St Joseph's Secondary School, Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath - Post-Primary Finalist 2017

‘Uniting through Song’, performed by the 40-strong St. Joseph’s Ensemble. Post-Primary School Finalist in the 2017 Waltons Music for Schools Competition, a national competition and celebration of music in Irish schools. ADDRESSING THIS YEAR’S COMPETITION THEME, MUSIC HAS NO BORDERS Meetings were held by the students to decide how to build the performance around the theme and After much discussion and negotiation about how to build a performance around the theme, the group concluded that if world leaders were exposed to music and negotiated and conversed through song, the world would be a more peaceful place – as music has no borders. Their performance begins with Gary Barlow’s ‘Sing’ – with lyrics altered slightly to better express the them. This is followed by the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Where Is the Love’ to highlight major social issues in our world – and then several national anthems. These were followed by ‘Wavin’ Flag’, a song by Somali-Canadian artist K'naan that was also used as a World Cup anthem. After studying the lyrics, they concluded that ‘beautiful game’ could represent the game of life and ‘the champions’ could represent all those who, when exposed to music, can make positive changes in our world. Their entry closes with the poignant phrase, ‘Some words they can’t be spoken, only sung.’ See www.newschool.ie/musicforschools for more information.