Jeff's morning started like any other; waking up at seven and taking a breath of fresh air. Little did he know that this would be the day that changed his entire life. He went outside as usual, but then he started hearing strange noises, noises seeming to come from right behind… Oops wrong story.

What I'm really here to tell you about is what the Rāroa Orchestra did Wednesday 23 August. 

It all started with a bus ride, sadly at the ungodly hour of 8am. There were also around 8 of us. What a coincidence! Anyway, the Rāroa Orchestra then joined the masses of musicians from other schools (Tawa, Scots of course and a few others) at Scots College, where we rehearsed for over 4 hours. 

Making music with over 150 other musicians is an amazing experience, especially when there are two other trombonists playing the same part as me. After rehearsing as a big group we were split off into different sections, (aka brass, woodwind, strings etc) and taught by professional musicians from the Wellington Symphony Orchestra. 

The highlights of the day were socialising with all the people from the different schools and performing at the end of the day. Oh yeah, the performance. Lots of people came to watch, mostly pupils of Scots and parents/ teachers. Another good thing about the performance is the sound we all made together. It was phenomenal.

Overall it was an amazing experience and I'm delighted I had the opportunity to be part of it. I'm pretty sure I can speak for all of us when I say we had a great time and came home feeling satisfied.

A special thanks to Alex Gunchenko, our Orchestra tutor, who also happens to be in the NZSO!