The Daily - A Bit of Relief: The Long Distance Chorus

Episode Date: June 27, 2020

Gregg Breinberg has been directing the chorus at Public School 22 on Staten Island for twenty years. He tells his fourth and fifth grade students that participation is not about whether they can sing on key or not. It’s about expressing the meaning of a song — and the music inside themselves. Today, we listen to the voices of P.S. 22 as they harmonize from afar.

Hi, Savannah. Good morning. Good morning. How are you? Good. El Malika, good morning. And Tyler, good morning. I'm so happy to see you. Good morning to the people copying.

How's it going there, sir? Good. So happy to have you here. Hi, I'm Greg Breinberg. I am the chorus teacher at PS22, which is an elementary school on Staten Island, New York. Yeah, Liam, I don't know what that sound is, but maybe mute your mic when that's going on. All right. Overall, I'd say teaching over the pandemic has been really rough. I'm not going to lie. Of course,

I'm just trying to wait for like the last minute people. I know it's been hard. It's been a challenge like like I've never had in my career. Would I much prefer to be in the auditorium right now with you guys? You know it, you know it, but we can't. So thank God we have this. So the majority of our kids are fifth graders and today's our last day of school. I talked to a few of you yesterday,

feeling a little down, you know, and just, you know, missing from chorus. This year's class is gonna be a really hard group to say goodbye to. Because of the pandemic, maybe more so, even though I saw them less than I've seen any other chorus, I feel like I bonded with them in a different way. I want to celebrate because we've accomplished a lot, guys. So I feel like as much as I love singing with you

I wanted to talk to you today and I just wanted to make sure you're okay it's really funny and weird almost how every song that we sang this year is almost like a playlist for for the this pandemic and the times that we're living in. Anna, your mic's on? Yeah. I was just going to say, almost every single lyric of the song you made, Sing Yourself, relates to what you were saying, relates to your point here.

Anna made a comment about a song that I had written called Sing Yourself. And it was a song that I had written called Sing Yourself. And it was a song that I wrote for my chorus years ago, but I thought it was like a good song to bring back this year. Can you tell me more? Yeah, like in your song where it says like, sing yourself and what you're going through. It's like about the lyrics.

Like if you look at the first two lines of it. Spinning around in a circle feels like you're lost in a dream. Because the pandemic, right? The light becomes clear in the morning. Since you're staying home every day going on your device, doing schoolwork on that device, and you're not doing like a normal school practice, it feels like this is all like a weird dream. Like unreal. Everything's not what it seems Like, unreal It's about when you get lost in your own kind of sadness And your own stuff

And you just can't find your way out That's what's happening And there's like so much loss with it, so Making me cry, girl You're making me cry You're so good, you're so on point it was just really cool of her to be able to tie that lyric from a song that really wasn't written about the pandemic to what we were experiencing

i was just saying all of our songs really year, I feel like tell the story. It's almost weird, almost like it was meant to be. One song we chose was When Will I Be Loved by the Everly Brothers. Which starts with, I've been cheated. As many of our students do feel. We had the song If the World Was Ending by J.P. Sachs. If the world was ending, you'd come over, right? With or Without You by U2.

Where it's, I mean, enough said. I can't live With all without you We had a sad passing of a student this year. I never put it out that this is a song that is a dedication to her, but yet as soon as I heard it and I saw the performance, there's one boy in particular who she was very good friends with, and every time, you know, I see the child in the eyes of the child. I'm going to get emotional.

Oh, it was it was it was a moment. That was gorgeous. That's what I love about music. It's like you can you can interpret the words in your own way. That's why I love your chorus performances, guys. Every single one of you are showing that you have a connection to the song in the way that you perform it. So every year at graduation, we choose a graduation song.

Again, this is our final, you know, our farewell performance. For the moment. And they all said Coldplay, The Scientist. So, you know, before the pandemic, we would go into the auditorium as a full group of 70 kids. And, you know, they learn their song, they sing it, voila, finished, happiness and joy. Now, during the pandemic, you know, it's not that simple. So when we're preparing a song remotely, I make a video of myself singing the song in their key. First, I record myself singing the alto part. Then I record myself singing the soprano part. Lovely you are. Nobody. Do it again.

Then I record myself singing the soprano part. It's such a shame for us. Ow. Then I re-record myself singing the soprano part. And then I re-record myself singing the soprano part. And then I re-record myself singing the soprano part. Because it takes me about 57,000 tries before I can get something that's actually okay enough for me to send to them. The soprano part is very, very difficult.

Why is the soprano part so difficult, Hayden? Because all the parts are kind of different from each other. Yeah, it's like you're going from sometimes some really low parts and then you have to all of a sudden scooch. As I'm getting older, it's like the voice is not doing what I want it to do. I used to be able to like hit those high notes a lot better, but eventually once it's all done and I get something good enough, then I send it over to them. So basically every time we record a song, the children have to listen to me singing the song in their headphones. So that they're matching my pitch and my rhythm.

And record themselves so that we're only hearing their voice. so that we're only hearing their voice. No one ever said it would be this hard. I loved your final video. That was a huge step up from your first video that you assisted. Yeah, I saw the first one. I was like, I know I could do better. That was a PS22 chorus performance on steroids, as they say. That was like...

Thank you. I was taught you stand straight at attention, shoulders out, stomach in, you know, breathing, exercise, all this stuff. And I was just like, you know what? I'm doing this my way. I never said it would be this hard. I always tell the kids, make sure that your audience, make sure that they understand what this song is about. And if you're really singing this song correctly, you will show the meaning of the song, not just by what your notes and your rhythms are. You're going to show the meaning of the song

just by your eyes, by the lifting of an eyebrow. I love the little touches you added, the little bow at the end. I love that, it was adorable. 20 years ago when I started this course, it wasn't just about who can sing. It was about who, when they sang, they could be totally off key, but if they showed that they had like just, they have music inside them,

I felt like, you know what, I can work with this kid. Nobody said it was easy. I felt like, you know what, I can work with this kid. They send that video of only their voice to me. And then I mix it together with the 40 other voices that are sent to me. And somehow make it happen. Quite honestly, I had never seen a public elementary school chorus doing harmonies. It was just something that I never saw being done at that age level. And I was like, I know I can do this. I know I can do this.

know I can do this. You know, there was a young lady who would never dare sing a solo. You know, there was no way I would ever get this girl to sing by herself. But because of the way we were doing it and because they were just submitting videos, I didn't tell her she was doing her solo. I just had her submit the video like everyone else and then just said, I'm going to stick you in there. And again, compliments to all of you guys on those beautiful videos you sent. They were absolutely amazing. As much as I love singing with you, I know that it's been a crazy kind of week in the world and I hope everybody's doing okay. Everybody good?

Anybody got anything they want to talk about? Anybody got anything in their mind they want to discuss? Or everybody following things that are going on in the news right now it was like it was really hard for me to make my videos because it's like it's the world we're living in right now and i couldn't believe like this stuff was happening it was like i need to take it all in at one time yeah well makai, Makai, I mean, you know, I know I remember, you know, one of the most, one of my best memories, it's making me tear up even as I'm saying it, but one of my favorite memories was talking to you. You know, I will cry openly in front of the children. I always have. I am teaching them that music is an outlet for emotion. And if I try to stifle my own emotions, I'm being a hypocrite, you know? That's how I feel.

And I know you guys are processing a lot of feelings. And sometimes when we're feeling stuff, things come out and we say things and we say how we feel and that's okay. Listen, kids are kids. Kids can be a little evil sometimes. And, you know, they'll. And they'll start teasing people. So when someone says something that hurts us or we don't like it,

we don't have to accept it. But we don't have to hate them. Do we have to hate them? No. Is it possible? Can that happen? Yeah, it can happen. And that's the problem in the world.

People aren't listening to each other. I want them to understand the true value of music, and that's what I feel music is. It's a bridge. It's a bridge for people to come together. You guys are really deep thinkers, and you get it. And it gives me hope that you guys are going to get it next, when it's your turn to be the adults,

and it's your turn to take charge. Hello, PS22. So now most of my course is graduating this week. In the next hour, you are about to witness history of PS22. As we celebrate our students, they will leave their legacy at our school by being the first class to celebrate a virtual final assembly. Honestly, I don't think I've ever cried so much watching a PS 22 performance.

Tell me you love me, come back and haunt me. Not because it sounds better than what's in the auditorium, it's just because of how much I miss them. You see the kids in their houses, full screen, swaying to the music, starting to feel it, starting to get into it. So to listen to a chorus video is something special on its own, but when you watch it, you're seeing kids just really access a side of themselves that maybe they're not free to do that anywhere else in their lives to show a real, genuine, honest emotion.

I'm going back to the start. Music, to me, it's a live team sport. We need each other, you know, and I want them to know that. I want them to know that when you work together with people, but keep your own individuality within the context of that large group, share what you have to offer, and be open to what other people have to offer, that's what it's all about.

That's, to me, I think it's, it's truly an allegory for the world. You know, what, what, what happens in our, in our room. It's, it's, it's an allegory for what, for, for the utopian world that, that we're, that we're working towards. Guys, you are incredible people. I am so proud of you. And I'm gonna start crying in about two seconds if I keep talking. So you guys are like the best medicine. So thank you.