UCOL Wairarapa music students unite

JOINT EFFORT: A pair of UCOL Wairarapa bands - Flightless Birds and Manchild Experience - will join with four of their counterparts from the UCOL Palmerston North campus to perform at King Street Live in Masterton tonight. UCOL Wairarapa band members include Hemi Walker (left), Connie Houkamau, Emma-May Buick, Justyn Paul, Jared Graham, Hayden Adams, Connor Cosgrove and Josh Lucas. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

UCOL Wairarapa music students will mount a debut performance at King Street Live in Masterton tonight with their counterparts from UCOL Palmerston North.

Music tutor Cody Field said students from his UCOL Wairarapa Contemporary Music Performance course will perform as two bands - Manchild Experience and Flightless Birds - alongside four bands from Palmerston North.

He said the performance at King Street Live caps New Zealand Music Month and was the first collaborative performance this year involving music students from the two campuses.

A tradition had been established over past years of students from the two sites taking the stage together, he said, and the gig tonight comes on the heels of the two UCOL Wairarapa bands opening for elite Kiwi bluesman Hurricane Shayn Wills at the Cross Creek Blues Club show at the Tin Hut earlier this month.

"The collaborative gigs are quite cool because they [the students] have a bit of a competition so they want to play well and not get shown up at all."

The Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance (Level 4) is a year-long programme that provides an opportunity for students to develop individual and band performance across a number of popular music styles, Mr Field said. Students also gain skills in live sound and recording, theory, song writing / composition and music management.

UCOL spokeswoman Jean Archer said the four bands from Palmerston North - Beastie Band, Nate Train, Band 4 and Clash of the Titans - will stage their debut public performances tonight at what is an "internationally renowned live music venue".

UCOL Programme Leader for Contemporary Music Performance Kane Parsons said it was fitting the bar manager at King Street Live, Jason Ireland, was himself a UCOL Wairarapa graduate of the Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance.

"We wanted to use King Street Live as it's an amazing venue for musicians and UCOL is very grateful for their ongoing support of our programmes and our students."

Students will play a range of New Zealand music as part of a Homegrown genre assessment before players form their six bands and play four songs each - three covers and an original composition each band had together penned.

The Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance is offered at UCOL's Palmerston North, Whanganui and Wairarapa campuses and a Diploma in Contemporary Music Performance, designed to follow certificate level studies, was on offer at the Palmerston North campus. Enrolments are now open for a July intake of the Certificate programme at Whanganui UCOL.