A surprise duet between a Broadway star and students at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute was made possible through a message on Instagram.
Dan Austin, a music teacher at GCVI, orchestrated for his students to sing with Joseph Morales from the Toronto production of Hamilton, as a way to inspire them during this time of online learning.
“Working online is tough, it’s not a normal way to do things,” Austin said, “and I thought, you know, let’s take advantage of this opportunity and do something special and different, because we can work with people from all over in this online setting."
Austin explains he had seen Hamilton the musical in early 2020 and figured it was worth a try to reach out and see if Morales would be interested.
“I hunted him down on Instagram and sent him a message,” he said. "He messaged back out of the blue, saying yeah I would totally be into it."
Once Austin told his students about the opportunity, he said they were all on-board with the idea.
“They were thrilled,” he said about his student’s reaction to the news, “They were so excited to do it.”
Before getting started on the collaboration, Austin said his students had to submit an audition video, many of which he says were great.
“You could see how much energy and excitement there was from the kids,” he said. “I kind-of took a gamble, and for him to come back and say he would do it, is pretty nice.”
In September, Austin and his students began practicing the song Helpless from Hamilton, which was sent to Morales in November, which Morales sent back a video of himself two weeks later.
“We had to sort-of piece it together,” Austin explains how they put it all together, “Each student’s part is individually done in their own home, with them listening to a guide track to keep them all together.”
Once they finished editing the video, the duet was uploaded onto YouTube by mid-December. Afterwards, Austin said the students received a kind message from Morales.
“He sent us a very nice message,” Austin recalls, "He lives in Los Angeles and he is still working as an actor."
Austin adds it’s not the only duet his class has done this year. They also collaborated with a group in Sweden and are working on another duet with a jazz saxophone player in BC.
“We’re in the process of a couple of collaborations coming up in the spring,” he said about what’s next for his class.
While the pandemic has brought on many challenges, Austin said these duets would not have been possible in a typical classroom setting.
“We thought, let’s take this opportunity to do something a little different and have some fun with this and make it as rewarding for the kids.” he said.
Having been a teacher for many years, Austin said this experience was a highlight within his career.
“It’s going to be up there near the top,” he said about it, “It’s neat to have this opportunity and work with somebody at that level, a Broadway actor, professional, who wanted to give his time to the kids.”
