Underdog choir does school proud

THE Wesley Methodist Practising School in Salt River could not be considered anything less than the underdog team in last month’s ABC Motsepe Schools Eisteddfod.

The fact that they won the competition is great enough, but even greater is the fact that, two months earlier, they didn’t even have a choir. The principal, Andre Engel, was approached by the school enrichment co-ordinator for the Western Cape Education Department, who invited them to compete in the eisteddfod. Engel agreed, but later realised they had no choir to enter. He enlisted the help of choirmaster Colin Jooste, who set to work putting together a group that would represent the school at the eisteddfod.

“Nearly 50% of the children that were selected randomly by teachers couldn’t pitch or hold a note; most were tone-deaf. I spent the first few days doing voice tests and sadly had to ask them to leave,” said Jooste.

They needed 30 pupils to compete in the event; half of them to perform the Western piece, while the other half performed the Afrikaans piece.

The songs chosen were Hail Holy Queen from the movie Sister Act, and the traditional Cape Malay song, Oom Jakkals.

After weeks of hardship and practise, the day had come.

They sang their hearts out, and by the end their rendition of Hail Holy Queen won them third place, while their Oom Jakkals performance bagged them the gold.