For the seventh- and eighth-grade boys’ chorus, it was a rare opportunity to sing á capella with a quartet who, this past summer, reached the semi-finals on the NBC reality show, America’s Got Talent. For the rest of the Van Antwerp Middle School students – the school assembly with The Fault Line simply rocked!

On Wednesday, Oct. 23, members of The Fault Line presented a 45-minute vocal workshop with the grades 7-8 boys’ chorus. During the workshop, four eighth-grade students, David Phillips, Casey Larkin, Connor Owens and Matt Trigger, were selected to sing lead vocals on the classic 1950s ballad, In the Still of the Night, while the remaining chorus members learned back-up harmony. The chorus then joined The Fault Line to perform the song at a school assembly on Friday.
“I was very proud of them because they learned the song in a short time on Wednesday at the workshop with Fault Line and remembered it on Friday for the assembly,” said music teacher Ruth Rice. “As the Fault Line members mentioned, in all their previous schools appearances, they don’t remember ever singing with chorus members who were wearing football jerseys. Fault Line was impressed with our school, our students, teachers and staff, and, of course, the boys who sang with them.”

The Fault Line’s workshop and performance were offered through the Capital Region Center for Arts in Education, an organization that provides in-school opportunities to introduce local students to a variety of art and music. Thanks to the Van Antwerp PTO for helping support the event.

(October 2007)