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Big Band
 
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Big Band

David Petch —

With 2018 drawing to a close, looking back at the outstanding year the school big band has had is particularly satisfying.

 On behalf of everyone in the band, I can say that we have had the most fun and enjoyment than in any other year we have known.

Setting us up the for year, we were able to take part in a weekend-long intensive rehearsal camp at Living Springs. We then went on to completing our North Island tour in June. Starting off in Palmerston North at the Manawatu Jazz Festival, we won the ‘Best Big Band’ award along with countless other individual awards alongside this. Bussing back down to Wellington, we competed in the annual NZSM Jazz Project where we also received ‘Best Big Band’ and many other individual and jazz combo awards. Several months later back in Christchurch, we went on to compete at the annual JazzQuest competition held by Ara and again received ‘Best Big Band’.

Our main project for the year however proved to be our biggest success. Taking a whole big band, string orchestra and 6 male singers, we performed two sell-out concerts as a tribute to ‘The Rat Pack’. This set revisited some of the classics such as ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ and ‘Mack The Knife’ sung by the infamous Rat Pack singers Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. The band rounded off the year with 2 performances at the Christchurch Big Band Festival during Labour Weekend.

On behalf of the whole band, a huge thank you goes out to our director Mr Petch, and also Mr Oswin and Mr Hood. Without their help, the band would not have been capable of accomplishing the things they did this year.

David Petch