There were tears, Cathy Hoffman said, and many people were in “complete shock.”
“They had no idea that these three boys had this beautiful sound in them," Hoffman said. "After it was over, there were a lot of people wiping their eyes and a lot of students were saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m just amazed.' It was awe-inspiring.”
What started as an after-school choir program created by a music teacher in Evansville, Indiana, Benjamin Koenig, turned into three boys belting out Leonard Cohen’s 1984 hit “Hallelujah.”
Prepare to get chills as you listen to fifth grader Roger Keene and sixth graders Jeremiah Lynch and Jericho Wright perform at Delaware Elementary's Christmas singalong on Wednesday.
"That was in front of pretty much our whole school," Hoffman said. "So that was probably terrifying for them."
Hoffman, a Delaware Elementary fifth-grade teacher in Evansville, Indiana, said the choir recently performed at Barnes & Noble, which was the first time the three boys sang “Hallelujah" publicly.
The hype from that performance was all it took. Then everyone wanted to hear the boys sing.
"I feel like we don’t realize how talented our kids are," Hoffman said. "We focus so much on the work in the classroom and it was so nice to be able to see them showing their talents in something that they love to do. And it gives you a whole new appreciation of these kids as young gentlemen and not just a student who sits in your class."
Hoffman said one of the boys is in orchestra, and Keene's dream is to be a professional singer.
She credits their determination and success to Koenig for encouraging them to sing and show off their voices.
"His love of music has brought about a love of music in a lot of our kids that we’ve not seen before," she said.