GIRLS and boys deeply tugged at the heartstrings of audience members with three songs sung on March 12 at the championships of the Trinidad and Tobago Music Festival at Naparima Bowl, San Fernando.
The girls of St Joseph Convent (SJC), San Fernando, supported by boys from Presentation College in the Prescon choir, gave a tear-jerking rendition of a song about loss, Turn Around by Alan Greene, Harry Belafonte and Malvina Reynolds. They edged Bishop's High School, Tobago.
Prescon began with strong comforting male voices, followed by lighter feminine voices, a sweet soulfulness, evoking a parent's pain and wonderment at the passage of time.
"Where are you going my little one, little one? Where are you going, my baby, my own?
"Turn around and you're two, Turn around and you're four. Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door."
[caption id="attachment_1070274" align="alignnone" width="683"] Sierra Smith sings Sammy Dead in the folk song solo category at the TT Music Festival, Naparima Bowl, San Fernando, on March 12. - Photo by Lincoln Holder[/caption]
Initially adjudicator Dr Richard Tang Yuk summoned Prescon back on stage, saying he would like to hear it done again, without stage-front microphones which he feared could distort sounds. Pupils lined up again on stage, but streamed off, not having to repeat their performance.
Adjudicator Nadine Gonzales said the song was "beautifully done" by the choirs, while other suggestions to improve.
Convent music teacher Samantha Joseph told Newsday Turn Around was a Prescon choir favourite.
"The children really enjoyed singing that one. Every rehearsal we did, they wanted to sing Turn Around. If we had a rehearsal and didn't do it, they would ask, 'Miss, what about Turn Around?'
"They were really excited about that one and they worked really hard and drilled quite a lot."
She was very proud of the result.
Newsday asked how the choir had achieved such sweetness in their blend, in this song. Joseph replied, "What it is, in looking at the story, looking at the text and what it is talking about. It is you as a parent are looking at your child and wondering where the time went.
"'Turn Around.' You were a baby, you were a child, now you have children of your own. That is what we really wanted to capture. It is a story."
Newsday asked how sections in the choir had combined so beautifully. Joseph said, "We were working with SAB – soprano, alto, baritone. The voices naturally blend well together so we did not have to do a lot of work on that.
"They have really powerful voices and it was really just then getting them to balance their parts. That was our main challenge as opposed to getting the blend which is already there."
Newsday asked if the singers themselves felt the deep emotions they had conveyed in this song. She said yes.
"That is always separates a piece you just sing from a piece you are involved in. When you are involved not just in the notes, the parts, but involved emotionally, you get that kind of moving performance."
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