McQuistion Mystery Singers sang a song last week that was discovered inside a time capsule dug up in 2006, part of a school tradition. SCREENSHOT

Every Friday at McQuistion Elementary School, the morning announcements are accompanied by a performance of a school song by a different group of students.

The song was written in the 1980s by a former music teacher at the school, Frank Seitam, and resurfaced in a time capsule the school dug up in 2006. Although the notes have never changed, the melody has been through multiple iterations because it is passed down from grade to grade aurally.

“Before people were able to write words it was passed by aural tradition, and sometimes things get changed over time,” said Carrie Persichini, music teacher at McQuistion Elementary. “The kids have kind of rewritten it and it's not something they have done consciously; I wanted it to be that tradition passed on.”

The McQuistion Mystery Singers has been a tradition at the school since 2006, when Persichini started having students sing the song during the Friday announcements. The tradition returned this school year after remote learning when there were no morning announcements.

The mystery element of the singers comes from the performers of the song, who rotate from week to week.

“I have been going to a homeroom, usually third or fourth grade, and usually out of a class of 22 kids I get 18 to 20 to join in and sing,” Persichini said.

She lets the students try to figure out how the song goes on their own, instead of singing it to them directly, she said. They usually put the song together from hearing it on the announcements, but they change the pitch of some notes to fit their little voices.

Sometimes the song’s structure even changes.

“In the past I had kids who wanted to sing a solo,” Persichini said. “When I opened it up to kids that's when it really took off; more people's ideas come into it.”

Persichini said the song is not only a fun tradition that helps students develop their abilities to learn and interpret music, but it is also a common thread between generations of students.

“It's such a connection to the past,” Persichini said. “It has been a gift to this school because of that connection.”