Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Summer 2012 | Page 11
TA In t er n at io n al
Singing on the Soil
Voices in Harmony community
choir members, TA middle and
upper school students and faculty
members perform with other African
ensembles on live national television
The highlight of TA’s musical expedition to Ghana could have been
our choral performance broadcast
live on national television or that we
sang with nearly two dozen other
ensembles from Africa and the
United States. Instead, our musicinfused visits to a remote village and
a world heritage site left an even
greater impression.
In March, Thornton Academy Middle
School music director, Camille
Curtis Saucier (‘88), led a troupe including Voices in Harmony community choir members, middle and
upper school students, and faculty
members (choral instructor Cathy
Murray and me) - on a musical
expedition to Ghana, Africa. We try
to organize at least one international
trip like this for TA students each
year.
Following the choral festival, we
delivered donated school supplies,
clothing, and toys to the village of
Suhum. Although Ghana suffers
from unimaginable poverty, villagers
“Some of the best
learning can happen
outside the walls of
the classroom”
personal. You understand the heart
and soul behind their music and
conversation.”
Camille feels that the performance
at the world heritage site - Cape
Coast Castle - will remain a seminal
event in the lives of the students,
alumni, and community members
who traveled together. “To sing in
the open courtyard of that former
slave-trading fort, with our backs
to the ocean, singing with African
performers… I get chills thinking
about it.”
- Chris Indorf
welcomed us warmly with song and
dance.
Camille explains, “Before our trip,
we saw pictures and videos of African musicians and landscapes, but
when you go, it becomes 360° and
(Captions L to R): Suhum villagers sing and dance to welcome members of Thornton Academy’s choral trip; percussion instrument called a shekere; shown here with a djembe drum, Camille purchased authentic Ghanaian drums for instruction five yeas
ago. “I wanted kids to touch and learn to play with authentic instruments, not plastic coies.”
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