Sharing Musical Talent

Over the last two days, musicians from the Boys’ School have welcomed students from two fellow Independent Schools for shared musical experiences.

Yesterday, Southwell School from Hamilton joined forces with the Boys’ School Performers’ Choir to prepare for a concert. After a morning spent in workshop together, they presented their work to a respectful Junior School audience who listened quietly, enjoying the opportunity to hear the older boys sing.

Our Performers’ Choir opened with a Beatles medley followed by the lyrical, ‘Homeward Bound’ with talented Year 8 vocalist, Charles Adams taking the solo spot. The two choirs combined to sing the spiritual, ‘Deliver Daniel’ and show-stopper, ‘I can fly,’ before Southwell concluded with ‘Sing to me’ and ‘Wind-a-blowing.’

Saint Kentigern has a long-standing friendship with Southwell School with sporting and cultural exchanges taking place regularly.

After a day of choral music, today it was the turn of our instrumentalists to learn from, and join in with, an older Concert Band from Lindisfarne College, another Presbyterian school in Hawkes Bay. The Lindisfarne musicians are in Auckland to take part in the Auckland Band Festival this weekend and appreciated the chance for a final rehearsal and an opportunity to play for an audience, before playing to adjudicators this weekend.

Opening with ‘Moon River’ and ‘When the Saints come marching in,’ they quickly captured the attention of the Boys’ School audience who picked up the rhythm of the ‘Saints’ and clapped along.

Saxophone and clarinet soloists performed their competition pieces before their Saxophone Jazz quartet delivered a superb piece the showed the wide range of sound from a bass, tenor, alto and soprano saxophone.

The concert finished with our own Jazz Band joining forces with their older counterparts to play the irrepressible, clap-along ‘Happy.’

In closing, Deputy Principal. Mr Grayson Aspinall said ‘It was a massive treat for our boys to hear music of such a calibre!’

We thank Southwell and Lindisfarne for sharing their music and we wish Lindisfarne all the best, as well as our own Saint Kentigern College Band, for this weekend’s Band Festival.