A music video featuring students at Clarksville Elementary School has become an internet sensation.
In less than a week, the video of students performing the song “We Are the World” has reached more than 73,000 views on YouTube and 19,000 views on Facebook.
The video was filmed and edited by Michael Sanders, a professional music producer who is a teacher at Maxwell’s House of Music and the father of two students at the school. The performance was directed by Clarksville Elementary music teacher Emmy Bodner.
Over the past school year, COVID-19 safety protocols prevented students from performing as usual. However, Bodner was inspired by the virtual choirs that became popular during the pandemic, and she contacted Sanders to put the video together.
Bodner began teaching students “We Are the World” at the start of the school year, and it took more than a month for Sanders to put together the video.
The video features the entire student body of Clarksville Elementary, or about 500 students. It also includes a number of student soloists.