Work completed as artist-in-residence with ARCUS Project, Japan.

ARCUS Project is located within the Manabi-no-sato Building, which Oisawa Elementary School occupied until 1995 before moving out to a larger building. The artist studios are located in the classrooms.

For this work, I invited former students from Oisawa Elementary School to sing what they remember of their school song. They were first recorded on video individually, many of them pausing, repeating, and struggling to remember the lyrics.

After the individual recordings were completed, I invited the former students to come during the Open Studio to sing the song in a group, akin to a school reunion. Having listened to the school song sung by the individuals, I figured out an accompaniment on glockenspiel and performed with the participants.

All the videos are first-take recordings, capturing the singers in their ‘unrehearsed’ state.