Elementary school Christmas concerts follow a time-honoured formula: seasonal costumes, well-known songs and a bow in front of an audience of cheering parents at the end.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made an in-person show and even large group rehearsals impossible, but Parkview Elementary’s music teacher is harnessing technology to make a Christmas show happen.
Kris Koenig, who splits his time between Parkview and Grindrod Elementary, wrote a holiday musical and is having classes perform against a green screen with the video camera rolling. The performances will be spliced together into a complete show which can be viewed at home by students and their families.
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In some cases, classes that never set foot in the same room together due to COVID safety precautions will be on screen together singing in harmony.
While its songs were borrowed from another production, Koenig assembled the story about one person with a positive attitude turning things around for a whole town of curmudgeons and grumps.
Koenig said he is learning something new every day about recording the students singing and placing performers on the green-screen backgrounds.
The concert was recorded over the week of Dec. 7 and will be available for streaming on Dec. 16.
jim.elliot@saobserver.net
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