On Wednesday, straight after morning tea we all went to the hall. When we got to the hall we saw a bunch of Westlake girls standing in a semi-circle and some boys sitting to the side. Once everyone was seated and quiet, Mrs Boyd told us that the people were the Westlake Choirs - Cantare and Choralation, and that they were going to the BIG SING in a few weeks (we learnt this is the top singing competition for secondary schools in New Zealand.).

Then the music teacher from Westlake girls (Mrs Wilson) came to the front and told us the first song was called Icelandic Nights. She said that she wanted to go there and watch the Northern Lights which is when there are all the different colours in the sky and it looks beautiful. When they started singing it sounded amazing and I wondered how much practising they would have had to do, because I could probably never do that. It was incredible. After that song was finished, Mrs Wilson went back up to the front and said that each song is like a story. She told us 3 short stories and then said that she told us the meanings because the next 3 songs were in French so only people who spoke French would understand! Next Cantare started to sing the next song. The most impressive thing was that they all learnt another language just for the song!

Then it was Choralation’s turn to sing. The music teacher for this group was a man and he told us that the first song was a very short one, it only took 45 seconds to sing and was called Panther.He said it as a poem first and he said “prepare to say ouch, because the panther might bite you” and everyone laughed when he said that. When the song started I liked how even when the choir was singing they used amazing expression!!

“That was amazing” I thought as they finished. These were 2 groups of amazing singers. The next song was sad. It was about soldiers and how they left for the war with people clapping and cheering, but when they came back, nobody was happy because everything was ruined and some people’s friends or families were dead. The singers were great (like the last 5 songs) but the lyrics were very sad.

To lighten the mood for the last song they did a nursery rhyme called Sing a Song of Sixpence. I thought they were just going to sing it but no, they did it in rounds, with different people singing at different times and when it was done I was impressed. I wanted to listen to one more song but it may have been enough singing for the day for the singers and it came to an end. I hope they come back again!