Montville — This semester, the Saint Bernard school choir sang a little louder without making a sound.

A project weeks in the making was memorialized on camera, as Saint Bernard students from seventh to 12th grade sang “Say Something” by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera using American Sign Language.

Director of Music Anne Tortora said when she came up with the idea, she didn’t picture it being professionally produced as a sort of music video. But when she ran into Headmaster Don Macrino’s office and urged him to come witness the choir practicing, he felt the performance deserved more recognition.

“I walked into the auditorium, and the kids were all spaced apart, as you see in the video,” Macrino said. “They stood up, the place went silent, the soundtrack began, and in perfect unison, they began to sign the song. I don’t know quite what it was that created such a powerful emotion, but I was struck. I was surprised, and I guess emotionally struck, by how beautiful it was.”

Macrino reached out to Astor Place Inc., a video production company owned by Ralph Belfiglio and based in New London. Astor Place put together the school’s virtual graduation video necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Macrino first pitched the idea to Belfiglio, he doubted the owner/creative director of Astor Place thought much of it. Belfiglio said Macrino told him this had to be captured on film. Astor Place mainly makes corporate videos and television commercials.

“At first I was like, ‘All right. Why don’t I come down and take a look before I commit to anything?’” Belfiglio said. “I went over to the school and watched it, and the minute I saw them start doing it, I was completely drawn in. It was so moving. Between the song and the kids doing sign language and the masks, with everything going on in the world right now, it grabbed me. I said to him, ‘I’ll do it.’”

Tortora and Macrino said the video created the same emotion they felt when they first saw students perform the song.

Perfomance the result of the pandemic 

Connecticut has instituted restrictions on music education because of the pandemic, including limiting time for singing and only allowing indoor wind and choral playing in spaces with proper air ventilation and dilution. Students must wear masks and social distance at all times as well. The state Department of Education outlined detailed requirements and considerations in recent months.

Tortora said the new guidelines on music making forced her to be creative.

“Our choral and instrumental ensembles can only play or sing for 30 minutes a clip,” Tortora said. “As a teacher, I was looking for something that would let us build upon the time we had together in those 30 minutes. Toward the end of the summer I decided I wanted to incorporate sign language into what we were doing with the concert choir.”

Tortora sought the assistance of 16-year-old choir student Emma Lemire, a junior, who knows sign language because she decided to learn it after she wanted to communicate with a friend who was deaf when she was in 5th grade. Lemire has been involved in multiple projects related to sign language and has acted as an interpreter.

“I taught the concert choir the signs they needed for the performance,” Lemire said. “I’m usually shy when you first get to know me, so I use sign language to speak to people without having to talk. When Ms. T said I should teach it, I was scared, but watching her taught me what to do and how to control the kids and get them to listen to you.”

The video was sent to parents and guardians, which led to “tears, lots of tears,” Lemire said. She said she was gratified by how students took to the experience as well.

“When we first started, people were definitely nervous, because it’s a new language,” Lemire said. “You’re blindsided by how complicated it is, but once they got it, it all came together, especially in the video when it zooms in on people, you can see how they interpret the song.”

Macrino and Tortora both said they were proud of the students, noting the sincerity with which they delivered the song.

“At a time when you have to be innovative, particularly as a choral teacher told, ‘You can’t sing,’ I thought this was a pretty good alternative,” Macrino said. “It maybe came across louder than voices normally do.”

Tortora, who said she and Lemire are planning to start a sign language club, described her pride for her class.

“They become very reflective, they’re able to think about what they’re doing and respond to it,” Tortora said. “They’ve just shown a tremendous amount of maturity, even when they’re goofballs. They’ve gotten it done. I don’t see this as a filler, this was an intentional piece of programming, and I would definitely do it again.”

Lemire did not expect the professional video produced by Astor Place. She imagined, when she learned she and her classmates were to be taped, that it would be a straightforward video logging a distinct choral performance. The professionalism of the day of filming, as well as the final product, pleasantly surprised her.

“Dealing with COVID, we can’t really sing; we can’t put on normal, by-the-book musical performances, and no one expected us to come out with this,” Lemire said. “I think it blew everyone away. Seeing a whole group of people who communicate in different ways use one universal language was really cool and really unique.”

s.spinella@theday.com