What was your favorite part of high school?
For some of us, high school was a great time where we learned plenty of new things and made a bunch of new friends.
We were young, we had our whole lives ahead of us and the world was our oyster. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that being in school can get a little boring. One of the few things that broke up the monotony were the days when there was a school assembly or a talent show.
Fortunately, with the advent of YouTube, all of those performances are now getting posted online.
The video we’re talking about today was originally posted on YouTube in December 2013.
It comes from the South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Washington. Their vocal music program decided to put on a funny performance into their Christmas concert, just to spice things up a bit.
As the video begins, a group of students dressed in monks’ robes stands on stage with their heads bowed. Still, the unusual thing is that all of them have small orange signs in their hands.
A moment later, the “Hallelujah Chorus” composed by G.F. Handel starts playing in the background.
Although the whole audience is expecting the group to start singing, that’s not quite what happens.
Instead of that, the words in the background start singing the familiar refrain—and right as they do, the back row of monks starts lifting their sign up and down in total sync with the syllables!
In the beginning, nobody is totally sure how to react… but the group only keeps going. Before long, all the rows are holding up their signs and flashing them up and down, and it’s clear that this is the entire performance.
A moment later, the crowd starts laughing as they get what’s going on.
After a while, the group has run through all their signs… but the performance keeps going.
On one particular emphasis of the lyrics “for the lord god omnipotent reigneth,” one of the monks has to jump up and down to emphasize the point.
Before long, all the lyrics switch out—but fortunately, all the monks are prepared. The front row puts their old signs down and picks up the new ones, dancing around on stage as they go between them.
Still, they have a few more tricks up their sleeves before the performance is totally over.
When some parts are quieter than others, they hold the signs down by the floor.
At other points, the lyrics are sung in a haunting tone… so they float the signs up like they’re ghosts! In all, this hilarious and inventive performance goes on for nearly four minutes! When it’s finally over, the audience gives them a huge round of applause.
Since it was posted, the video has been viewed more than three million times on YouTube! Although it wasn’t strictly a vocal performance, it’s clear to see why it became so popular. Although we all know the song, we’ve never seen it done quite like this before. Needless to say, it’s worth reminding the world about—especially with Christmas around the corner!
Special thanks to all the creative kids who put this together! Be sure to watch the whole performance in the clip below:
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