A cappella

Chapter 23: The lesson

"It's an Irish song that came out in 2002, You raise me up, picked up in 2009 by American singer Josh Groban, and then by others too. I chose the last version by the female band Celtic Woman ..." said Sonia as she placed down her sheet of notes on the teacher's desk where she had moved to make her presentation. 

She stood up, adjusting her T-shirt, on which sparkled golden rhinestones the word "dream", as she attempted to plug the cable of the TV on her phone. She installed the video of the song she wanted to share with her classmates, while another student distributed the lyrics to everyone.

Standing in the back of the room, Max was supervising the session, encouraging Sonia with a smile, suppressing the boys' desire to make fun of her by placing a strong hand on the shoulder of the most difficult of them, to remind them that he was there, the teacher, and that he would not let anyone make fun of the song chosen by Sonia. 

He soon understood this, Max, that in a class as in life, many things expressed through gestures and looks, more effectively than by words. Sometimes rising, approaching, and placing a deterrent hand on a shoulder was enough to defuse the onset of disorder, and sometimes it was sitting and staying still that was best for silence and attention.

Every week, one hour of class was reserved for presentations, on the initiative of Max who wanted to get them to speak English, off the beaten track and marked out textbook. Sometimes a student would pick a song in English for others to listen to, and the class would then discuss their choice and the qualities of the lyrics. 

 The video was launched on the big screen of the television, and it was a live concert, outdoors, a scene illuminated in the night of summer, and a breeze that lifted the sails of the young singers dressed like princesses, with their magnificent robes, their long hair dancing to the wind.

A violin was starting alone, played by a blond girl who imposed silence on her audience, in the immediate emotion that arises from solitary performance in front of all eyes. In the classroom, too, attention had suddenly settled, and behind the fogged windows of the classroom, the autumn evening fell discreetly, without making a noise, erasing the reality of the outside world under a dark curtain, as if to give the music all the place.

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary /

When troubles come and my heart burdened be /

Then I am still and wait here in the silence /

Until you come and sit a while with me /

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains /

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas /

I am strong when I am on yours shoulders /

You raise me up to more than I can be...

In turn, the pure voices of the young singers rushed towards the sky, and the strange words made the audience shudder with emotion. Max understood the text as coming from a young man talking to his parents. He too could have said that, "You raised me up to walk on stormy seas" ... This corresponded exactly to the very lively dream he had had, in which he was going to sea with his father to save the shipwrecked migrants. ..

Yes, he himself had been brought up with great love and hope by his parents. But this formidable expectation of parents, who perhaps believe that their child, with his pure heart and his new eyes, can change the world and achieve the dreams they themselves could not achieve, a feeling he didn't like to feel, but which he felt in spite of himself! You raise me up to more than I can be...