Singing out for success

MANDY SMITH
Four Hawke's Bay boys selected for the New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir have high hopes they can repeat the group's success.
Karamu High's Ben Christensen and Tavivi Daniel, Havelock North High's Benson Wilson and Taikura Rudolf Steiner's Thomas Barker are among 55 picked for the national choir, judged Choir of the World at last year's International Youth and Children's Choirs Festival in Hong Kong.
"There's a bit of pressure," 15-year-old bass Ben said. "But with the top students in the country and (musical director) Elise Bradley there, I think we've a good chance of getting another good result."
The choir is a two-year commitment, offering pupils the chance to travel all over New Zealand and the world for performances.
Benson, who performs gospel with his church choir, says he was stoked to make the cut after a nail-biting audition in Palmerston North during the Easter break.
Hopefuls sang a prepared piece unaccompanied, and were tested on several skills, including picking out notes by ear.
"They kept me in for a while - longer than usual - and asked me to sing my solo again. I thought I'd done badly," Benson, 16, said. In fact, the reverse was true.
The judging panel, including Elise Bradley, were blown away by the tenor's rendition of The Turtle Doves.
Tavivi, also a tenor, said he ran to the corner store and back when he heard he was accepted "and my legs were really sore the next day".
He was looking forward to travelling, making friends and "the experiences the choir will share over the next two years".
The choir is a "logical step" for bass-singer Thomas, who hopes to try his luck at a music career after school. But Ben has different thoughts: "To make money off it you have to be very very good. But wherever I go, I'll be involved in shows."
It's now heads-down, bums-up for the boys until their first full practice in Auckland in July.
Not only do they have to learn their own part in a song, they also have to make a dent in the $5500 choir costs.
But with a combination of grants, sponsorship and fundraising, the quartet are confident they can do it. "We'd like to do at least one concert together as well," Ben said.