Gregg Breinberg is battling a cold. While the PS 22 chorus director is escorting me into the school, he lets it slip that he was out sick earlier in the week — but today is different.
“Today is chorus day,” he says, with a hoarse laugh. “And I can’t miss that.”
We head to the auditorium, tucked away in the back of the Graniteville school, where he gradually begins to teach the kids how to hit a high note in a new song they’re working on. This prompts “Mr. B,” as the kids call him, to remind them that he’s not feeling 100 percent today, and that he expects them to work as hard as he is. He plays the notes again on the piano, taking them through the routine one more time.
Sopranos and altos finally find synergy, hitting the notes together, perfectly. The result is breathtaking harmony.
Breinberg is pleased.
To call him dedicated would be a gross understatement. Now in his 12th year at the school (11 directing the chorus), Breinberg seems to bring his A-game to every facet of his job. He’s part music instructor, part composer, and part motivational speaker.
“Remember, you have to believe to achieve,” he reminds the students during practice, pushing them to hit the high notes.
The PS 22 chorus has hit several high notes over the years. Breinberg catapulted the 2006-2007 school year chorus into Internet stardom, after posting some videos on a Tori Amos fan page. Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton picked up the videos, word spread, and the kids quickly became an overnight sensation on YouTube.
“I knew from the get-go. I knew something special was going on in this auditorium,” says Breinberg. “We always used to say our chorus was the best-kept secret on Staten Island. And now the secret’s out in a major way.”
Singing with the stars
The 2007-2008 chorus performed at a sold-out concert for the New Zealand band Crowded House, and several members were featured on the children’s show, “The Electric Company.”
The following year, the chorus performed on “Good Morning, America,” VH1, and at Madison Square Garden, singing with R&B artist Rihanna and Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks.
The 2009-2010 group was invited by Billboard magazine to perform for Beyonce and Lady Gaga at an awards ceremony.
It also performed for President Obama at the White House Tree Lighting in 2009, and, in February of 2010, sang with the musical group Celtic Woman at Radio City Music Hall.
This year’s chorus — among other highlights — was invited to perform at the 83rd Academy Awards. The students followed that with a post-Oscar show for Oprah Winfrey, alongside singer Katy Perry. The chorus is currently nominated for a Best Fan Cover award for the MTV Video Music Awards.
The chorus continues to be featured on several national news and music networks, and according to its blog, its videos have been watched more than 31 million times.
The chorus meets twice a week during school hours to practice. There is an audition process to select the best talent each year, and anyone who watches them in action can’t help but be captivated.
“There’s an energy to these kids, to their singing,” says Breinberg. “There’s a unique sound. For public school kids — fifth graders, not trained — it’s pretty impressive, the sound that they get.”
Publicity machine
Breinberg is making sure the world knows it.
He spends a good portion of every day returning e-mails, fielding phone calls, and blogging — and that’s on top of his daily duties as chorus director. (He also teaches daily music classes to the fourth and fifth graders who are not in the chorus.)
Clearly, heading to Hollywood was the experience of a lifetime for these kids, but on top of all the hype and national attention, some of them will tell you that their favorite part of the whole trip came smack in the middle of the actual performance. It’s their love of singing, of music, of performing, that they say they will always remember. The song that was chosen for them — “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” — was, they tell me, perfect.
“It’s a really strong song,” says Brianna C., a soprano. “It’s really down to earth, and you can really feel the words.”
Being “down to earth” is a concept these 10-year-olds seem to be familiar with. And that’s the way Breinberg wants it. He says he tries hard to prepare them for the price of fame. There have been less-than-flattering comments about their performances, including one by talk show host Andy Cohen, who issued a brief tongue-lashing shortly after their Oscar performance ended. (Cohen later apologized for his comments).
Breinberg takes it all in stride, and says he tries hard to teach them to do the same thing.
“I try to tell them, and this is the God’s honest truth, that you haven’t made it in this life until you have haters,” he says. “When you’re doing something that’s powerful, that’s unique, that is going to make people take notice, you’re going to have that contingent of people who aren’t going to get it, or that won’t be responding to it the way you thought they would. There’s a yin and yang, you can’t expect to just get all accolades in life.”
The “publicity machine,” as Breinberg calls it, “could shut down tomorrow. It’s not why we do what we do,” he says.
For the love of music
The kids seem to agree. For many of them, music may just be a way of life that will continue to take center stage in their lives, well after they graduate this June. Brianna comes from a musical family, and says she’s been singing for as long as she can remember. A soft-spoken violin player, Brianna says she and her family members are no strangers to performing on stage.
“We’d be at family gatherings and my grandpa would start singing,” she says. “Block parties, restaurants — he’d sing Beatles songs and he’s always invited my brothers and me to come sing with him.”
Abigail S., an alto, says her family sings, too, and plays a bunch of different instruments. She likes dancing, and says of her life after the Oscars, while “more people know us now,” nothing much has changed outside of school — including her relationships with her friends.
“Everything’s exactly the same. It’s not like there’s any jealousy or anything,” she explains. “We can pretty much just hang out and be friends, like before.”
Ah, the innocence of youth.
The students had been wooed and surrounded by movie stars on the red carpet. They were hounded by fans wanting their pictures and autographs (including while they were in the airport bathroom coming home from the West Coast), but, with a humility that some adults couldn’t embrace, it seems these kids never lost sight of the big picture.
“I consider us a whole group doing this together,” says Abigail. “Sometimes people feel bad because they’re cut from the chorus. But I feel like they’re still a part of it, because we’re representing them. We’re representing the whole school.”
A high note, indeed.
Monica Brown is a television news anchor who lives on Staten Island with her husband and two children. She can be reached at monicaldbrown@gmail.com.
