the school Ethos :
Lyrics were developed through a process of discussion and exploration with the children. For example, I asked them questions to invite them to consider these school ethos themes and put them into their own words and understanding.
Below I share images of a black board that shows the process exploring key words and sentences.
Each of the classes worked then on a distinct verse and we collaboratively developed the chorus.
These verses share what is important to the children, their perspectives and insights.
Once the lyrics were coming together, it was time to work on the melody – I offered a few options and together we fine tuned the chord progression and melody until they felt happy with the sound.
In total, I visited each class twice – to fine tune each of their verses and bring to them what had been added by the other classes. In this way the song was able to grow through the input of all three classes in an organic way.
The chorus was inspired by the school’s motto which we chose to keep in the Spanish Language as a nod to the school’s inspiring founder – NAME.
I share a video of the song being performed below and also you can read the song lyrics.
I am delighted to share that the song is being shared at the school’s graduation mass CHECK. .
ANAM: 