Students keep singing online as Beat Festival adapts to coronavirus pandemic
MORE than 1000 Territory kids will hit the video waves for Beat Festival, showcasing their best music and performance projects from the year to the festival’s new online platform
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MORE than 1000 Territory kids will hit the video waves for Beat Festival, showcasing their best music and performance projects from the year to the festival’s new online platform.
Aptly themed ‘Flight – Lift Off After Lock Down’, this year’s festival has created opportunities for students to come together through music and entertainment, sharing their work to the wider community.
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NT Music School principal Bill Gross said he was proud of the work that had been put in to making the event run smoothly, and students for their ability to adapt.
“We started the year thinking we’d be performing on stage as per usual, to 1600 audience members … but around April we had to make the call that it just wouldn’t be possible,” Mr Gross said.
“We decided to deliver the beat as a video and recording project … and it’s been a stunning success. The children have loved it, they have been able to be a part of a quite professional recording project and they’ve really shone.”
Nemarluk student Jade Obejan, 11, said she was looking forward to her ‘Touch the Sky’ performance with her Nemarluk classmates being broadcast at the festival.
“First we felt very nervous but then when we got into it we felt very excited,” she said.
“We know that our parents will be very proud of us.”
Education minister Lauren Moss said the move to a digital platform was great initiative from the NT Music School.
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“The Beat Festival is a 40-year Territory institution, which, like most, has had to change and adapt to the new normal in this unprecedented COVID year,” she said.
“Taking The Beat virtual in 2020 shows not just great initiative from the NT Music School, but also shows how important this event is to our Territory students.”
2020 Beat Festival runs from November 9, with 12 songs set to be performed by large choirs, student concert bands, feature soloists and dance troupes.
Originally published as Students keep singing online as Beat Festival adapts to coronavirus pandemic