Our students from the Music Department participated in the annual Auckland Schools Jazz Band competition, held at the Point Chevalier RSA. The competition is organised by the Auckland Jazz and Blues Club, Stephen Morton-Jones and Peter McGregor Music Bass Shop and is open to all schools across Auckland.
The combos and Big Band performed on two different days, July 27 and 28. The students were to arrive at the RSA an hour before their performance to make sure that everyone was present and well prepared.
On the first day, The Melomaniacs, The Septapollos, and Beginner’s Jazz Combo, performed. Everyone played with passion, with very impressive solos, especially Beginner’s Jazz Combo with some performing their first solos in front of an audience. The Beginners were directed and led by Jenna Aspeling, who is one of our Year 11 students. It was great to see young students taking leadership into their hands and inspiring others to see how Jazz is a fun genre to play.
Not only was it was a first time for themselves, but also for myself. As someone who only played trumpet for combos, Mr Cho thought it was a great idea to let me sing a duet in front of an audience. I was very nervous as I had never experienced anything like it, but found it cool to experience a new type of musicianship.
On the second day, The Octatonics, Midnight Quartet, Junior Jazz Orchestra and Big Band performed. The students nailed their dynamics and intonations as they performed onstage. The audience was hyped up by amazing solos from the combos and bands. It was great to see that each combo delivered a strong performance that was appreciated by the audience and our competition.
We would like to give a big round of applause to Mr Cho, our music teacher and Jazz combo director, for all his hard work and commitment in guiding our musicianship and giving us this opportunity. He gave students very helpful feedback on how to improve their musicianship and planned extra rehearsals during the holidays for us to improve even more. He kindly shared with us his knowledge about Jazz Academies after school and during our lunchtime rehearsals. We also thank our family,
friends and school community who came to support us, especially past students. We hope to see new students taking up this opportunity of using jazz to expand their musical horizons.
Lorenzo Cruz
