Norfolk students happy with remote band during lockdown

A group of West Norfolk students haven’t let a pandemic stop them from making music together and the result is an amazing virtual performance viewed thousands of times.

The Springwood High School Concert Band musicians were brought together for their rendition of Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’ which sees the lockdown band in perfect harmony even though they played on their own and didn’t see each other until the final video was created.

DIrector of Music Peter Strudwick came up with the idea when band-members were missing the chance to play together as they usually meet regularly for rehearsals. And the wonder of today’s technology means he was able to create a perfect rendition of Happy from a host of individual performances.

“We had a final bitter-sweet rehearsal in the week before lockdown started when we played through all of our favourites, not knowing when we would play together again. There was laughter and tears at the end,” said Mr Strudwick.

When he saw other video releases on the internet, he decided to email individual parts to the band members along with a backing track they could play to - and they recorded themselves playing.

“I ended-up with about 50 videos remotely and the players never heard or saw each other until the finished article. I spent many hours editing the videos and the results have been viewed 4,500 times on our department’s Facebook Page,” he added.

“It has given huge amounts of pleasure to all those involved as well as to an ever-widening audience.”

“It was not only meant to bring some of our musicians together, but also to provide a ray of light in these difficult times and we have succeeded beyond anything I could have imagined,” he said.

After around 50 hours of hard work editing and cutting, Mr Strudwick, who has been Director of Music for 11 years,  is ready to do it all again as he is already planning a rendition of the Earth Wind and Fire song September. Then he is hoping to invite former members to join the current players and stage an ‘instant concert.’

Springwood High School, a member of the West Norfolk Academies Trust, has an exceptionally strong musical reputation with students able to join bands or the schools’ Cantabene Choir.

The link is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1T5IGFWKj0&feature=youtu.be
or the video can be seen on the Springwood High School Music Department’s Facebook page.