The bright smiles matched the cheerful, happy voices at North Bergen’s Franklin School last week, as every student, grades one through eight, got a chance to participate in the annual spring choral concert.
There were the proud eighth grade chorus, the more experienced vocal leaders in the school, belting out a variety of tunes, ranging from the National Anthem to a Spanish hymn called “Canta Hallelujah” to the popular disco hit “I Will Survive.”
But there were also the joyous toddlers, the first graders, who put on a presentation called “Of Mice and Mozart,” in which the students, dressed in a variety of animal costumes (of course, the majority of the kids were mice), told the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through words and song.
Rarely does anyone get a chance to see eighth graders and first graders working so well together.
“The little kids have just as much fun as we do,” said eighth grader Stephanie Santiago. “Believe it or not, they help us some times. It helps to see all those smiling faces looking up at you.”
The architect of the musical merriment is Franklin’s music teacher, Armine Irving, who works countless hours with the students – predominately after school hours – in order to put on such an elaborate production.
“It’s a wonderful experience working with the students, because they are all very dedicated,” said Irving, who has been coordinating such productions for the last five years. “It’s not easy to get everyone involved, but the kids really enjoy themselves. Like the little ones, learning about Mozart. I think this is something that they are going to remember for the rest of their lives.”
Added Irving, “The talents of these children tend to be underestimated. They want to perform. They have a great time performing. And they are very talented. The power and the impact that the performing arts can have are amazing. It really shows.”
Irving works with the students all year, culminating in two concerts: one in the winter and one in the spring. The eighth grade chorus also participates in local festivals and vocal competitions. In March, the Franklin School chorus participated in the Wayne Valley High School Vocal Festival, where they were judged for their performance.
“Although they didn’t win, they received wonderful reviews from the judges that were there,” Irving said. “They showed a lot of discipline and focus. They also received good marks in presentation and sound. The chorus is very dedicated.”
However, the students believe that the dedication begins with the teacher.
“Mrs. Irving is the most dedicated teacher,” Santiago said. “I’ve been in the chorus since fifth grade and we keep getting better and better. And it’s all because of Mrs. Irving’s dedication to us. We always keep going.”
“We all put in a lot of extra hours after school,” eighth grader Cindy Silva said. “Although it’s a lot of work, we have a lot of fun. It’s fun to be able to sing the different songs we sing.”
Although “I Will Survive” is more recognized as a song about a jilted woman telling her lover to get out of her life, the students added an inspirational twist to the tune.
“It tells that we all need strength to survive after Sept. 11,” Silva said. “The songs had a lot of meaning to us.” “We made it through Sept. 11,” Santiago said. “We survived. And we’ll keep going.”
The fast tempo of the song had the youngsters in the audience rocking and rolling, especially 7-year-old Jorge Rosado, who was seated in the front row, dancing up a storm as the chorus belted out the tune.
Franklin School Principal Peter Clark was extremely proud of the production, which spanned for two days in order to get all the students in and out of the auditorium, as well as many family members and friends.
“We’re very proud of the program,” Clark said. “It takes a tremendous amount of work. Mrs. Irving expands this program into the performing arts. Music teacher Mike Connor works with the band and gets them to play musical instruments, starting from scratch. It gets all of our students ready for high school and we get the whole school involved. We want the students to be well rounded, not just in the classroom. We want them to be appreciated outside the classroom as well and that’s important.”
Irving was impressed with the amount of energy the students displayed during the two-day concert sessions.
“It was amazing to see these kids to do three performances for two days and never stop,” Irving said. “I’m amazed to see their energy.”
The teacher’s enthusiasm was equally as contagious.
“She’s wonderful,” Santiago said. “She gets us going.”