For the Hopewell choir, the show must go on—online
GIOIA, upper right, and Hopewell program director Elllie Fregni, lower left, meet with some of the choir members to plan out songs for an online concert. Screenshot courtesy of GIOIA
By David Pierini Staff Reporter
A global health crisis can keep the Hopewell Music Cooperative Youth choir from gathering, but it won’t stop it from singing.
Rather than cancel its June 1 International Children’s Day performance, the 15-member North Minneapolis-based choir will come together online for a performance made up of recordings each singer will make at home. The choir is doing so under the direction of an artist and former Hopewell staff member who will blend each member’s recordings and mix them with tracks she has created in her Denver studio.
And it’s not too late for other Northside voices, ages 7-18, to join in.
COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders to contain the spread of it have spurred musicians around the world to creatively use video conferencing technology, like ZOOM, to record, perform and connect.
“It has taken some logistics,” said Ellie Fregni, Hopewell’s co-founder and program director. “To get to a certain level of quality with an online music project like this takes a lot of work. There’s going to be background noise and every one is going to be recording with what they have, probably their family phones.”
Just this week, the choir met online with former Hopewell interim co-director GIOIA (pronounced Joy-uh), for a video conference to plan out their recordings. They did a test to check room acoustics and sound quality for the devices on which they will record.
Most likely, choir members will use a smartphone, recording through the video camera or a voice recording app on their phones.
To get the ball rolling, GIOIA has written two songs and has recorded some vocal and instrumental tracks. She will assign them specific parts to sing, is instructing them on video, and is asking them to record fun sounds around their house.
Because of latency issues, the choir won’t be able to perform live. GIOIA will mix the audio files that are emailed to her into the tracks she has recorded. She will then create a video for each song that will be played on June 1, the date Hopewell had scheduled a festival celebrating International Children’s Day.
The online concert will appear on the Hopewell Music Cooperative website that day and will also appear on the school’s social media channels.
“These kids have to be going crazy because they’re stuck at home without being able to see their friends,” said GIOIA, who left Hopewell six months ago to start her studio. “I’ve sent rough demos to the school. One of the songs will include a catch phrase that is used at the school. ‘Music for all. All means all.’ That’s regardless of age, level, ability and ability to pay.”
The project is welcome relief from the boredom for Elizabeth Tucker, 12, a choir member and Northeast Middle School student.
She said the shelter-in-place requirements have given her quality time with her cat, but she is missing seeing her friends.
“I am pretty excited,” Tucker said about being part of the online project. “I don’t really know how it is going to work. We will get the music on Monday.”
Elizabeth said she has recorded herself singing and playing piano with an app, “but I haven’t done this with other people. I will probably practice it a bunch of times until it’s good and send the best [recording].”
If you are age 7-18 and are interested in joining this unique musical experience, email Ellie Fregni at Ellie@hopewellmusic.com.