[Commentary] On the evening of February 4, at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Olympic flag was slowly raised along with the "Ode to the Olympics" sung in Greek by 44 children from the Malanhua Children's Voice Choir.
At the same time, in Fuping County, Hebei Province, deep in the Taihang Mountains, teachers and parents who were watching the TV broadcast stood up and applauded. They were excited for their children's perfect performance, because four months ago, many children in the choir had I just got to know the musical score, and I have no experience with Greek at all.
[Concurrent] Su Zhiyan, a music teacher at Hebei Fuping Middle School
I am Su Zhiyan, a music teacher at Fuping Middle School. I came to Bayi School on October 7, 2021. We built the Malanhua Children's Choir in three months. Now let's go to the music classroom to have a look.
This classroom is the classroom where we rehearsed for three months. This is the music score of "Ode to the Olympics" that we rehearsed, all written by our teachers with chalk.
[Explanation] According to Su Zhiyan, the Malanhua Children's Voice Choir consists of 44 children from Bayi School, Shihou Primary School, Jinggou Primary School, Da'andi Primary School, and Malan Primary School in Chengnanzhuang Town, Fuping County.
Children's musical quality is uneven, and learning a Greek song in such a short period of time is indeed quite a challenge.
[Concurrent] Su Zhiyan, a music teacher at Hebei Fuping Middle School
The oldest child in our choir is only 11 years old, and the youngest is only five years old. We have to sing a piece of work completely in Greek. I think it is very challenging. The language teacher at that time did not transcribe it in the original text. It has been adapted like a phonetic transcription, which is a better way of spelling, and the children we teach.
[Concurrent] Yang Zirui, member of Malanhua Children's Chorus
The biggest problem encountered in the rehearsal was the pronunciation problem. Because I had never been exposed to this language before, it was difficult to learn it. Later, the teacher accompanies us to practice over and over again to solve this pronunciation problem.
[Commentary] Su Zhiyan said that another difficulty they encountered was that the Greek teacher did not understand vocal music, and the music teacher did not understand Greek. Just like singing in Chinese, Greek singing will also have procrastination and stress.
After discussion, it was decided that all music teachers began to learn Greek.
[Concurrent] Su Zhiyan, a music teacher at Hebei Fuping Middle School
Our vocal music teacher learned Greek as soon as possible, and then transformed it into our vocal music teaching method to teach children. The language teacher listened to us and corrected errors at any time, so that our efficiency was improved.
[Commentary] On December 1, 2021, the Beijing Winter Olympics director team came to Fuping to check the rehearsal effect.
Su Zhiyan said that the director team must have relieved everyone, but they did not dare to relax, and they practiced hard for another month, constantly improving the details.
On January 3, 2022, 44 children successfully went to Beijing to participate in the final training camp, and finally made a wonderful appearance at the opening ceremony.
[Concurrent] Yang Zirui, member of Malanhua Children's Chorus
When I sang on the stage of the Bird's Nest, my heart was very excited, because it was the first time I sang on such a big stage, and my dream is to become an artist who can sing and dance in the future.
Reported by Ai Guangde, Wang Richeng, Li Huiying, Baoding, Hebei
Responsible editor: [Li Yuxin]