After listening to a song from the band OK Go, which was released mid-pandemic and is titled “All Together Now,” Vanessa Albaneze and Jeanette Pincus, art and chorus teachers from Kennedy High were motivated to incorporate it into their curriculum.
Pincus reached out to the band’s educational outreach program for permission to use the song’s choral parts. Ok Go Sandbox promotes STEAM education in the classroom. Pincus wrote that she was “moved by the song and its powerful message would be a wonderful inspiration to her students.”
The band’s lead singer and guitarist, Damian Kulash, and the head of OK Go Sandbox, Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, responded in agreement, stating that they were seeking create a video utilizing student choral and art submissions.
“There were over 17,000 submissions in the end, so OkGo Sandbox made six videos instead of one and in creative kaleidoscopic ways to incorporate every single submission,” explained Albaneze.
“They asked me if the chorus would like to be involved in the creation of a worldwide project to recreate the video,” Pincus added. “They also said it would incorporate art submissions from Mrs. Albaneze’s students, as well as musical ones.”
For the next few months, Pincus worked together with Ok Go Sandbox arranger/music producer named Luke Touzor to create the choral arrangement and recorded her choir to be used as the foundation of all other submissions.
“No matter who submitted what parts from all around the world, at least the six choral parts would be covered by our choir and laid underneath it all,” Pincus explained.
Post-production, Kulash and Dr. Thomas invited Albaneze, Pincus, and their students to a private Zoom session to thank the teachers for their inspiration.
“They also put a paragraph in the beginning of each of the six videos, referencing the Long Island school that inspired this project,” added Albaneze.
The story and videos were published on rollingstone.com:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ok-go-all-together-now-collaborative-videos-1162224/. Here is one that focuses on the art submissions;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4EEtfNk1yk.