Since the 1970s, the Villanova Singers, an all male chorus group, has been offering Singing Valentines to that special someone.
A lovestruck student can buy a singing Valentine for his or her “special friend”, and the Villanova Singers would come to your classroom unannounced and ask if it was OK if they delivered a singing Valentine to one of your students. I think it’s a great tradition, and was always happy to see them visit my room. And it only takes about a minute out of your class.
Well apparently some teachers refused to let them sing (a Valentine’s Day version of the Grinch). So now the Singers send out an email to all faculty prior to Valentine’s Day, offering the faculty the choice to opt out. I can see it being a problem if you have a test planned for that day, but otherwise, I view it as a welcome break from the classroom routine.
The Singers use the Singing Valentines as a fundraiser for their bi-annual international trip, where they have the opportunity to share their beautiful voices with other countries and cultures.
There were four types of Singing Valentines to choose from:
- STANDARD VALENTINE– $10. Your Valentine will be serenaded in person with a group of singers performing “You Are My Valentine”. You may choose to have these delivered in a class, an office, or as a ‘wake-up’ for on-campus students on February 14th. (Wake-ups are delivered between 7-8am.)
- VALENTINE with INSTRUMENTALIST – $15: Your Valentine will be serenaded in person by singers and a guitar player performing “One, Two, Three, Four”. You may choose to have these delivered in a class, an office, or as a ‘wake-up’ for on-campus students on February 14th. (Wake-ups are delivered between 7-8am.)
- PHONE SINGING VALENTINE Performed LIVE over the phone – 9am-4pm – $8 on 2/14
- VIDEO SINGING VALENTINE – $5 – Your Valentine will receive a personalized video of a performance of “You Are My Valentine” in their email on Tuesday, February 14th!
Here’s a brief YouTube video that explains in a little more detail the Singing Valentines, and at the end, shows what one looks like. Consider the video my Singing Valentine to all my loyal readers.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
P.S. There’s a special Valentine’s memory (from fourth grade) after the video if you care to read it.
I came across the following page in my memory book from grade school:
First, note the classic RMA. Second, note that Mary used the word “Love”; I probably obsessed on that one word for days, if not weeks, trying to read much more into it than Mary intended. But the real memory this triggers happened about four years before Mary signed my memory book. It was Valentine’s Day in fourth grade, and at least back then, the guys just gave the other guys Valentine’s Day cards, and it would be highly unusual to give one to a girl. Well I decided to be brave, and give a card to not only all the boys, but also to one girl, Mary. Naturally I wanted to keep this a secret, and I thought once Mary got the card, she would keep our secret. Well as it turned out, I hadn’t thought things through completely. Everyone put all of the cards in a big box, and then the teacher took them all out, read the person’s name on the envelope, and the person came up and took the card. At some point, the teacher eventually pulled my card for Mary out of the box, and lo and behold, there were two Marys in our class. So the teacher had to ask who wrote the card, and which Mary it was for. After a few seconds of awkward silence, during which I could feel my face turning bright red (Lobster Man!), I sheepishly raised my hand and said it was from me, and meant for Mary S. Now the whole class knew that I had sent a card to Mary, and that she was the only girl I had sent one to. If only I knew some magic and could have made myself disappear for a while…
Borden's Blather 