Nau mai haere mai and nau mai hoki mai to 2024’s Music News section!

The Music department had an eventful beginning to the year with some big staffing changes! Firstly, our beloved Kevin Roberts took up a position teaching Hard Materials. Next, we brought in two new music kaiako to our department—Paul Densem from Cashmere High School and Isaac Bennet, who taught Drama last year. Paul is a multi-instrumentalist and a vocal major who has also toured Australia with his rock band! Isaac has an honours degree in Sound Engineering and, in addition to his teaching, he is helping us immensely with recording and music technology.

Nik Densem, who taught Media Studies for the School of Music, is taking a year of study leave. Our After 3 Programme Leader, the phenomenal saxophonist Paul Dearsley, took the Media Studies position. He is known for successfully teaching at Canterbury University's transition programme, the CUP course, and he has been using his versatile skills to prepare our ākonga this year.

[NCEA Performance evening at Ara]

We had a record number of high-quality performers in our first concert this term. Year 13 Music ākonga, Louie Nikau, MC-ed the whole evening and performed his own original pieces. It was an extraordinary concert with various genres, including Classical, Pop, Rock, Punk, Metal, Jazz and Broadway Musical.

One highlight was our Year 12 ākonga Emma Dobson's performance. She played the traditional Chinese instrument "Guzheng". Emma’s performance began with a flowing gracefulness, then it became much more dramatic and intense. Her musicality, technical precision and captivating presence made her performance definitely worth watching! You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/s5jC0WXYw1g

A special thanks to our photographer, Peter Moore, who has donated his time to photograph his fourth NCEA performance evening for us. You can follow his work on Facebook or Instagram @PM_NZ_Photography

[Lunchtime Concert]

Lunchtime concerts are back this year. We had our very first lunchtime concert on Friday, April 5th. Our Year 12 rock band Stupisayswhat and Year 12 &13 heavy metal band MALTA performed at our lunchtime concert series. The next performance will be on Friday, June 21st, near the end of Term 2. If your group is ready to perform next term, please contact Nanako Sato, Co-TIC and Programme Leader of the School of Music, or Louie Nikau, Year 13 ākonga.

UPCOMING MUSIC EVENTS

Term 2 Monday 29th April – Friday 5th July

• Ōtautahi Jazz Jam @ Boys’ High School – Saturday 4 May 7pm
• Singer Songwriters' Night @ Hagley – Tuesday 21 May 6pm – 8 pm
• SFRQ/SFTB Heats – Friday 24 May – Saturday 25 May
• National Year 9-11 School Songwriting Competition Due – Friday 31 May
• Big Sing Regionals @ Town Hall – Thursday 6 June – Friday 7 June
• SFRQ/SFTB Final and soloists – Saturday 8 June
• Fundraising concert for Dr V Jazz Combo @ Hagley – Tuesday 11th June
• Jazz Quest @ Ara – Monday 17 June – Friday 21 June
• Matariki Concert @ Ara – Tuesday 25 June 6pm - 8pm
• Peace Song Competition – Sunday 30 June

Term 3 Monday 22nd July – Friday 27th September

• Play It Strange Songwriting Competition Due – Wednesday 31 July
• Southern Jam – Tuesday 8 August – Sunday 13 August
• NCEA Performance Evening @ Ara – Tuesday 20 August 6pm – 8pm
• Hagley On Show @ Ara – Tuesday 24 September 6pm- 8pm

Term 4 Monday 14th October – Wednesday 11th December

• Cabaret @ A Rolling Stone – Tuesday 15th October - Wednesday 16 October 6 – 8pm
• Big Band Festival – Thursday 24 October – Monday 28 October (venues and times TBC)
• Senior Prizegiving – Thursday 31 October