The Tribune

LAST year in June, there were secretive giggles in the hallways at Lyford Cay International School.

The giggling started in the administration building, in the Development Office, where they had just been asked to help in a unique project.

Phone calls and emails were sent out. Was the school interested? Did the students have the time at the final weeks of a busy school year?

Were the students good enough? Could they even pull it off?

Excited responses from the LCIS Music Institute assured that “Of course we are interested and yes! our students could certainly rise to the occasion.”

LCIS had been contacted by an international production company, Rumor Mill, who had heard about the success of the school’s Glee project, and asked if LCIS students would like to sing the back-up track for a famous brand’s upcoming commercial.

Mrs Kim, previous director of the LCIS Music Institute and the force behind the incredible success of the LCIS Glee programme, was faced with the daunting task of selecting 12 primary school students to represent the school.

Selected students were brought into a secret meeting where they were asked if they want to sing for a commercial. The response was a unanimous yes.

They were told that this was a secret project, they couldn’t tell anyone who they were singing for until the final commercial was released. Students, ranging from grade three to six agreed. Mrs Kim, with her usual dramatic flare, leaned in towards the students.

“Do you want to know who you’re singing for?” she asked in a whisper. Expectant faces all nodded “yes!” In an even lower whisper she told them,”Coca-Cola!” The collective scream could be heard at the Secondary School Building.

The Glee programme at LCIS has become one of the schools most popular and successful co-curricular activities. Divided into three age groups (Gleenies - grades 1-3; Glee-ettes - grades 4-6; and Glee - grades 7-12) “Gleeople”, as they are affectionately known on campus, are a part of every school event or milestone.

From the singing of Happy Birthday to school’s founder, EP Taylor, at the annual Founder’s Day assembly to highly polished performances at the school’s annual gala and an invitation to give a special performance for the judges of the 2012 E Clement Bethel National Arts Festival.

In fact, the E Clement Bethel National Arts Festival added a special category for Glee and Glee-ettes and awarded the groups a Distinction and Merit based on their 2012 performance.

Members of each of the singing groups are expected to make a commitment to their groups and absences from practices (some scheduled at 7am in the middle of the week) are not tolerated.

The 12 dedicated students; Kailen Colebrook, Natanya DeJong, Paola DiPrieto, Sara Duenki, Charlotte Fernie, Maclean Goodfellow, Catherine Kim, Victor Madsen, Frances McIlquham, Gabriel McIlquham, Danielle Myers, and Tamsin Nottage were chosen based on their pitch recall and tonal blending after rigorous auditions.

And so practices began, and non-disclosure forms were signed, and LCIS learned that Coca-Cola was willing to make a donation to the school’s music programme as well as pay each of the singers for their hard work.

The Development Office worked in conjunction with the Music Institute to work out the logistics of setting up a state of the art recording facility in one of the LCIS classrooms and to make sure students were ready to work with Academy Award winning composer and producer J Ralph.

And through all of the behind the scenes chaos the LCIS students did what they have become so good at: they sang. They continued with their rigourous practice sessions to be sure they were perfect.

The recording was done in an LCIS classroom which had been completely transformed to keep the outside noises out, not always easy on a busy school campus, and designed to capture high quality recordings of the students voices.

Mr Ralph had representatives at the recording session and he was able to give his input throughout the session via Skype. It was the perfect balance of singing talent and superb technology.

LCIS students worked hard, spending an entire afternoon recording take after take, spurred on by Mrs Kim, who would not accept anything less than perfection.

“I was blown away with their work ethic and talent,” Mr Ralph said. “The session went perfect. I was so thrilled with the organisation, the staff and above all the performance. The kids were superb. Mrs Kim was amazing.”

And then it was over. The studio was dismantled and the students returned to their regular class schedules knowing that they had to keep a very big secret for the next few months.

The release of the commercial, Coca-Cola: Lets go Crazy, in January 2013 was a thrilling moment for the LCIS Music Institute.

It validated the hundreds of hours of hard word by all three singing groups and their dedicated teachers and it inspired this year’s “Gleeople” to continue to sing at the top of their lungs.

Lyford Cay International School (LCIS) is one of less than 200 schools worldwide that is a fully accredited International Baccalaureate (IB) school.

The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world.