Music Matters

This term has been very busy in the Music department. We started the term with the first visit by our NZ Music Commission Music Mentor, Majic Paora. She came in to work on performance skills with our Year ⅞ band Superfire, or Year 9/10 band PowerCut, and our senior Music students. The students really loved having her here and got a lot out of the discussions and mentoring she gave. Majic then came back a few weeks later to work with a small group of students on songwriting. We had a day where they were able to come with their own songs and share them with the group. Each student then went away and worked in a room, getting some advice from Majic also and came back to share their song again at the end of the day. There was a lot of work put in by the students and all finished the day with a new song written. Some of these songs will be entered into the Play it Strange songwriting competition.

The second big event we were involved with this term is the Smokefreerockquest. PowerCut, our Year 9/10 band went to the regional heats in Palmerston North with their original song, ‘Painting’. They were chosen to go through to the Regional finals, so wrote another song called ‘Get Through’. Due to Covid and the change to Level 2, we were unable to go to the finals in Palmerston North so went to Wellington instead. The band had a wonderful time, performing exceptionally well, entering the competitions and joining the moshpit when the support band played as the judges were deliberating. We didn’t win any prizes but it was a great experience. All the students now know what to expect next year.

This term, the Performing Arts Department also put on their first assembly which was only performances. So the school was able to see our bands perform, a taster from the Drama production, and some senior soloists. We will look to do another one later in the year because the feedback was all positive. There has also been a Pop up concert in the Library which is great in the cold weather. This is a good, safe, and supportive environment for students to perform to their peers. Mrs Devane also took a group of students to the Opera. We were lucky to see the dress rehearsal of The Marriage of Figaro and the students enjoyed the chance to see something that was very different from what they would normally experience.

Next term we are looking forward to Bandquest with Superfire, our Year 7/8 band.