MANUREWA HIGH SCHOOL 2012
Music Department 2012 has been another massive year for the music department and a year that has seen significant change. In particular it saw the end of the ‘Mrs Smith Era’ as she moved away from Auckland as her husband had received a promotion. Mrs Smith had been the backbone of the department for so long she was always going to be sadly missed. This did, however, bring the positive in the return of a familiar face. Mrs Louman had previously been the woodwind specialist here and we were delighted that she applied for our music teacher vacancy. Her generous skill set and knowledge meant she easily outshone a strong field of applicants for the position. Welcome home Mrs Louman! 2012 continued on with previous success stories and added some new ones for good measure. The ‘Who loves who’ competition debuted this year and asked contestants nationwide to record a cover of a New Zealand song. This was a great chance to revisit the fantastic back catalogue of New Zealand music with students eventually picking to re-record songs by Crowded House, Split Enz, Six60 and Brooke Fraser Only 20 finalists were picked nationally with three coming from MHS! Well done Michaela Clark, Rachel Fenton and Pele Sea. SmokefreeRockquest This Year we had seven groups represent us at this event, by far the most we have ever had. Special congratulations go to Missy Pelu and the Backdrifters who both made it into the regional final. Special mention to Mr Coulomb for all the long hours helping these bands!
SmokefreePasifikaBeats We had four, twice as many groups, enter this event in 2012 with Mariah McGregor becoming the first performer to make a regional final as a soloist! She also won the native language
Big Sing Choir An amazing year of growth for this Choir. Miss Cuizon took this over and had immediate success with choir membership, the largest in years. Mrs Louman accompanied the choir and audiences were treated to several brilliant performances. Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition This year we managed sixteen(!) entries in this competition. Again four songs making the national top 50. Congratulations to David Afoa, Renee Apulu, Caylin Klein and Mariah McGregor who all received the chance to record their songs professionally, be published on CD and receive national radio play. Mariah picked up the award for best alternative song and has had her music played on kiwfm, bfm, the ITM championship final and the TVNZ Good Morning show. KBB Festival All of our groups performed brilliantly, with special mention to the Symphonic band who really stepped up this year. Keep reading and Mitchell Clark will tell you more about the Senior Concert Band and Jazz Band. Batterie 100 Strike is a high energy drumming group made up of New Zealand’s most outstanding percussionists, specialising in movement-based, choreographed percussion. Nine of our students got to work with them and with several other Auckland school students performed to a packed audience at Telstra Clear Pacific. They even performed a piece incorporating a fire element. Stand Up! Stand Out! Stand Up! Stand Out! features musicians, vocalists and dancers from secondary schools across the Auckland region. We had several music groups enter this year and Ada Huang on Piano performed at the Finals at Telstra Clear Pacific.
All this is achieved by having a great team with Mr Coulomb, Miss Cuizon, Mrs Louman and Mrs Telford all being exceptional at what they do and we are supported by a group of world class itinerant teachers. Looking forward to 2013. Mr Tim Randle
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MUSIC ITINERANTS: Chris Dawson, Wayne Cantwell, Yih-hsin Huang, Jim Langabeer, Robyn Finlay, Matthew Verrill, Agnes Harmath
IN CAELUM ASCENDE
Matariki Songwriting Competition Our first time entering this national competition and we got three of the ten national finalists! Well done to Mariah McGregor, Rachel Fenton, and Ashley Tipine who all won $800 worth of studio time and had their song recorded by 2009 NZ Engineer of the year, Andrew Buckton.
award, well done!