Secondary school musicians get together for a weekend of music-making

The Gisborne Combined Secondary Schools Orchestra — and tutors — took a few minutes off from their weekend of making music for a group photo. Back row, from left, Anna Marie Fenn, Jane Egan, Jacob Yates, Waiora Paul-Utiera, Esther Hudson, Nikita Schwass, David McGregor, Riki Reedy, Roanna Funcke, Willow Lawton, Sam Mottart, Savanah Baty, Carys Holmes and Fiona Cumming. Front row from left, Grace McVey, Poppy Middlemiss, Jazz Limbaring, Lou Mangco, Cathy Irons, Hinemaia Reedy, Olivia Brown, Celia Willoughby, Klara Pauwels and Jess Williams. Pictures by Tamsin Wilson

Gisborne’s Combined Secondary Schools Orchestra got a bit of helping hand last weekend when they received expert tutoring from musicians from the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

Cathy Irons, Roanna Funcke and David McGregor travelled to Gisborne to work with the young musicians at a special workshop in the Waimata Valley community hall. Each musician worked with a number of instruments. In the string section Cathy Irons  was on violin and cello while in the percussion and rhythm section, Roanna Funcke had a vibraphone, glockenspiel, drums, and a bass  guitar at her fingertips. In charge of the woodwinds was  David McGregor (flute and clarinet).  Local brass player Waiora Paul- Utiera (trumpets and trombone)  worked with the brass section.

The idea was to bring in expert tutors from outside the district to kick-start the orchestra for the year.

“We started off with a whole orchestra rehearsal and then split off into groups so the musicians could get expert help with their parts,” said conductor and GGHS music teacher Anna Marie Fenn.

“They then came back to play the songs again as a whole orchestra and the improvement was remarkable,” she said.

They played and mastered a number of contemporary pieces of music, from a Michael Jackson medley to Happy by Pharell Williams.

“The icing on the cake was when we learned the whole arrangement of Taylor Swift’s Love Story — it sounded amazing.”

The orchestra was created in 2016 by a group of secondary school music teachers to cater for the high schools in Gisborne.

Since then they have rehearsed weekly and are creating traditions such as an Intermediate Schools Tour, playing at prizegivings, performing at the annual Chamber Contest and at retirement villages.

They try to cater for all abilities, with the only requirements that the students be Year 9 to 13, have the ability to follow sheet music, play some notes on their instrument and have a positive attitude.

The orchestra is made up of students from Gisborne Girls’ High School, Gisborne Boys’ High School, Lytton High School and Campion College with several teachers also part of the group.

“Our members are an enthusiastic bunch who like to have fun together,” says Ms Fenn.

They finished the weekend workshop with a concert attended by friends and family, local music enthusiasts and the Waimata community.

“The community really got behind us — we had two ladies who did all our catering for us. A lot of the locals helped us set up and pack down the orchestra. It was a cool venue and great to part of the Waimata rural community for a weekend,” she said.

She also wanted to thank the Gisborne District Council and the Creative Communities initiative which helped fund the workshop.

GDC’s Creative Communities funding made this possible – we couldn’t have done it otherwise so we’re very grateful.”

Pictures by Tamsin Wilson