How it all began...

On February 12th, 2009, the Obama Song was ready to come together. 

Ms.Price, an English teacher, had prepped for this day by cutting Obama's Inauguration speech from 18 minutes to four minutes and setting it to instrumental music created on garageband, but beyond that, she had no plan, other than to rely on the organic musical chemistry of the students, whom she hadn't yet come to know.

Her principal had given her two periods free from teaching to complete the project.  She brought her iMac to work and set up a makeshift studio in her English office.  By makeshift, she means she put her computer on her desk and plugged it in.  There were no external microphones, mixing boards or audio interfaces. 

An announcement was made in the morning for singers to stop by the office throughout the day.  Slowly but surely, students popped their heads in and started to sing.  Weston is a school with 1300 students, so the odds of not knowing a student are higher than the odds of knowing. Some, Ms.Price knew by name; others, she was meeting for the first time. 

Somehow, between the ringing of bells, making of announcements and daily interruptions, and with the help of fellow teacher, Natalie Davey, the song became whole.  

If the emotion in the office could be captured on film or audio, that would be a truly amazing gift to share because it is difficult to describe in words the energy felt that day.  The office transformed into a place where students and teachers could find equal ground and come together to create something magical.  No one wanted to leave that night. 

This magic happens all over schools, and this song is a wonderful testament to that magic because it is audible, visual and permanent.  If all magical moments in schools could be captured this way, people would have a better understanding of why teachers get up and go to work everyday. 

The collective creators of the Obama Song (Weston to the Whitehouse Crew) hope President Obama will hear this song one day.  They would love to know that their voices made it all the way to the top!