PLC Welcomes Head of Junior School

The Making of More to Me

Mr Chris Goff, Director of Music

Students learn and engage in music for many reasons – the pursuit of excellence, increased social skills, a sense of community, to have the opportunity to take part in something that is greater than the sum of its parts, and to discover things about themselves and others they may not know. But, during Term 1 this year, singing and choirs were significantly affected by government guidelines with restrictions placed on both singing and mixing year levels. So how were choirs to persevere? Music had to find a way. At the start of year, music staff worked together to find a creative solution and the beginnings of a virtual choir project started taking shape. They discovered a very special song. But not just any song. More to Me speaks about who we are as a College. It captures our values; values that were championed throughout the restrictions.

Then began the challenge of teaching this song to students from all five choirs from Years 3 to 12. They successfully learnt this song both online and outside. Students were then scheduled to lay the audio in small groups or individually because year groups were still unable to come together. Then came the difficult task of layering the dozens of recorded tracks over each other to form the ‘virtual choir’.

It was around then that our Communications and Engagement team caught wind of this project and was keen to arrange a video clip to accompany this song and tell the story of this triumph over adversity. The video was captured in Term 3 when restrictions had lifted, and our newly completed music building could be incorporated. Each choir, including the Petite Chorale, Deci-belles, Young Voices, Chorale, and Senior Vocal Ensemble was filmed in different locations across PLC and brilliantly depicts the students’ individual and collective bravery, resilience, and uniqueness. There truly is more to every student here at PLC and I couldn’t be more proud of each of them and the finished product. I am also immensely grateful to our leaders and staff for their support. I urge you to watch the video by scanning the QR code. This is PLC’s, More to Me.