High School...musical?

I love a good movie with a top musical moment: Free Bird in Elizabethtown, complete with its burning prop induced sprinkler downpour, would be a favourite example. Of course, a generation of kids are now being raised on Disney's take on the song and dance that is the high school experience. Naturally the premium peddler of fairytales presents an alternate reality where unrehearsed performances reach stunningly choreographed crescendos. In the real world that just doesn't happen.

This morning I was in a local high school to take part in a rehearsal for an end of term variety performance. I'm teaching one student how to play Soba za tugu by Toše Proeski on the keyboard. At his request I'm accompanying him on guitar. Another student is singing, although by the end of the morning at least three other vocalists had had a go singing the song. While the performance was by no means a disaster it was a million miles from Disney slickness. That said so were most of the the turns, which included a Balkan-accented rendition of Britney Spears' breakthrough hit...Baby One More Time. However everyone seemed genuinely happy with not just their own artistic achievements but with everyone else's too. I'll take that over a fake fairytale finale any day.