Music Department News

On Tuesday this week the Music Department was buzzing with sound as two music mentors worked with our St Hilda’s Music students on original music.

Jenny Mitchell has visited us before, who this time was working with Senior Music students on original songs, crafting their lyrics, selecting chords, and creating the right feel for their songs. Jenny worked one on one with students to be able to give targeted advice depending on their individual songs. The Year 8 Music class were also fortunate to be able to work with Jenny on their group band songs and helped them bring their songs to the next level. All students were ecstatic to be working with Jenny, who is an accomplished country/folk songwriter and performer.

We also were fortunate to have Sam van Betuw work with our senior student composers. Sam van Betuw is a local composer and performer who has been Musical Director for countless musicals and shows, and has had works performed by the NZSO. Sam was able to give advice on melody writing and arrangement specific to each student’s own composition. There is a variety of musical styles being written for and Sam’s expertise was highly valued and appreciated by our music students.