On September 6 our school ensemble, The Mix, performed as part of the Christchurch Wind Festival.

The band played extremely well amongst some of the top school concert bands in Christchurch and received some very positive feedback from the judge, Tony Ryan. The Mix consists of 20 students and is similar to a small concert band, except that we also include violins and a guitarist. In the festival we performed a medley of Michael Jackson songs, a Disco medley, a Latin piece “Oye Como Va” and “Do You Hear The People Sing” from the musical Les Miserables.

Every band in the festival received a plaque stating whether their level was bronze, silver or gold. We received a silver award. The following week we also heard that we had won two additional awards for “Best Trombone Section” and “Best Bass Section” in the competition. Congratulations to Alex Young and Rachel Davies for their superb playing and for winning these awards for the band!

On September 8 our band’s guitarist, Murphy McMillan, also competed in the finals of the Y Factor talent quest run by the YMCA and was placed runner up in the variety section. Well done to Murphy for his outstanding performance of a very challenging guitar solo!

The band’s next performance will be a community event at the Halswell Community Hall on Friday September 25 from 5.30 pm until approximately 6.00 pm.