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Taft students sing it out
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Laurie McEwan’s fourth-grade class, above, performs the school song Monday. Each class will sing the song, and a panel of judges will narrow down the competition until a winner is identified.
Taft Elementary Classes compete in sing-off
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Taft Elementary School students warmed up their vocal cords before music class to compete in the school’s first sing-off.
Each class will sing the school song, written by Lois Thornton, school behavioral specialist, to see which one performs it the best.
“It’s to create a sense of community,” said Paul McConnell, school music teacher. “If you would go to the high schools, you’d be hard-pressed to find students who could sing the East alma mater or the Chaney alma mater. This is to create that sense of community inside the school. For a lot of the students, this is their first year in this building.”
Thornton wrote the song’s lyrics, inspired by a number in the movie “Sister Act 2,” a couple of years ago to motivate students to do well on the Ohio Achievement Assessment.
It reads:
If you want to be somebody,
If you want to go somewhere,
You’d better wake up and pay attention.
I know my ABCs,
Right to the XYZs,
Because I woke up and paid attention.
At Taft I do my best,
And I will pass the test,
Because I woke up and paid attention.
Come on and go with me,
Come on and go with me.
Because I woke up and paid attention.
Fourth-graders in Laurie McEwan’s class belted out the tune, giving special emphasis to phrases about paying attention.
Patrick Pickard and Soraya Rodriguez-Santana, both 9, believe their class did pretty well, and both say they enjoy singing.
Patrick’s favorite line in the song is the one about wanting to be somebody while Soraya’s is, “Come on and go with me.”
Judges Thornton, Lynn Britt, community assistant; and JoAnn Lockhart, computer assistant, will evaluate each class’s performance based on:
Presentation: Is everyone in dress code and standing at attention?
Participation: Is everyone in the class standing in the ensemble and trying to sing?
Pitch: Did the class follow the song’s melody, and was the last tone on pitch?
The classes will be narrowed down until the finals when the two best classes face off in the ultimate Taft Sing-Off expected in a couple of weeks.
McConnell, who previously taught at the Chaney High School Visual and Performing Arts program, believes there’s a lot of vocal skill among city school students and that some of them could have careers in music.
“There’s a lot of talent in Youngstown,” he said.