The Beasley Music Studio is always a lively, happy place, but when the entire Lower School gathers there for an assembly, it becomes even more special.
Last week’s assembly included several very special guests: schoolmates from the Middle and Upper Schools!
The Eighth-Grade Show Choir, under the direction of Jason Roberts, Middle School Arts Teacher, performed two pieces for their Beasley friends: The River Sleeps Beneath The Sky, poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar and music by Mary Lynn Lightfoot, and Bonse Aba Traditional Zambian, arranged by Andrew Fischer. They sang beautifully to a captivated audience.
Because our Beasley friends are celebrating the word and action of Cooperation this year, two eighth graders shared what cooperation means to them. Lydia Brown ’28 and Gio Bucci ’28 introduced themselves, sharing their names, sports, and grades, and that they both came to MICDS in the first grade. Then they got down to the business of cooperation, saying:
Cooperation is all about working together! It doesn’t matter if it’s sports, making music together, or working in a group for a class like science, learning how to work together is so important.
We have a fancy word in music called ensemble. An ensemble is like a musical team. And when it comes to making music together, we have to work as a team! For example, we have to listen to each other in our different sections—sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses—to make sure we are singing the right rhythms, melodies, and harmonies.
Just like today’s a cappella song, Bonse Aba, we have to use our ears to listen and cooperate, making sure we are all staying in the same key. We have to make sure no specific voice sticks out, no voice is missing any notes or rhythms, and we are all literally “in sync” with one another.
Much like a sports team, we have to learn how to work together because every player is important and brings something special to the team. No matter how loud or soft, big, or strong your voice is, you matter to the team. And when we work together for something bigger than just ourselves, it becomes a special moment, just like our a cappella singing today!
We hope that you will take today’s special word—cooperation—and think about how working together makes every situation a little bit easier. It’s nice to have teammates to help you as you figure out all the challenges and changes that you face in the day, whether that is on the sports field, in the music room, or just in homeroom working on a project together! Cooperation is teamwork in action. Thank you for having us today; we would love to come back and sing for you again, and we hope maybe next time you could sing for us and show us how you cooperate!
After the choir left, two Upper School students took the stage. Ella Etherington ’24 and Naya Mitra ’24 are varsity field hockey players, and they visited Beasley to talk about how excited they were to host a fun field hockey clinic that afternoon for Lower School students and what cooperation looks like on a sports team.
The Beasley assembly was also chock-full of songs about kindness, « sparkle fingers » to celebrate, and sharing the month’s birthdays. Way to embrace cooperation and community, Beasley School!