Boys' School Musicians Step Up to Stage

A superb evening of musical entertainment was showcased by our talented and dedicated musicians at the Boys’ School Music Extravaganza concert held in the JC Chalmers Hall recently.

Director of Music, Janet Grierson opened the evening with an insightful quote on how music adds colour and expression to almost every area of our lives, and that music is a gift.

The audience were not disappointed at the polished wind and string performances of our Year 3-8 boys as they rang out from their instruments. The boys played a variety of renditions ranging from the old classical symphonies of Mozart and Pachabel, to more contemporary rock favourites by David Bowie and Mick Jagger.

Highlights from the evening included the first piece by our symphonic orchestra, who played ‘See, The Conquering Hero Comes’ by Handel, then followed by ‘Gonna Fly Now’, from the movie Rocky.

For the David Bowie fans in the audience, a rich saxophone performance of Bowie’s upbeat ‘Dancing in the Street’ was enjoyed by old and young alike, and Celtic piece ‘Ollanta’ played by our Kentigern Minstrels, was very fitting for the extension group of our top recorder players.

Our jazz combo group performed last month in the Remuera Library as part of the music month of May, with the group performing two pieces for the evening, rock and rolls ‘Rock Around the Clock’ and the jazz standard ‘I’m Beginning to See the Light’.

Baroque piece ‘Canon in D’ by Pachelbel was a very moving duet played on both the flute and clarinet, and a vast tempo change to the next item from Mr Randell and Mr Nicholls. They performed a Sonatina for clarinet and piano which was a piece that Mr Randell wrote for his Music Degree at university when he was just 21 years old!

The MC then invited our Performers Choir to come forward which is an auditioned choir for Year 6, 7 and 8 boys. During the year, they cover a wide range of repertoire and have many performance commitments, and later on in the year they will be entering the Kids Sing Choral Competition. On the evening they sang ballad ‘Scarborough Fair’ and ‘Razzle Dazzle’.

Finally the audience heard from the Jazz Band which was conducted by Mr Ross Hurley. The Jazz Band played three fun pieces including ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Aint Got That Swing’, ‘Killer Joe’ and ‘Chattanooga Cho Cho’.

To conclude the Extravaganza the Boys’ School Principal Mr Cassie came forward and paid tribute to the Music Department and the itinerant music teachers for their enthusiasm and skill in guiding our boys to become equally passionate and skilful.

With thanks to Director of Music, Janet Grierson