Cropredy and Bloxham School virtual choir sing to stay strong

Two primary schools come together to create virtual choir with powerful message in classic song

The power of technology has been used to bring together pupils from Bloxham and Cropredy primary schools to create a virtual choir.   Now the youngsters’ version of the Labi Sifre classic “Something Inside So Strong” has been unveiled.

The idea was the brainchild of Rhys Owens and Michelle Coles. Rhys is the music co-ordinator at Cropredy school and his fiancé Michelle is the music teacher at Bloxham primary school.   As lockdown continues with most of the youngsters still away from school, Rhys and Michelle decided to bring together children from both their schools for an online musical project.

Michelle told Banbury FM, “Music plays a big part of both primary schools’ lives. Bloxham Primary, among other ensembles, have a 120 strong choir of pupils who sing together every week. The last concert prior to lock down being at Wembley stadium with Young Voices. Cropredy having the famous festival close by inspires lots of families in the area to have a keen interest in music too. So it was felt that the pupils at both of these creative schools couldn’t be left at home any longer without some musical interaction”.

The backing track for the song was created by Bodicote musician Tom Bodfish.    A copy of this was sent out to all of the pupils, parents and teachers.   Rhys told Banbury FM, “[They] recorded a video of themselves singing individually and sent the parts back to Michelle and I.  We then took the audio from the video to create the choir and put the video clips together to create a video. 

“This was our first attempt at doing this, so the lip syncing took a lot of concentration and time!”

The song also features members of staff who were keen to be involved.   During the video the children proudly display messages of appreciation to the NHS.

Rhys told us they chose the song “Something Inside So Song” because of the message in the lyrics.   He said, “It has been an extremely challenging time for children, their parents and schools up and down the country and we wanted to do our bit to bring a smile and some kindness to all of our pupils and their families.  Just to say we miss you lots and stay strong”.   

“The main aim of the track was to put a smile on the faces of everyone involved, as singing is such a powerful tool in improving mental health and emotional wellbeing”.

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Published: 18/06/2020 06:00am by Banbury FM Newsteam

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