Huron Perth students audition song about COVID, 5 years in the making

Huron-Perth students debuted a song about their pandemic experience, 5 years in the making. CTV London’s Scott Miller reports.

In the early months of the pandemic, the music programs at St. Anne’s and St. Michael’s secondary schools in Stratford and Clinton reached out to a composer to commission a piece about the student experience during COVID.

“When everything got canceled, we had so much to look forward to, and all of a sudden it all just ended,” said Martin Defreese, who was a Grade 12 student when work on “After the Silence” began.

Teachers thought they’d audition the piece in the fall of 2020 when the pandemic was over. But it wasn’t over. On again, off again, classes and rehearsals continued for more than two and half years. It seemed like the piece that was inspired by students’ ideas and feelings around the pandemic may never see the light of day.

“They felt awful. They couldn’t see their friends, and we had these plans. And then to see it come around and start again, it’s been great just to see this back, like it was for this band five years ago,” said Jeff McIntyre, who helped commission the piece in 2020 but has since retired as a music teacher.

Socially distanced parking lot rehearsals, zoom calls, and finally in person rehearsals, along with a lot of perseverance, has led to “After the Silence” finally getting a voice. Students joined forces last week to audition the three-part piece about the initial shock of the pandemic, the dark times during the worst of it, and ultimately, coming out the other side.

‘We’re still here, we’re still kicking around. Things obviously got a little bumpy for a while, but we’re here making music. And, you know, whether it was, you know, two or three months later or five years later, the end result is fantastic,” said St. Anne’s music teacher Josh Geddis.

“I have such admiration for these students and these teachers in the schools being that patient, and then still retaining the enthusiasm for the project this many years later,” said “After the Silence” composer Bill Thomas.

While there is great reason to celebrate, COVID’s impacts still linger in schools, and in this instance, school music programs, said student Madison Reid.

“This band that’s playing right now is like 60 people, but it’s two schools combined. We used to be 60 people, one school. So, I don’t think we’re quite back yet,” said the Grade 13 St. Anne’s student.

“After the Silence” will be featured at school concerts later this week at both schools and will be something the bands play at competitions, possibly for years to come.

“It’ll get some definite mileage in the spring. And it’s also published nationally, like there have been other bands who have already picked up and played this piece, which is really cool,” said Geddis.

“The pandemic, the shutdown, whatever it was, whatever we’re feeling, art can put a voice to that,” said St. Mike’s music teacher Tom Garrick.