On Jan. 27, members of the Roosevelt Elementary Choir joined together to perform a song written by third-grader Melanie Camacho. Aptly titled “Stars,” the song is a tribute to the night sky, stars, and moon.
“I was inspired to write it after looking at the beautiful stars in the night sky,” said Melanie.
Melanie began writing “Stars” last fall and, one day during lunch, shared the part that would go on to become the song’s chorus with music teacher Elizabeth Vex.
“When Melanie initially sang a piece of the song to me back in November, I was looking to potentially add another song to our concert… I could tell she had a vision for it, and that it could be something beautiful,” said Vex. “I said, ‘Melanie, this is really good. Do you want to finish this song with me and have the choir sing it for our winter concert?’ She said ‘yes,’ and the rest is history!”
Over the weeks that followed, Vex worked with Melanie to finish the song, finding its musical key and adding lyrics. With the song complete in late December, it was then time for Vex to teach it to the choir, with Melanie attending some of the rehearsals to make minor adjustments and ensure that, on concert day, “Stars” sounded exactly how the young songwriter envisioned.
“It was a process that took a couple of months, but the final product was well worth it,” said Vex.
At Roosevelt’s winter concert, Melanie introduced her song to the audience and then she and the school’s choir, accompanied by Vex on piano, performed it.
“It felt really good to have my song performed in front of everyone because I was really confident about it,” Melanie said. “I loved writing the song…[and] I would like to thank my mom because she's the one that made me confident in myself as well as Ms. Vex for helping me finish the song and performing it with the choir.”
“... Melanie is very passionate and an excellent musician in her own right. Her song was a hit at the concert [and] students in the choir would sing it in my general music classes. It has inspired other students to want to write songs, too,” said Vex, adding, “Stars was beautiful and undeniably special, and I'm so glad the choir enjoyed it as much as Melanie and I did.”