Country High Schools Music Festival
A group of 24 students from Year7-13 travelled to this year's host school - Rangiora High School. We joined musicians from Ellesmere, Rolleston, Kaiapoi, Darfield and Rangiora for a day of music making. We split off into groups - string players, concert band and choir for our 2 workshops through the day, practicing pieces for the concert in the evening.
Members of the concert band did a quick pivot to accommodate the lower numbers of preliminary band members (beginners) and form one big concert band. Haruka and Mr Luddy repreesnted MHC in the strings group, and Mrs McConnell & Mrs Woodley were with our biggest contingent - the choir.
During workshops, students were tutored by itinerant music teachers and learned lots. Many students were playing the pieces for the first time that day!
We had a dress rehearsal then a dinner break of Domino's pizza, before the concert in the evening. It was awesome to have some whānau make the trip to see the concert and hear renditions of songs such as Golden from Kpop Demon Hunters, iconic rock anthems, the Muppets theme song, a song from Aladdin, and the crescendo of the evening - Skyfall from the choir accompanied by the concert band.
The Country High Schools Music Festival is an important event for our fellow schools with smaller music departments. It is an awesome opportunity for students to play or sing in a large group which they don't get in their own schools due to size - for example, the choir had approx 90 students in it.
