The RSU 18 Chorus department recently pulled off a truly beautiful international musical collaboration. Choral Directors Kevin and Pam Rhein teamed up with their daughter and son-in-law, Nia and Dr. Andrew Passmore, in Rome, Italy.
The video posted below features many of RSU 18’s 5th through High School Chorus classes as well as students from the Marymount School in Rome, Italy, singing a sixteenth century processional in Latin. The song is called Gaudete, which means rejoice, and is a part of sacred text usually associated with musical Christmas celebrations.
“Teaching the song was a pleasure,” said Choral Director Kevin Rhein, “since so many students were excited by the collaboration. Even singing the song in Latin was a welcome challenge to them.”
He added that the technical aspect was a bit more challenging. GarageBand was used to record the younger groups and individual recordings were sent in from 6th through 12 grade students. The tracks were sent to Italy for basic assembly and then to a sound engineer in South America for the final mixing.
The Rheins have received a great deal of positive feedback from the students. “The quality and depth of their presentation made them feel that they had been part of a worthwhile choral project,” said Mr. Rhein. “Some students even sent video messages across the world to each other saying how much they were enjoying working on the project together!”
Great job! Congratulations to everyone involved!
Read more about the project here.
RSU 18 Messenger 
Our granddaughter is a Freshman at RSU18 and I would like to thank you for keeping our children in something of a “normal” life. This world has gone so crazy that it is so sad. Music has a way of lifting the spirit in one’s heart. Very well done
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This is awesome! I can imagine being outside singing is nicer than staying inside !! Sounds nice!!
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