Again the music rooms have been full of the Sounds of Music and our seniors have been very busy finishing off their final performances and compositions achieving very high results overall.

Friday, 27 October we celebrated our successes together and continued our learning with a Senior Music Trip to the Tauranga Arts Festival. We attended Mansfield: In Her Own Words Concert which celebrated her profound legacy in musical form. Selected poems were set to contemporary music composed and performed by several of our leading songwriters and recording artists including Anna Coddington, Julia Deans, Lawrence Arabia, Mel Parsons, Lorina Harding, Charlotte Yates and French for Rabbits. Each song was linked by a curated selection of Katherine Mansfield’s letters, narrated by Michèle A’Court. Dating back to 1913.

We were very fortunate that Julia Deans organised a Q & A with these artists afterwards and the students were able to ask a number of questions on how the artists composed their songs and learnt invaluable tips for writing their own songs.

The last thing for some of us now is to rehearse and prepare for our Value Awards and Prize Givings. I would like to say thank you to all the hard work put in by our Senior Students over the year and wish them all the best for their upcoming exams. We as a group will be sad to farewell our very talented Year 13 students, Michael Kean (Piano & Trombone), Anouk Sayer (Violin & Vocals), Leah Harrison (Guitar & Vocals), Liam Davison (Piano, Drums & Banjo), Michael J Foote (Drums & Vocals). You have been a pleasure to teach and thank you again for the entertainment on and off the stage and organising some amazing events. We look forward to hearing from them about their journey’s as they start a new phase in their lives next year.

KATIKATI COLLEGE MUSIC LESSONS

We are very fortunate to offer instrumental music lessons at the college and are now accepting applications for 2024 in Guitar, Bass, Drums, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Euphonium, and Horn. Private lessons are also available for Piano/Keyboard. Hireage through the school is available for Brass and Woodwind instruments.

Violin, Viola and Cello are available for hire from the school however you will need to use a private teacher for lessons out of school hours.

If you are interested in learning or hiring any of these instruments please get a form from the Student Office or see Ms Bullot in the Music room. There are limited spaces, particularly in the guitar, bass and drum lessons so you need to get in quick!

If you are already in lessons and want to continue in 2024 you must let Ms Bullot know as soon as possible by either email or by filling out the form. This also applies if you want to stop taking lessons so that spaces can be made available for other students.

We would encourage you to think about taking up a musical instrument. It is not only a skill that can be used for enjoyment but it is proven that playing an instrument may be one of the best ways to help keep the brain healthy. “It engages every major part of the central nervous system,” said John Dani, PhD, chair of Neuroscience at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, tapping into both the right and left sides of the brain. For example, playing the clarinet – which, like many instruments, requires the right hand to do something different than the left-- uses the peripheral nervous system, which controls movement of your fingers, as well as gross and fine motor skills. The brain’s executive function – which plans and makes decisions – comes into play as a musician plays one part but keeps focus on what’s coming next. Couple that with the total sensory input – visual, auditory, emotional and all at the same time – and it becomes a total “workout” for the brain. “Recent studies suggest that music may be a uniquely good form of exercising your brain,” he said.