PS22 Graduating Class "TWINKLE" Tori Amos (2001)

http://ps22chorus.blogspot.com

In June 2001, my first year teaching music at PS22 in Staten Island, New York, I taught the fifth grade class Tori Amos' Twinkle to sing for their graduation.




This is not a selected chorus -- these are 200+ New York City public school children just singing their guts out. (Literally! It's a huge auditorium just in case you're wondering why they're singing so loud. At graduation we have to sacrifice dynamics for volume.)

A few of the students helped rewrite some lyrics (needed to be done -- NOT having 10 year olds singing about killing a man, not even for T! I'm thinking she would forgive...) and/but I think it works for what it was and for what it was meant to be.




Again, I hope everyone can overlook and understand the lyric changes. Forgive, diehards. I hate changing lyrics, but rest assured it was done with loving respect for the source material! Tori, you are the goddess! And anytime you feel like coming down to visit and sing with us.... ;)

Thanks to everyone on Afterglow & Turbidblue(particularly Rasp, Lisa, Turbid & Olga) and on other Tori forums for your awesome support of the kids!

PS22 is not a middle, intermediate, or high school group. We're your (extra)ordinary elementary school in New York City. Visit our above website for more!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• chorus
• fifth
• grade
• tori
• amos
• twinkle
• graduation
• P.S.22
• PS22
• Staten
• Island
• New
• York
• City
• children
• children's
• choir

[damien9060]

why dont respect her work and not distort it ? tori's works wanted us to search ask and question the dark side of life we dont like or want to talk about. but changing the lyrics you sugar coated it. i dont think any artist esp like tori would want the examined truth to be distorted

[agreggofsociety]

distortion? it's called adaptation. it's bringing the song to new meaning that the kids can understand and relate to. tori herself has "distorted" songs that she's covered. in fact, her entire new album, midwinter graces should be considered distortion by your point of view.

[damien9060]

not all their renditions of tori's works are done well by this choir. they did well for 1000 oceans, but songs such as this and not the red baron i really think the kids fail to deliever the actually content of the songs emotion. those two songs have a sad hidden dark side of the human emotions. failed because these kids are too innocent in their voices to deliever. its really painful to hear they singing or even screaming those two songs. they really have no idea what they are expressing

[agreggofsociety]

1) this is the complete graduating class, not the chorus.

2) lyrics were changed here, and this revised rendition is not sad, it's hope.

3) they understood exactly what they were expressing here.

4) david's version of not the red baron is hardly screaming. it's actually one of my all-time favorite performances.

5) a laxative might be in order.... ;)

[tibber]

Dude - as with the other videos, totally blown away by the kids and the heart with which they sing. That being said, I'm totally blown away by the change in hair style from 2006 to now lol....

[agreggofsociety]

lol! actually this video was POSTED in 2006, this is actually from June of 2001! :)

[stanbwonderful]

New music teacher stands in front of 200 kids and shows them that there's something more out there than what's being sold to them by MTV, that music is something to explore, that there's beauty out there for them to find.

What more could you ask of a music teacher?

[07cool10pa]

I wonder where they are now, 10 years, soon to be 11 years later?

[kmacmuzikmafia27]

I wish I had gotten to sing *real* music and not the boring, ancient sheet music that seemed to have been passed down from my mother's class.

Maybe I would have actually sung instead of lip-synced ;) I doubt it, but it might have worked. LOL now I have a lovely image in my head of old Mrs. Towler singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit." That would have been fantastic :D

[kasimotinka123]

@trayvonay

no, you can read that on mr. b's channel: it's a regular school. ;)

[dramadog11111]

broght tears to my eyes

[trayvonay]

@sunnyeyez123 is thiis liike a performing arts skool or wat?.....................does only kids that can siing come here?

[orchojuan]

Congratulations! very good work, i love tori as well.Hope you like what we do too ;)

[rfgstl]

@damien9060 > Tori wants her listeners to hear a story within her music, and then find an interpretation that they as listeners identify with personally. You do know that Tori herself has seen and heard these kids perform her music, right? You do know that she has shown her support to them? It would be just if Tori herself didn't approve, but what isn't just is you saying that what these kids have done here is in anway distorted or disrespectful.

[ssaaty]

@agreggofsociety thumbs up for teacher, not simple critic.

[jhalas01]

@damien9060 whack job.

[jhalas01]

@damien9060 You must not understand Tori's work. I know you wrote this months ago but I just have to comment because no true fan of this artist would ever say such a thing. I feel very sorry for you.