Music rang through your ears. You watched your talented peers jam out to a rock song as you hummed along, engulfed in the moment. 

When they finished, you stood up to cheer, but they couldn’t hear you. 

The reason: the concert was on Zoom.

Upper School students had the opportunity to watch a group of talented senior musicians perform a miniature concert on a Zoom webinar Tuesday night. The event was hosted by the Fine Arts Leadership Board as a part of the Arts in Education Week.

In prior years, the Upper School hosted Electric Lunches, concerts where students could eat, talk to their friends, and listen to live covers of popular songs performed by Kinkaid’s resident rock band, Thunder Score, and others.

Senior Ella DuCharme decided to adapt this concept to fit a distance learning model and pitched the idea of the Electric Dinner to the Fine Arts Leadership Board. 

“I got the idea after spending a lot of my summer rewatching my favorite tv show, Glee. Given that an in-person performance was inconceivable, I was really inspired to figure out a safe and virtual way to bring music and joy to the Kinkaid community this fall,” said DuCharme.

FALB loved the idea, so the musicians filmed their performances ahead of time so that they could edit them and make viewing the process as safe as possible.

“I actually really enjoyed being able to film everything separately instead of a live performance, as a lot of the songs I release on SoundCloud are recorded at home, so it was comfortable for me,” said DuCharme. “However, as a whole, I think it felt weird to film the band’s performance without a live audience because a live audience always provides an extra surge of enthusiasm and energy for the performers.”

The evening started off on a high note as DuCharme sang “Everybody Talks” by Neon Trees while seniors Michael Hamilton, Hudson Davis, Evren Ozdogan, Charlie Pagan, and Jackson Lane backed her up. The group stood in front of a colorful geometric background, and the video featured interesting camera angles, which gave it the vibe of an authentic 2000s alternative rock music video.

Then, DuCharme and senior Lexie Strauss performed a vocal duet of “Vienna” by Billy Joel and they dedicated it to the class of 2021 because they felt as if the lyrics resonated with their  peers’ bright futures. Both singers stood in front of microphones wearing headphones, which made it look like they were performing right from a recording studio.

The seniors wrapped up their show with a classic song by The Beatles: “A Hard Day’s Night.” The group who performed the first song used the colorful geometric background again, but Strauss and DuCharme shared the vocal spotlight while the senior boys played backup. The group jammed to the upbeat song, dancing around and sharing their positive energy with the audience.

Even though the Electric Dinner took place over Zoom, it was still a mood booster for students and faculty who had a long day of hybrid learning.

“Electric Lunches were definitely my favorite events on campus last year because I loved seeing my peers’ talents outside the classroom,” said sophomore Adele Johnson. “I really appreciated the efforts of FALB and the senior musicians to allow me to experience an Electric Dinner from home.”

“We hope to bring the Kinkaid community more Electric Dinners in the future,” said Mr. Scott Lambert, Kinkaid’s Director of Visual and Performing Arts. “Arts are well and alive at Kinkaid this year. We’re not letting distance learning stop us!”