This morning in Assembly we acknowledged recent successes and National Representatives from the Music department.
Leo Mwape is a Year 10 student who was selected as a national finalist in the Youthtown Aotearoa contemporary songwriting competition. He has been awarded $750 to fund a professional studio recording of his song which will appear on the official Youthtown Aotearoa album to be released nationally later in the year. This is the first time that a student from PNBHS has been recognised for this songwriting competition.
Over the holidays some of our national music representatives attended courses in their respective groups.
Torrence Cheung attended a week-long course in Christchurch with the National Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra lead by renowned conductor Timothy Carpenter.
Also in the holidays, our five members of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir; Sebastien Cave, Grayson Lodge, Vealata Tongati’o, Tom Varney, Leo Xu attended a course in Wellington where they performed as part of the National Anzac Day service held at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park which was broadcast live on television. Membership of this group is a two year commitment comprising a number of courses and rehearsals in school holidays and weekends. PNBHS has the largest number of members from any one school in the country which is quite an achievement.
I now invite these students forward to collect their Music ties. Seb already has this as he has completed one two-year cycle with the NZSSC in 2019-2020 and has been awarded a school Honours Tie for his achievements.
Joe Inman was joint Dux Artium in 2020 and is a current member of the NZ Youth Brass band. Joe recently competed in the Central Districts Brass Band competition where he was placed 1st in the under 19 slow melody and 1st in the under 19 air varie competition. He now prepares himself for national competitions and we wish him well for these. I now invite Joe to receive his awards.
The next month is a very busy one for the Music Department and we look forward to sharing results and successes in the coming weeks.
