Another year for the Burnside High School Big Band has flown by, with various performances at both competitions and school events. 

This auditioned ensemble represents the level of musical talent at Burnside High School exceptionally, with a high percentage of the band being members of the Specialist Music Programme we are so lucky to have here at Burnside.

The first event for us was our annual Living Springs camp – a weekend-long intensive block of rehearsals in March to get the schools Big Band, Orchestra and Symphonic Band up and running for the year. The next major event was when the band got the opportunity to open for Rodger Fox and his Big Band in June. Rodger brought 4 of today’s leading jazz musicians over from America to take part in a national tour, including a performance at the Aurora Centre. There were also various workshops during the day the band along with many other of Christchurch’s high school big bands got to take part in.

Term 3 saw our 2 main performances for the year, with the band again taking part in the annual ARA JazzQuest Competition, where we were awarded once again with a gold award and the title of “Best Big Band”; a title the band has received on numerous occasions. The highlight of the year for the band though had to be the schools ‘JazzBar’ concert at the recently opened Papa Hou Theatre in Christchurch. Alongside with the school's Funk Band and Senior Jazz Combo, an evening of jazz and funk music was up for grabs. The band received a wide array of positive feedback, and was once again reminded that the standard they perform at is seldom seen in a high school concert.

Despite the year starting to quieten down in term 4, we went out with a bang! Performing an hour long set at the recently re-opened Fat Eddies jazz bar in town, we took part in the annual Christchurch Big Band Festival that invites big bands of all ages and sizes to perform over Labour weekend.

A huge thank-you goes out to all the staff who helped run and organise the band this year, nothing the band achieved could have been done without them. Every year the band gets better and better, and I cannot wait to see where next year will take us.

David Petch