Thirty years of friendship, two school communities and one very special song. To mark three decades of connection, pupils from the Dragon and Keio Yochisha, Japan, have come together through music to celebrate everything our schools share. The resulting song is a joyful expression of collaboration, friendship and a relationship that continues to flourish. Dragon’s Director of Music, William Morris, takes us behind the scenes of this special project and reflects on the enduring connection that inspired it.
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Composing can be a very solitary pursuit, but it is wonderfully symbolic of our schools’ 30-year partnership that the commemorative song should also be written in partnership, too.
The process began in May 2025 when Keiichi Iizumi visited the Dragon, and we discussed the possibility of a collaboration. At that stage, we just had a few ideas for chord sequences which we played around with, as we bonded over our shared love of musical theatre.
Some weeks passed, and I was soon in a position to go into our studio and record a demo track with our talented Dragon music staff. This rough track was sent over to Keiichi for his opinion, and that is always a nerve-wracking time! “Will it be suitable? Will he like it?”
I was relieved to hear back from him that he loved the track, which meant we were off! Then Keiichi got to work. As well as offering some suggestions for improvements, he took the spirit of the demo track and created his own unique tune for the Keio Yochisha pupils to sing.
By October 2025, it was time for the Dragon School to visit Tokyo. There, I heard Keiichi’s tune for the first time and knew for certain that our experiment was going to work. Now that Keiichi’s tune was in place, I was able to write a Dragon tune to sit along alongside his and work with it in harmony.
One of the trip’s highlights for me was sitting at the piano with Keiichi after the Keio Sports Day and singing our respective tunes together for the first time to the senior Keio and Dragon staff. It met with their approval, so we had the green light to work on the words.
When we turned to the lyrics, it felt only right that the children should lead the way. Those on the exchange were asked for words and phrases that summed up the experience for them, and then Ken Kokubo and I fitted them to the music.
There are some beautiful sentiments that stick out for me, like “new families across the world”, “shared history”, and “miraculous bond”, but it is the phrase “home away from home” that gave our song its title.
Our schools have an unforgettable friendship, and I hope the music we have created together will be equally memorable!
William Morris
Director of Music, Dragon School
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Home From Home
Written and performed by William Morris, Director of Music, and Keiichi Iizumi, with lyrics inspired by children from the Dragon and Keio Yochisha
Listen to ‘Home From Home’ below:
