Basic HTML Version
IC NEWSLETTER -
SUMMER 2010 9
Things were not going exactly as planned.
Two girls were sobbing. The boys looked de-
spondent. All were begging for their choir di-
rector to remove the Lebanese song from the
final performance at the International Muscat
Festival of Choirs where 16 IC students joined
other student choirs from over 30 nations to
take part in the International festival last Feb-
ruary.
The source of their unhappiness was finally
revealed: The Turkish students had made fun
of them.
Choir director, Randa Sabbah, sighed. Had she
gone too far in encouraging her students to
do some dabkeh movements with their song?
Had she somehow infringed on the teenage
code of “coolness”?
It was a shaky start from the beginning. The
choir director of the festival was just not com-
municative. He kept snapping his fingers
expecting students to understand his cues.
There was little input on his behalf. Students
were at a loss on how to sing their newly as-
signed parts in the song. After hours of prac-
tice, the mood was somber.
“I thought that our being here was such a mis-
take,” said Sabbah. “It was very frustrating for
the kids.”
Finally, accompanying teachers decided to
take things in their own hands by teaching
their students the complicated rhythm of the
selected songs.
As teachers began training their own groups,
the choir began to come together. Finally,
the director began moving to the different
tempos and “the choir grasped the tempo,”
recalled Sabbah. “By the end of the day, they
made it.”
The somber mood began to lift. Training con-
tinued normally.
As every with every festival, each visiting choir
was given ten minutes to perform their own
song during the final performance. IC stu-
dents were to
sing Rahbani’s
Kan al Zaman.
The boys were
to raise their
arms and yell out the traditional Lebanese
“hey” during the song. During rehearsals, the
Turkish students began to mock and laugh at
the IC students.
IC students’ faces fell.
Later on, they begged Sabbah to remove the
song from the repertoire. She looked at the
sobbing girls and glum faces of the boys and
could only think of one thing to do: make
them run around the room and do jumping
jacks. They started to laugh. The students then
took a decision: they will not be intimidated.
They will perform their song as scheduled.
The performance day arrived and the uni-
fied voices of the choir sang beautifully. Then
came the turn of Lebanese song. Holding their
breath, IC students stepped on stage and gave
the audience their best - including all the
‘heys’.
The audience erupted into applause. Choir
directors praised them heartily. The Lebanese
ambassador congratulated them.
Peering into the cheering audience, IC stu-
dents could make out their most enthusiastic
fans:
The Turkish students clapping fervently and
asking for an encore.
A Happy Endi ng:
IC Choir goes
to Muscat