First gold for Hauraki Plains College jazz band

Hauraki Plains College’s jazz band was awarded a gold award for the first time at this year’s annual festival of Waikato Schools Instrumental Music held at Waikato University.

The jazz band has 22 members who played a 20-minute programme of music.

Jazz band teacher Trevor Benns says the judges were very impressed.

“We have been practising for three months and we played a set of five contrasting pieces, ending with the song we wrote for this year’s HPC centenary, called ‘It’s Time to Pass the Baton”.

Bands come from as far as New Plymouth.

“There were three performance halls/auditoriums in action for the whole day,” says Mr Benns.

“Some schools had multiple performance groups, eg orchestra, guitar group, wind quartet, jazz band. That gives you an idea of just how many schools and groups were taking part.”

Mr Benns has 20 young musicians at Ngatea Primary School who are set to feed into the HPC College Jazz band as they progress to secondary school.

“This is one of the strengths of our College Jazz Band. Often, these young people have been playing in the NPS Jazz Band for three years before they hit college, so they already have a number of really good musicianship skills,” says Mr Benns.

The festival means students spend most of the day listening to other talented young musicians from other schools, which is something HPC doesn’t get a lot of experience of.

“I guess that’s the price you pay for a being small rural school,” he says.

“It is also very heartening for them, having now won a gold award, to know that they can perform to a level which they can be proud of. Often our students think they are second rate because they aren’t in a big city school.”