Kids get lesson in the blues (+video)

Andy Phillips had Owhata Primary School pupils laughing and singing late last week. Photo / Ben Fraser

Rotorua pupils have been exposed to a "new kind of experience" when a renowned blues musician popped by their school.

International artist Andy Phillips visited Owhata Primary School on Friday, before playing in the weekend's Blues Festival, to show the beauty of blues.

In between showcasing items from his own set, Phillips had pupils in fits of laughter as he imitated the sound of a train and a chicken on his guitar, and put music to some soulful lyrics written by the pupils.

Owhata Primary School release teacher Tricia Dender, who helped organise for Phillips to visit the school, said it was great the pupils were so open to the different style of music.

"You see them all sitting there bobbing their heads or playing their air guitar and you can tell they are enjoying themselves.

"For many of the students, blues music isn't something they would have come into contact with before so it is important that we teachers help expose them to new kinds of experiences."

Ms Dender said the pupils particularly liked hearing their own lyrics sung by a professional musician.

Owhata Primary School pupils listen to blues man Andy Phillips Photo / Ben Fraser

"The children enjoyed being able to write about their personal experiences and to have it played by Andy. It really made their eyes light up.

"As a release teacher, I have the unique opportunity to work with all the pupils in the school so this week I have been playing snippets of blues music and exploring the idea behind the genre in each classroom," she said.

Pupils Jacob Downs, 9, Raureti Winitia, 10, and Ruha Yorke, 10, said Phillips was a "mean musician".

"I've never listened to the kind of music Mr Phillips plays so it was pretty cool being able to see him play," Raureti said.

Ruha said: "I really liked the part where he sang the song one of the other classes wrote, it was cool how he was able to put the music to the words they wrote."

Jacob said he thought blues music was easy to listen to.

"It's pretty awesome and chill. He's good at what he does and I liked the way he was playing the guitar, especially when he did the sound effects like the chicken and the train."